4. The Community of Learners
kendo's development
Kendo as a modern martial art, or shin budo, is a relatively recent development. Of course, it is widely known that the art has its roots in Japan's feudal past, and some of the dash and exotic flavor of the era of samurai warriors cling to it even today. It evolved from the techniques of swordsmanship developed from the fourteenth through the nineteenth centuries and practiced by a class of professional fighting men. They were known as bushi (warriors) or samurai (a more formal designation of their class).
Bowing in
We discuss this historical development in the sections of the book entitled Wind and Void.
Briefly, Kendo was developed into its modern form by adopting selected elements of swordsmanship and adapting them to the changing needs of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Japan. The Abe Ryu was the first to formally designate its system as "Kendo," during the eighteenth century. Prior to this, swordsmanship was generally labeled kenjutsu.
Part of Kendo's development included the adoption of safety features. It was for this reason that fencing gloves and armor were introduced into practice, along with the widespread use of the shinai. The increased margin of safety in practice encouraged training in Kendo even by those who were not professional fighting men, and, by the mid-nineteenth century, a substantial number of Japanese, samurai and commoners, were engaged in what was known as shinai-geiko, or the type of training in which students used the shinai and protective armor.
During the nineteenth century, Japan entered the modern world with the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate and the restoration of the Emperor Meiji. At the same time that the government felt driven to modernize Japan's economy and government, however, there was also a feeling that much that was good in Japanese culture and society needed to be preserved. The particular qualities of courage, loyalty, and discipline that were believed to be encouraged by training in arts such as Kendo were considered vitally important by officials of the Meiji government. As a result, beginning in 1871, traditionalists urged the Japanese Ministry of Education to make Kendo compulsory in all public and private schools in Japan.
Despite this, interest in Japan's martial heritage began to wane in the late nineteenth century, as the Japanese people focused on modernizing their country. Public Kendo exhibitions became common during this period in the hopes of reviving interest, and this may have encouraged a further development of Kendo's evolving "sport" and competition emphasis.
Government sponsorship of these arts eventually served to revive interest. In 1895, the government established the Dai Nippon Butokukai (Greater Japan Martial Virtue Association) in Kyoto, which stressed the role of Kendo and judo in the moral education of Japanese citizens. Making arts such as Kendo and judo part of the education of Japan's young eventually ensured that interest would not die out. In 1905, Tokyo University became the first college in the nation to sponsor a Kendo team, and other colleges soon followed. In 1928, the All Japan Kendo Federation was established as a governing body to regulate and standardize the art throughout Japan.
The close involvement of the government with the martial arts caused the Allied Powers to temporarily ban their practice after Japan's defeat in World War II. The aggressive militarism of Imperial Japan during the 1930s and 40s made it seem as if the martial arts had little positive to offer the world, and the attitude of the Allied Powers is understandable. The arts most closely associated with the samurai, particularly those associated with swordsmanship, were proscribed. This ban lasted until 1948.
The fundamentally positive aspect of Japanese budo soon impressed itself upon officials, however, and they came to understand that the excesses of Japanese expansionism could in no way be attributed to budo itself. This process of rehabilitation was aided by the fact that many Allied servicemen stationed in Japan soon became fascinated by the martial arts.
In 1950, the Butokukai was reopened, and judo and Kendo were selected as the primary arts for the training of the newly organized Japanese police force. The rehabilitated image of budo gave rise to increased public participation in these arts. The early 50s saw the first extensive export of budo to the United States. In Japan, the increasing popularity of Kendo and judo was encouraged by a heightened emphasis on sport competitions during the 1960s. The Nippon Budokan, a massive sports arena, was built in 1964 in Tokyo, and is used to host major tournaments in Kendo and judo. As individuals in other countries became familiar with the heritage of the Japanese martial arts, interest in Kendo grew. As a result, the International Kendo Federation was established in 1971. Each nation typically has a ruling body devoted to maintaining the high standards of Kendo and preserving links with the IKF in Japan. Today, Kendo has millions of adherents throughout the world.
As people in the West have been exposed to the Asian martial arts and have come to recognize their value, there has been a steady growth in more "exotic" martial arts forms. In addition, as martial artists who began study in the 1960s and 70s have faced the wear and tear of advancing age, they have begun to look for martial arts forms that do less damage to the body and still offer the physical and psychological benefits of systems such as karate and judo. Finally, large numbers of women are seeking participation in martial arts whose philosophy is attractive and whose techniques enable them to transcend the physical disparities in size and strength between the sexes. All these things have acted to make Kendo increasingly attractive to Western practitioners.
In the United States, the All United States Kendo Federation is the official body regulating the practice of Kendo. It was founded in 1995 when two other Kendo organizations, the Kendo Federation of the United States and the Beikoku Kendo Renmei, were merged. The AUSKF maintains twelve regional Kendo federations, each with a board of directors and officers. Today, there are some two thousand practitioners of Kendo affiliated with the organization in the United States.
the training hall/dojo
Although Kendo can (and should) be part of everyday life, and can be practiced anywhere, formal training normally occurs in a special location known as a dojo. The name signifies a place for learning a Way (Do), and it should be treated with respect. Every dojo will have its own special details of etiquette (reigi), and the process of learning them is a voyage in developing the appropriate respect for the training hall.
Dojo are symbolically divided into zones of higher and lower status. The place of honor in the dojo is variously referred to as the shomen or kamiza. Its location is usually marked by a small shrine of some sort (hence the term kamiza, which means "deity seat"). Shomen are sometimes designated by a display of some sort, often calligraphy. During ceremonies in the dojo, the sensei sits closest to this special area, and students range themselves in rank order, the lowest ranks being farthest from the shomen. When entering and leaving the practice floor proper, you always bow to the shomen as a sign of respect for the art of Kendo.
Since the dojo is a special place, special behavior is required. Whatever our positions or problems in the outside world, when we enter the dojo, we enter a special realm where all our attention and energies should be devoted in a positive way toward creating an environment where the best is elicited from each of us.
the dojo hierarchy
As in all Japanese martial arts, there is a pronounced hierarchical emphasis in Kendo. This is demonstrated by the ways in which the class lines up as well as by the ways in which individuals relate to one another in the dojo.
Kendo as an art demands perfection of us, but no one but the most naive of students would believe that the mere practice of this art will lead to perfection. We nonetheless honor Kendo as a way that can help us move further along the path to self-perfection. As a result, we also honor those who have walked this path longer than we have.
In Kendo, seniors are treated with respect. Sempai (seniors) are given preference in the day-to-day workings of the dojo. Kohai (juniors) listen to their advice with respect and do their best to emulate them. All trainees treat each other with courtesy and strive to show, even in the littlest things, how Kendo's lessons have influenced their outlook and behavior.
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