Kendo

the Japanese Way of the Sword

Kendo is the art of Japanese sword fencing. Ken-do is a martial arts WAY, it is a martial art, but it is also designed to be a path to self discipline and spritual improvement. Not just a physical pastime.

Kendo students wear Samurai-like armor to protect themselves, and attack each other fiercely with wooden swords called Shinai and with loud, blood-curdling Ki-Ai yells.

Kendo and Judo have long been a form of traditional sports and physical education in Japanese schools and universities. But countless martial artists in other countries do it as well.

Another armed martial art which is similar to Kendo is Naginata-do. The students wear the same clothing as Kendo people, but their weapon is the Naginata - the long halberd or sword-on-a-pole that the Samurai women used to defend their homes with.

Naginata-do used to be the traditional PE (physical education) for women in old Japanese girls' schools. Those women were real warriors and would often practise with their Kendo counterparts.

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