The Art Of Kendo! (YouTube)

Nick has picked up a new hobby since living in Japan, Kendo. This sport is a Japanese traditional style of sword fighting. It was first developed as a way for the Samurai to practice fighting with bamboo swords. It has changed somewhat over the years so that anyone can enjoy it! This includes 6ft 3inch foreigners!!

Kendo students in Japan start training as early as 5 years old and can be active in this sport for a lifetime. Nick's Kendo teacher is in his 70's! Like Karate, there are several levels of expertise. Each student must be tested in front of a panel of judges and pass in order to move up to the next skill level. Recently, Nick took his first Kendo test.

Can you find Nick? We arrived at the gym thinking that it would only take a couple of hours to get through the process. Boy were we wrong! There were at least 100 other Kendo students that were willing and ready to be tested! There were only two adults and the rest were kids ranging from the ages of 5-13. Most Japanese start taking Kendo lessons at a young age. So, it's quite unusual for adults to take the first level test! We were blessed that there was at least one other adult in the mix! Of course, Nick was the only foreigner. All of the kids were fascinated by him and lined up to watch as he passed his test with flying colors!

If you are not familiar with Kendo, then let's start with the basics. In the picture above Nick is dressed in all his Kendo gear. As you can see he has a helmet, protective shield, and gloves which are all very important to wear when your opponent hits you repeatedly with a bamboo sword!

The Japanese are very respectful in whatever they are doing and bow to one another as a sign of respect and consideration. As a result, many sports start with bowing in the beginning and throughout the competition and at the end. It's not unusual to see a player bow if they have fouled or injured another player. Kendo is no different....it starts and ends with bowing!

Once the bowing is over....you then earn points by trying to hit your opponent cleanly with a pure intent:) Which from an observers point of view means hitting your opponent as hard as you can with a very large bamboo stick while yelling at them! Actually, there are only 4 target areas for hitting....the head, throat, wrist, and chest. Each target area that is hit earns 1 point. There are only 2 points earned in each match. So, you can imagine that there is a lot of blocking moves!

Nick, the guy on the left, was only testing this time. There are many Kendo Tournaments throughout the year. Hopefully Nick will get to join one before leaving Japan! Check out our Kendo YouTube video to get a better idea of what this sport is like.


http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DZBkk3KFKtM