To me, Kendo is a mix of a lot of things. From a technical point of view, it is a sport/martial art where there are techniques, rules, competition, points, judges, audiences and so forth. From a non technical point of view, it is a personal improvement method. You embark on what is a very tough, challenging journey where your mental and physical being is continually being pushed not only by others but by yourself, to be better.
The physical aspects mean you work harder to be fitter, healthier, stronger, faster so you can perform these technical moves. The mental aspects mean you are able to improve your perception where you can see openings, timing, reaction acuity to incoming attacks but besides these there is still more.
I don't know exactly what Zen is. I will probably never know for sure or attain Zen, but for all 'true' martial arts (I'm sorry boys but MMA doesn't count) there is the concept of Zen. We do mokuso to clear our minds in meditation. This is part of Zen. Until I can go into jigeiko, or shiai and not consciously think about what the heck is happening infront of me, then I have not attained Zen. Kendo has this. Perhaps Zen could be said to be what enables unconscious reactions, where our subconscious reflex speeds are faster because it completely bypasses conscious thought processes and we see the top end competition players who have abnormally fast 0.001 second reactions speeds.
But, outside of this, Kendo is also a way of bonding between people because you share the same experiences of hard work, sweat, maybe some blood, maybe some tears. It is a way of making lifelong friends, and also a way of gaining and showing respect to your fellow Kendoka.
For me, Kendo is all of these things. There are a very small number of people that I know who do Kendo that I personally believe that they only do Kendo only for the entertainment aspect as their behaviour, actions and lack of 'respect' for what happens during the dojo do not show anything else. Sadly, that is their choice.
What I will say is that while I do not respect their way of doing things (it actually upsets me greatly sometimes, but I attempt to curtail this) I must respect them and act as civil as possible for the sake of being a human and not to raise a fuss or scene. It is no surprise of course then to see that these people do not improve their skills, techniques, abilities over the same course of time as those who work diligently, and even if the improvements are small and far in-between I pay these people much respect for their efforts.
Kendo is hard work. You're not always going to learn something quickly, or easily. But when your sensei gives you a small tidbit of praise, the feeling is very good. Kendo is also very demanding upon the body and mind and after training, even though I do feel very very tired, taking off my men and sitting there in seiza is very relaxing. I think if you do not train hard, you will not understand what it means to actually sit in seiza and feel good about it.
Kendo is also a personal journey. How fast I advance can not be compared to someone else, even if we start at the same time, attend the same training sessions. My body and mind is not the same as theirs, unless we are identical twins perhaps but even then our minds may be different. It is too easy to say, that you are better than them because you can do something more advanced better or sooner, but curtailing your ego is being humble and respectful, character building because no-matter how good you are (unless you are "the best") there is always someone who is better than you, and part of initiation kind of shows you that point.
Therefore, I think as part of Kendo you should respect other peoples learning (except if they chose not to learn, like those who play for entertainment as I mentioned), do not try to compare people in such a manner, and let people advance at their own pace.
I don't play a lot of competition because I am not wanting to enter. I don't want to enter because I do not feel that I am ready to do so. Yes, competition can teach me many things, I am sure of that, but only if someone can look and tell me what is there to be learnt because right now I am not at the stage to self learn from competition. Therefore, please don't pressure me to compete?
Anyway, that is just some ramble about what I think is some parts of Kendo that I have discovered for myself.
The physical aspects mean you work harder to be fitter, healthier, stronger, faster so you can perform these technical moves. The mental aspects mean you are able to improve your perception where you can see openings, timing, reaction acuity to incoming attacks but besides these there is still more.
I don't know exactly what Zen is. I will probably never know for sure or attain Zen, but for all 'true' martial arts (I'm sorry boys but MMA doesn't count) there is the concept of Zen. We do mokuso to clear our minds in meditation. This is part of Zen. Until I can go into jigeiko, or shiai and not consciously think about what the heck is happening infront of me, then I have not attained Zen. Kendo has this. Perhaps Zen could be said to be what enables unconscious reactions, where our subconscious reflex speeds are faster because it completely bypasses conscious thought processes and we see the top end competition players who have abnormally fast 0.001 second reactions speeds.
But, outside of this, Kendo is also a way of bonding between people because you share the same experiences of hard work, sweat, maybe some blood, maybe some tears. It is a way of making lifelong friends, and also a way of gaining and showing respect to your fellow Kendoka.
For me, Kendo is all of these things. There are a very small number of people that I know who do Kendo that I personally believe that they only do Kendo only for the entertainment aspect as their behaviour, actions and lack of 'respect' for what happens during the dojo do not show anything else. Sadly, that is their choice.
What I will say is that while I do not respect their way of doing things (it actually upsets me greatly sometimes, but I attempt to curtail this) I must respect them and act as civil as possible for the sake of being a human and not to raise a fuss or scene. It is no surprise of course then to see that these people do not improve their skills, techniques, abilities over the same course of time as those who work diligently, and even if the improvements are small and far in-between I pay these people much respect for their efforts.
Kendo is hard work. You're not always going to learn something quickly, or easily. But when your sensei gives you a small tidbit of praise, the feeling is very good. Kendo is also very demanding upon the body and mind and after training, even though I do feel very very tired, taking off my men and sitting there in seiza is very relaxing. I think if you do not train hard, you will not understand what it means to actually sit in seiza and feel good about it.
Kendo is also a personal journey. How fast I advance can not be compared to someone else, even if we start at the same time, attend the same training sessions. My body and mind is not the same as theirs, unless we are identical twins perhaps but even then our minds may be different. It is too easy to say, that you are better than them because you can do something more advanced better or sooner, but curtailing your ego is being humble and respectful, character building because no-matter how good you are (unless you are "the best") there is always someone who is better than you, and part of initiation kind of shows you that point.
Therefore, I think as part of Kendo you should respect other peoples learning (except if they chose not to learn, like those who play for entertainment as I mentioned), do not try to compare people in such a manner, and let people advance at their own pace.
I don't play a lot of competition because I am not wanting to enter. I don't want to enter because I do not feel that I am ready to do so. Yes, competition can teach me many things, I am sure of that, but only if someone can look and tell me what is there to be learnt because right now I am not at the stage to self learn from competition. Therefore, please don't pressure me to compete?
Anyway, that is just some ramble about what I think is some parts of Kendo that I have discovered for myself.
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