PUBLIC MARKS with tags kendo & "Te No Uchi"

As I noted on facebook, in a dojo of 10 sensei you will get 10 different methods of striking men. I know this through experience. Although kendo does have a general ‘set’ method (defined by the ZNKR) it does – in fact – allow for a breadth of style. To exclaim that this or that is ‘wrong’ shows, I believe, not only inflexibility of mind, but potentially of method also. So, even if you don’t adhere to the method explained here, at least realise that many people actually do. What would be nice, however, would be that the people who don’t use this method to actually try it… a bit of research and self study (called KUFU in Japanese) is required in budo after all. As implied by the above, please realise that this is not some ‘how to do kendo properly’ article at all, but is presented for your (and my) study purposes. One of the well-known kendo phrases is: 我以外皆師 ‘Everybody but myself is my teacher’

Back in the days when I started kendo, heavy emphasis was placed on the “shibori action” on completion of each cut. If you don’t know, shiboru is the verb meaning to wring out a cloth or napkin.