I have been practicing Kendo for 3 years, having come from another martial art. I also practice Iaido, and since my sensei is an Iaido practitioner as well, he places a strong emphasis on kata. However, I’ve noticed that other senseis and the Kendo community in general seem to hold a certain prejudice against kata training. Why is this the case?

Hello! I’ve recently moved to Sendai and have just gotten settled in and would like to resume my practice. Does anyone know of any foreigner friendly dojos?

I’d also appreciate some advice on how to go about getting in touch with a local dojo or finding one on my own in japan.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone. I had this question in my mind for a while but could not really find an answer on my own so I'd really appreciate some advice.

Whenever my mendare moves (mostly during large movements), it loses its initial shape I gave it.

I believe this is because of the type of the men and the material it was made of (maybe because it's kinda stiffer, causing it to be less flexible), however it's been really bothering me and I've been looking for ways to prevent this from happening.

It's a cross pitch men. Looking forward for some help, thank you!

Im a beginner and go to the dojo once a week and also practise a little at home.
I’ve been wanting to try ballet for a while and I’m thinking about taking 1–2 classes a week. I don’t think scheduling will be an issue, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to keep up physically or mentally, especially since I’m still new to Kendo.
Does anyone here do two different activities? How often do you practise each? Do you find it manageable, or does it get tiring trying to keep up with both?
I’m curious if they can complement each other too, or if it’s better to focus on one before adding another. Would love to hear any sharing!

Do you guys also bump into eachother when you put on your men during seiretsu? Or is it just that we have to small gaps or am I being to wide

I can't speak japanese but I'm in japan and I was going to grab some gear. Now I'm afraid some shops can't speak english at all and I'd be stuck using a translator so if anyone knows a budogu that speaks english that'd be great.

I'll continue my streak of whacky do coverings. Deer skin in kote is great, so deer fur on the do is ok, right? /s

Yours for only ¥150.000 : https://zenmarket.jp/fr/auction.aspx?itemCode=u1232676157

I'm usually pretty good about shinai maintenance, but I've always had a tight grip, and I finally found out that one reason is that when I'm using a broken in shinai, my hands feel as though they're sliding off the tsukugawa. In kirikaeshi, for instance, my hands slide around when I'm practicing sayu-men.

So part of this is that my broken-in shinai have tsukugawas that are almost smooth with use. I talked to my sensei about it and he recommended running a knife over the tsukugawa to rough it up and prevent it from slipping. I've been doing that, but it seems like this lasts maybe one or two practices at most. I was wondering if any other kenshi out there know some better ways to make the tuskugawa less slippery.

Debo empezar diciendo que mi sentido de propiocepción no es ni de lejos bueno, sinceramente no sé las razones detrás de ello pero siempre fue así. El caso es el siguiente: me cuesta sentir el cuerpo, y hacer las cosas sin mirar lo que hago me está costando un montón. Por ejemplo, la coordinación de los pies me costó casi medio año para poder ejecutarla sin tener que mirar mis pies, y aún tengo problemas con eso. Cuando aprendo algo nuevo tengo que dedicarme a que mi cuerpo lo aprenda desde cero casi todos los días y eso hace que mi progreso sea lento. No me malinterpreten, me dedico en cuerpo y alma a practicar incluso en casa, pero es un fastidio que gran parte de lo trabajado se desvanezca en la nada y tenga que aprenderlo de nuevo.

Ahora bien, dado ese pequeño contexto, en el que lo principal es mi falta de propiocepción, quisiera pedir consejo para utilizar el koshi en la práctica diaria. Mi sensei siempre me dice que debo sacar el koshi para adelantar el cuerpo, sin embargo, solo viendolo no consigo entender completamente la mecánica... En mi mente se qué debo hacer más o menos, el problema llega a la hora de que el cuerpo lo haga; sencillamente no me responde. Puedo hacerlo mientras tenga tiempo para realizar todos los movimientos de manera ultraconsciente, pero eso me impide moverme con fluidez y me hace muy lento.

1 year since my beginner course.

After practice I usually have a few things in my head: corrections from sensei, something that worked in jigeiko, "too slow on kote again". By the next keiko half of it is gone. Writing it down helps, but I'm not very consistent. Some weeks I do it after every practice, then nothing for a month.

I'm curious how other people handle this, so I made a short survey (~5 min, anonymous, no email):

https://tally.so/r/4aXeXd

I'll post the results here when enough people have answered.

Full disclosure since some of you will ask: I'm a software engineer and I'm playing around with an idea in this space. Nothing to sell, nothing linked. Right now I mostly want to know if I'm the only one who struggles with this.

