KENDO IT’S PHILOSOPHY

Kendo enhances physical and mental growth, it develops a discipline which cultivates alertness (speed of action and a preconceived idea of given situations).
This requires concentration rather than physical strength.

Mushin, an altered state of consciousness

When facing an opponent you will have fear. But what is the source of the fear?

The opponent?

The sword?

The Buddhist explanation for this fear is that it is created in the mind. So you must conquer the fear in yourself before you can conquer your opponent.

 
It is said your best defence is offence. When you feel fear you attack.

You think about your attack. Men, Kote, Do or Tsuki. If you miss the target you will probably start to get frustrated, confused and worried about your own survival (This is having ego).
 

Ego breeds fear, frustration and confusion.

Under these circumstances the best thing to do is an all out attack called Sutemi (body abandoning). In this attack there is no interference from the ego. From an attack using Sutemi you will eventually discover Mushin (mind of no mind). You will develop a state of mind free from the ego (free from distractions). Having said this if you practice Kendo in a lazy manner Mushin will never be realised, you must practice with all your spirit and concentration.
 

Mushin will not be realised instantly, but over a long period of time. Some kendoka will learn this sooner than others. Through continued practice in Kendo the ego should be less and less present, then mushin will be realised. What this means is the human character to which kendo practice cultivates is within the Kendoka's mind (discipline of the mind).
 

Mushin can also be realised through other activities, compare Mushin in Kendo to that of theoretical studies. Both require concentration, perseverance and alertness but in Kendo as well as concentration, perseverance and alertness you will also require speed to deal with your opponent.

KI-AI

KI-ENERGY         AI-INTERGRATION

In Kendo Ki-ai refers to a verbal outflow (shout) of integrating energy originating from the mind and body. The Ki-ai is not just a shout to indicate the striking of a target in shinai kendo, (Men! Kote! Do! or Tsuki!) or in kata (Yah!and Toh!), nor is it just used to startle your opponent. It is an expression of the body, mind and spirit of yourself.

 

I find this quite a difficult thing to explain, but, imagine an air compressor with a release valve set at releasing air once it has reached a certain pressure within the tank.

  • You start the compressor to fill the tank with air
  • It fills to the set pressure level and the valve starts to release the air maintaining a constant pressure level within the tank

now put this into the context of kendo,

  • You are in chudan-no-kamae at issoku-itto-no-maai with your opponent,
  • You are both looking for a weakness in each other and the pressure within each others mind and body are building up all the time
  • When you ki-ai this is an expression of your energy that has built up within your mind and body, just like the valve releases air at a set pressure level, but the more the energy is within the mind and body.

I find that the ki-ai becomes louder and more often, especially with lower grade kendoka.

The integration of the mind and body energy helps to develop the single mind relating to Mushin which helps to produce the single resolute attack with speed and to strike with precision.

At this point I should mention that this kind of energy is produced from the integration of the mind and body and not the Ki-ai, the Ki-ai is the product of the mind and body integration.

Ki-ai is best used when:

  1. The moment you come face to face with an opponent
  2. When being attacked by an opponent
  3. When you are attacking a certain target

In the case of example 1. when you are facing your opponent my teacher said “you must hit your opponent with your mind” this is expressed through your ki-ai. The purpose of ki-ai is to rid the mind of fear, doubt and hesitation.

SUKI AND ZANSHIN

SUKI- A weakness in ones kamae (posture of chudan, jodan, gedan etc) and also weakness of the ma-ai (ones distance between you and your opponent) having an opening for an attack.

ZANSHIN- Continuous alertness

SUKI

A strong kamae leaves no opening for an attack.  

A Kendoka with no suki is usually a good strong fencer who’s every movement has a meaning, every movement he makes is done with a purpose either to try and create an opening or to cancel his opponents attempt at creating an opening.

His strategy therefore has no suki.

However a fencer who is in chudan at issoku-itto-no-ma-ai who just moves around not knowing why he moves this way or that way, will sooner or later have suki because he does not have insight into what is happening between him and his opponent.

The opponent who has no suki, who at the same time can control the movement of his opponent can draw his opponent into making an opening without him realising he has done so, so he can then attack him.

ZANSHIN

What happens if the student misses the target, here are two examples 

  1. If he attacks and misses the target, the receiver of the attack has now got the advantage of the situation. So after the attack the attacker must get out of the receivers range of attack, turn quickly and transform defence into offence. 
  2. In this second example again he attacks, misses the target, but saw a second target (nidan or sandan waza) but could not get it because he was not prepared for two or three strikes but only the one. Therefore he needs zanshin (continued alertness).

Never accept that one cut is enough but that if you miss to keep going until there are no more chances and still be ready to attack again straight away in the same manner as soon as the chances arise.

In other words never give up!

If the practitioner was to succeed in his attack, he should still maintain zanshin. My teacher said “it is like a wheel that keeps turning until it has reached its destination” and so in kendo you must maintain zanshin until you are successful even when you are tired after a hard practice, eventually you will reach your destination.

KIGURI

Kiguri-Pride

Kiguri is very important when you are fencing and you become very tired. Try to have enough energy and breath for one more attack. Do this after each attack that makes you feel that you want to stop, so that you can be proud that you are always ready to attack and in doing so, not admitting defeat.

SUMMARY

Mushin refers to concentration. It enables the student to face an opponent without fear and distractions from given situations while facing an opponent. It does not allow the ego to take over the mind. So if the student is up against a strong opponent who has no weaknesses he will be able to do a sutemi attack with composure and will be able to remain calm. They will also have a much better chance of success.

This can only be learned through rigorous training. With hard training you will find that the energies within the body and mind become more and more aroused and suffer less from distractions. To help achieve this your ki-ai should become stronger and possibly more often, helping to create a state of mind with no fear.

Ki-ai refers to the verbal outflow (shout) resulting from the integrating energy originating from the mind and body, it should be done with the feeling of hitting your opponent with your ki-ai.

With this state of mind and a good posture (chudan, jodan, gedan etc) it will be much more difficult for your opponent to attack you, or to control you, therefore you will have little or no suki and you will have a better chance to control your opponent and beat him.

To keep this frame of mind over any length of time and to attack your opponent at the very instant you see a chance with speed requires a lot of attention (zanshin).