Seattle Kendo Kai meets for keiko (practice) three times a week. Please see the Schedule page for information about practice times. There are three disciplines that we practice:
Kendo
Kendo is the martial art of Japanese sword fencing.
It is a very offense-oriented, full contact activity consisting of slicing cuts
with bamboo swords (shinai). Participants wear a uniform consisting of a thick cotton shirt (keiko-gi) and traditional Japanese pleated
pants (hakama). They also wear armor (bogu) consisting of a helmet (men), breast plate (do), leather gauntlets
(kote) and a stiff apron (tare).
Kendo practice at SKK last from one-and-a-half to 2 hours. Following a variety of warm up and stretching exercises, students perform exercises that practice the various facets of Kendo including drills to improve the required footwork of Kendo to teaching new sword techniques (waza) as well as continuous attack drills to improve stamina. Class normally ends with an extended sparring practice known as Jikeiko.
Kata
An important element in the study of Kendo is kata:
pre-choreographed forms which summarize the art's main principles and situations.It teaches various
waza that have practical applications on the kendo floor. Kata is practiced with wooden swords (bokken) and requires no armor. Practioners perform a
set of movements simulating real combat without actually striking their opponent. Kata requires a very high level of proficiency and involves a
well-defined set of movements, total concentration, heightened psychological tension, and precise co-ordination with one's partner. Moreover, the kendo
ranking exams for 1-kyu and above have a kata component.
The sensei at SKK believe that the kata is an important part of learning and understanding kendo. Thus practices on the first and third Tuesday of each month focus on the kata.
Iaido
Iai, also known as iaido,
is another branch of kendo that employs pre-choreographed forms. Unlike Kata, however, the distance between
the practitioner and the opponent in iaido is so close that it cannot be practiced safely with a partner. Therefore, iaido is a one-person form of kata.
Iaido can be practiced with a bokken, but many practioners use an iaito (a specially made Japanese sword with no cutting edge) or a shinken
(a real Japanese sword).
Iaido is taught on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month. Kenshi wishing to learn iaido should bring a bokken or iaito.