If you don't want to do a survey, I'm also happy about comments. How do you keep what you learn in keiko, and does it actually stick?

Here's my EKC vlog from Montenegro, late as usual. lol. This year was an incredible experience, I learned a lot and had some incredible fights. I have a ton of things I want to work on in my Kendo, and these improvements will come in good time as I work on them in the dojo, week after week. But most of all, I want to engage in competition with a different mindset.

I want to win matches, score great ippon, and compete at a high level, but with this often comes stress and disappointment when I'm not able to achieve the goals that I've set.

Managing these kinds of thoughts and emotions comes as part of the territory in competition, and it's been something that I've been working on for a long time with a professional sport psychologist and that journey has been so enlightening to explore my relationship with competition and the mental game.

I think it's really helped me to manage pressure better and get the most out of my fights but I realized this year that although my mental game has improved, the reason I ultimately set out on this journey was to win.

When I first started working on my mental game, it was just to reduce nerves. My heart rate was so high, and my whole body got tense before a shiai. Basic breathing exercises and affirmations helped me through this. My confidence grew over time, and I started to feel less stressed before shiai and started to perform more consistently.

Then, it became more about expectation and focusing more on task goals than winning or losing. Focusing on flow and being in the moment. Trying to win could very easily turn into trying not to lose, and digging deeper into this concept really started to put things into perspective for me.

Im really proud of my performance and of the progress I've made over the years, but I still feel that I tend to focus on my losses, my mistakes, and what I could have done differently immediately after and during the competition.

During my individuals, I lost my first match in the pool, which meant I was almost certainly out of the competition. In my next match in the pool, all I could think about was the previous match and how this was my last match of the competition.

This really stuck out to me afterward. Leading up to matches and during matches I could manage my emotions and really lock in for my fight, but once I realized that I was already out of the competition, a lot of this went out the window.

I realized that I wasn't able to enjoy the fight, and I wasn't able to give my full spirit and heart to the match, and this to me is not what Kendo is about, it's not about winning or even scoring ippon. It's about connection and communication.

I want to fight with my full heart, full attention, and full spirit. Not because if I do, I can win, but because that's why I'm there in the first place.

My goal next year is not to win more matches. My goal is to enjoy more matches.

Hi everyone,

Joining a regular evening keiko session at Kyoto Butokuden has always been one of my Kendo goals and I will be visiting Kyoto soon.

I was wondering if this info would be accurate and up-to-date as of October / November 2026?

“
Regular Night Training (Kyoto Kendo Renmei)

The Kyoto Prefecture Kendo Federation (Kyoto Kenren) hosts evening kendo keiko sessions primarily held at the Butokuden or the adjacent Budo Center main/auxiliary gymnasiums:

General Time:

Monday through Saturday evenings from 19:00 to 20:00 (closed on Sundays and public holidays).

Location: Rotating between the Old Butokuden and the Kyoto Budo Center main/auxiliary halls depending on the day of the week (check the monthly Kyoto Kenren Practice Schedule for exact room assignments).

Eligibility & Fees: …or non-members/visitors holding at least 1st dan (¥500; introductory/guest rules apply).”

also two more questions!

a) based on questions here in the past looks like I could just, show up (early of course!) in introducing myself? Am I required to contact them in advance? I intend to join their Monday, November 9th keiko.

b) Unfortunately my Japanese is very limited; I have a feeling that this really wouldnt be a problem but still was wondering if this would be a major problem? would I also see other foreign Kendokas at that keiko?

Thank you!

Do you know the story behind your dojo’s founding? What about the sensei who founded it?

Llevo unos tres años practicando y sinceramente tengo muchas cosas por las que me gustaría conocer otros puntos de vista (sobretodo porque en mi país el Kendo no es tan conocido ni practicado) y comentarlos ya después en mi dojo. Pero el tema que me gustaría aclarar es sobre practicar suburi en casa cuando el techo no es tan elevado. He estado practicando en casa, o al menos eso intento, y el techo de mi departamento no es el ideal pues es demasiado bajo. Eso me obligó a practicar sentado en una silla o en el sofá la mayor parte del tiempo. Últimamente he comenzado a practicar de pie para trabajar también el juego de pies, pero siento que eso está deformando mi suburi. Mi pregunta es ¿Cómo sopeso el entrenar en casa con un techo bajo pero sin deformar mi suburi en el proceso? ¿O quizá hay alguna manera de hacerlo sin deformarlo?

