Why Kendo?

Kendo people

Oh, the dreaded question! How many times I did hear this, of course immediately after something like: “Is Kendo the thing with the sticks?”, in the best of cases.

My answer changed several times, along the years, not surprisingly. I still prefer not be asked, because most of the times I know that who`s asking is not really interested in hearing the reason of a lifelong engagement, but just in exploring a bit of folklore.

Of course, answering the question 30 years ago was even more difficult – thank God for the internet and for the deluge of information that comes across, even if not 100 % pertinent: it helps filling the gaps and makes the process of crafting a suitable answer less painful.

My answer to that question - today - is: Because I like the people who are in our world. It is small (it is very likely I met personally at least one person from every Kendo Federation on earth – at least the more consolidated ones), but it is the quality of the human beings that makes it special.

The span of the motivation to enter our world can be very wide: there are kenshi who live Kendo as a pastime, for the beer after keiko, and others who made Kendo their philosophy (and wrote books about it), all equally delightful to practice (and spend time) with.

I am no Alice in Wonderland, I met also the “villains” in this story: I have come across shady characters who still believe that Kendo could be a business and, although lacking any technical – and human – quality, are trying to pass as Kendo Masters, for a price… if only they knew how to dress properly! they do not even have to open their mouth or swing their shinai to give themselves away.

I met the ones who want to be samurai warriors and never crack a smile (and, gosh, how they make sure that no one else does!), because the Way of the Warrior is Death.

I met those who take off their Men during keiko every time they feel like resting, drinking, stretching and talking with the occasional member of the audience (given our average following, more likely it`s the janitor of the gym…).

I met a lady who always “injured” herself during warming up and never made it to put the Men on – although a lot of people would have loved to have a good fight with her…

I am sure everyone met someone who made him/her doubt if the dojo was really such a safe/hospitable/joyous place to be.

Nevertheless, the core is good. Most people wants genuinely BECOME BETTER KENSHI, and in doing so, BETTER HUMAN BEINGS. Not everyone has this aim spelled clearly in his/her mind, but it is the passion and the seriousness of their practice that makes it clear. These are the people I wish to associate with, that make me overcome the occasional pain-in-the-neck individual who tries to trash Kendo to his/her purposes.

We should defend our Kendo, through our honest and sincere practice. Through the respect for senpai and sensei. Through modesty and open-heartedness. Through the steely determination to practice (and to pass it on) in the correct way – both in terms of waza and kokoro. The responsibility of this development does not sit only on the knees of the Japanese: WE are Kendo and the task is for all of us to carry on.

As far I think, with all the glitches that are the burden of the human nature, it is the closest thing to an ideal world that I know of : and you can be bloody sure, I will fight till my last breath to keep it so.

I dislike laziness

I love facts.
I am an engineer, so I have been educated to look at hard numbers and to find explanations to event in a matter-of-fact way. I am no scientist: meaning that I look at the practical answers to the problem at hand, instead of investigating it just for the pure pleasure of knowledge.
Having said so, let`s talk shinai.

Shinai are fascinating objects, because they offer so many interpretations of themselves.
They are complex devices, they require excellent craftsmanship to be fit for use. At the same time, they are the consumables of Kendo. I cannot count how many shinai I used in my career. Judging only by the splintered staves scattered in my garden  (recycled to support plants), I must have gone well beyond several hundreds. I have bunches of shinai in Italy, Holland and Japan - I still keep buying shinai, to test the different types and discover my own. I love the beauty of the bamboo, the different colours available and the ingenuity of the different shapes available.
At the beginning of my career, shinai would go incredibly fast. I guess it is a common phenomenon: beginners hit too hard and they pay for this. Nevertheless, my senpai spent time to teach me how to take care of my shinai - it was for practical purposes (scarcity is the mother of invention... and of sandpaper), but all this care also had a strong symbolical meaning. The shinai is your sword - your life depends on it, respect it as if it had been handed to you by generations of ancestors.
This teaching is so ingrained in me that even nowadays I cringe whenever I see a shinai leaning aganist a wall with the tip on the floor, or I see someone who steps across one, as if he/she was happily dancing in the Highlands:

or. even worse, lean on it as if he/she was a Corazziere in high uniform.
I love the Corazzieri from the bottom of my heart, but this pose does not belong to the dojo.

Corazziere della Repubblica Italiana

Years ago shinai always needed to be tended even when they were new. We would take them apart (a very scary process, when you were not really sure you would be able to assemble them right again...), smooth with sandpaper the sharp edges of the staves, then oil them with linseed oil. We would have intense debates about the different merits of crude and boiled linseed oil: endless talks during the post-keiko drinks.
Nowadays, none of this is necessary anymore. I find out that some friends still go through the process anyway, because... no real reason, but they do it anyway. Old habits are hard to die.
Then one ugly day, came the end to all the linseed oil  - related conversations. Columbus`s egg: the shinai that did not need any of the care that bamboo needed, because it was not made of bamboo.
Not only ugly as hell, but also the triumph of all lazy kenshi: why spending useless hours shaving your splintered shinai, when you could have a shinai that does not splinter at all? Little mattered that it would hit harder on your mates heads, as long as it would not break.
We can still have the little consolation that the different elastic response is hard not only on the heads of the victims, but also on the shoulder ligaments of the holder. Pity it takes too long to make them reconsider out of sheer physical damage: laziness is a powerful lever.
Once the fascination of the new could have been understandable - nowadays, not anymore.

And since I love facts, let`s stick to the facts.
How many hachidan sensei or high level Japanese kenshi have you ever seen using a non-bamboo shinai?
I think this is the only answer that counts.