Kendo Questions Kata

[WaterWheel]

from : http://www.jccckendo.com/kendo/aboutkendo/abkata.html
The early methods of kendo practice consisted only of kata. Therefore each kenjutsu school or ryu ha created a unique set of kata that distinguished it from other ryu.


My question : How changed is the kata in kendo today ? What is it like?
Does it cover all areas of swordsmanship e.i guarding low? Is kendo completley a sport? Just the shinai/bogu practice? are the kata designed as martial art technique ?

Is all the kendo training a build up to Shinai/sparring? Or is Shinai/Sparring just a component of kendo sword mastery ? maybe neither ? then what ?

[Andrew Green]

There are still kata done in Kendo, mainly to "preserve" , but when I did it they where not a focus at all.

They are also not "kata" in the karate sense. They where all two person forms consisting of an attack and a counter.

[Neil Gendzwill]

They are also not "kata" in the karate sense. They where all two person forms consisting of an attack and a counter.
I could reverse that and say that karate kata aren't "kata" in the kendo sense.

Anyways, traditional Japanese swordsmanship is practised with solo and paired kata. Kendo has ten kata, seven of them are paired longsword kata and three are shortsword vs longsword. They are mostly practised with bokken (wooden swords), and sometimes publicly demonstrated with mogito (dull metal swords). Their origin is largely itto-ryu kenjutsu although as they were set by committee there are other ryu in there. Koryu types consider them to be a fairly good representation of authentic technique. The techniques within them are all useable in shinai kendo, although some of the kamae (postures) are not practical. They are required for grading. Most dojos don't practice them very often. Our club devotes 30 minutes per week to them, although we ignore them for the first 3 months while we're ramping up the beginners and then ignore them again in summer when we only have one class per week. I suspect we practice more kata than most - many dojo only haul out the bokken a few weeks before grading.

The bulk of kendo practice is done with shinai - bamboo practice swords. Beginners use shinai to learn the basic swings and attacks. After a few months, they move into armour. A typical class would be warmup, suburi (practice swings), paired drills of basics moving into more advanced waza and then free sparring. Sometimes we'll run an entire class unarmoured as a basics review.

[Andrew Green]

I could reverse that and say that karate kata aren't "kata" in the kendo sense.


Yup, you could. But when the word "Kata" comes up most people think karate-style patterns. But then most people that use Japanese terms in martial arts are prone to missusing them, so why confuse them more? ;)

[Abbax8]

Question please. I know the kata in TKD has solo forms. Is this true as well in the japanese or okinawan forms of karate?

Peace

Dennis

[TonyU]

Question please. I know the kata in TKD has solo forms. Is this true as well in the japanese or okinawan forms of karate?

Peace

Dennis
Yes we do. That is the foundation of karate from which one builds upon.