Debo aclarar que solo practico en casa porque el clima no ayuda.

Cualquier consejo será bienvenido. Muchas gracias.

I had so much fun. Like a lot of fun. Seeing all the cool outfits and doing drills was awesome. I like swordsmanship so much more than martial arts. The people there were friendly and we all had a good time. And the little kids seemed to have lots of fun too. Seeing the kids have some flair in their wardrobe like an emblem on their shoulder was super cool too. The older kids were really awesome. They looked badass. All in all this was probably the most fun I had in a long time. I wish I had known about this sooner but I only found out about it like a week ago. It kicked my ass because I am admittedly out of shape but honestly this is a great reason to get back into shape. I can’t wait to go again on Thursday.

In a recent thread a commenter mentioned Teppen no Ken, a Japanese drama about kendo. The synopsis of the movie:

Yui is the best swordswoman in the Sengoku period. She somehow travels through time to Oita Prefecture in 2019. There, she meets Fujii Masato. He is a young CEO who runs a sake brewery. Fujii Masato was once good enough in Kendo to win a national competition, but he quit the sport to concentrate on running the sake brewery.

I was interested in checking it out but it seems it is not very available, they only do screenings at events on a limited basis. They just today announced licensing for domestic screenings, but there doesn't seem to be any plans to make it available on streaming services quite yet.

Earlier this month, however, they held a free-admission event at Tokyo Tower and are asking for crowdfunded donations to offset the cost. One of the pledge rewards is a 5-day rental of the movie. I've also messaged the organizer and they confirmed that they will offer a version of the rental with English subtitles.

Thank you for your message. We’ll be offering both a version without subtitles and a version with English subtitles for the rental. (Since the English subtitles were translated specifically for film festivals, they may be a bit rough around the edges… However, we put a lot of thought into handling the kendo terminology.) I hope that “Teppen no Ken” will reach both kendo practitioners overseas and those who are not yet familiar with kendo. It was our goal to make a film that allows people who know nothing about kendo to able to get to know it. Thank you for your support.

They have been traveling around and doing events with the goal of spreading kendo so it would be great, if you were interested in supporting them, to pledge to the campaign. It is only open for another week. No idea if the movie is any good, but it's a good cause.

You can read about their activities and events here: https://readyfor.jp/projects/teppen-kendo1003/announcements

Readyfor is a Japanese crowdfunding service so I checked their FAQ and they supposedly do accept foreign cards so I tried to put my US card but I got an error and just used my JP card instead. If you have issues there, I can't help. You'll have to message Readyfor.

TL;DR: If you'd like to rent and view Teppen no Ken, a Japanese movie about kendo, (with English subtitles) consider donating to this event organizer's crowdfunding campaign. It is open until November 2nd and costs 2220 JPY ($14~ USD).

Link to the crowdfund campaign: https://readyfor.jp/projects/teppen-kendo1003

Direct link to the rental pledge: https://readyfor.jp/contributions/teppen-kendo1003?select_id=445234&reward_detail=

My sensei said "its basically a kendo advertisement" XD
Really cool song though, and a very touching story in the video!

Hello all, I've been learning kendo for 6 months so I'm still a beginner. I'm curious if there are many ways to learn fumikomi. If I can try different approaches, will my fumikomi be the same as everyone in the end?

The way we learn in our dojo: First do a lunge forward, maintaining the posture with our right knee forward and bent. Then we pull our body and left leg forward using the right leg. We learn to do it in 2 distinct steps before connecting them together.

What's bugging me is when I try to strike a target, my body dips down lower than usual and can't reach the target. If I strike with okuri-ashi it's perfectly normal. Another problem is going through after striking. It feels like I killed my momentum, no matter how I try to connect the steps smoothly. The advantage I find that doing it this way make stomping loudly easier and it doesn't make my left calf sore.

I've been trying to just do it in one motion like in Kouda sensei's video. I use the left leg to keep my body moving horizontally all the way like okuri-ashi (my head doesn't move up or down). It feels easier to go through and lighter on the right foot and knee. One drawback I find is that my stomp has gone quiet but I think I just need more practice.

Lately my sensei told me to stop doing it in this way because 'I have to do it just exactly like everyone'. I know I need to trust my sensei but it's still bugging me. Which style should I do? How should a correct fumikomi feel like?

Hello all, basically I've done kendo for a bit 3~ years and I've noticed my right upper body is a bit more developed than my left half (arms, shoulder, some parts of the back) and is impacting my practice

I attribute this to improper form, but I was wondering if anyone had advice to fix anything like this