For this post I'll discuss the contemporary definition of Kendo given by the Zen Nihon Kendo Renmei (ZNKR) a.k.a All Japan Kendo Federation (AJKF) as well as my personal view and understanding on it (didn't take long).
This post would be easily comprehended by those who have known how kanji behaves and some of their properties as well. Nonetheless, if you can follow through the article, there won't be much problem trying to understand it, its just a very straight forward concept.
"The concept of Kendo is to discipline the human character through the application of the principles of the Katana (sword)." - ZNKR via Concept of Kendo
The above concept is a more appealing and less hostile inducing definition on what kendo tries to achieve in us.
While the other way round, what we try to achieve in kendo, would be stated as below:
The Purpose of Practicing Kendo
To mold the mind and body,
To cultivate a vigorous spirit,
And through correct and rigid training,
To strive for improvement in the art of Kendo,
To hold in esteem human courtesy and honor,
To associate with others with sincerity,
And to forever pursue the cultivation of oneself.
This will make one be able:
To love his/her country and society,
To contribute to the development of culture
And to promote peace and prosperity among all peoples.
- 1975, ZNKR via Concept of Kendo
Kanji、漢字、 literally means Han Zhi、漢字、 or in english, "the word of the Han people"、 漢人の字、 (now named China, not gonna call it chinese, because it wasn't called China back then when these words were invented). Which I believe at this point, most of the readers must've learnt about the Han dynasty in our Brunei history books and no, it ain't my dynasty.
Kanji is a pictogram/logogram and classified as an ideogram which means character that contains ideology and concept within the word/character. Majority of the kanji contains their fundamental element if its of physical object. Such as Hashi 箸、chopstick, contains the element, bamboo, signifying its make in the olden days. Another example is Gawa 河、river, with the element of water.
As for ideology, Te 照, shine,containing the character of sun, day, and the 4 dots signifies the shine radiated by the sun during the day.
With this, the word, Ken 剣、was being broken down when I was asking myself the billion dollar question as any of us kendoka would.
"What is ken-dou 剣道?"
As a Chinese ( I call the ones from China, Mainlanders), I did what we were taught to when not understanding a Han Zhi/ Kanji, break down the character of the Kanji. As our ancestors don't create a word without a fix convention or without any meaning contained in it (learn more Kanji/ Han Zhi and you'll agree).
This answered my question to kendo right away although it seems no where near the official definitions given by the official Kendo bodies. Not to mention it would also answer your question to "what is kenjutsu?".
When Kanji were created millennia ago, the ideology to be contained in a character were precise and undecorated with cheesy, unnecessary or excess information in order to convey an idea. Thus most Kanji will look plain and simple as it can be.
The self illustrated diagram would suffice on its own to define the meaning of Ken 剣、and what it would contribute to define the term Kendou 剣道.
The Kanji it self contains 3 elements of which 2 objects with 1 verb. This is what Ken 剣, is established on and the fundamental criteria to give ,Ken 剣, its meaning.
(一) the character that looks like り is actually how ,Katana 刀, is written when used as an element in a Kanji.
(二) Kanji pronounced as ,Ai 合, means to meet or to unify, example of term used in is ,AiKiDou 合気道, the way to unify Ki 気.
(三) the kanji of ,Jin 人, human, person or individual.
As the Kanji suggests, the ideology of multiple element being combined as one to establish a meaning in an object, this would arrive in this simple and universal target all sword wielders pursue that would just sums up most of the statements stated by ZNKR.
人刀合一
This phrase means, to unify the wielder and sword as one. When such criteria meets, we achieve the greatest realm all kendoka and swordsmen alike, pursue in their life of training.
As it means, Ken 剣, is to achieve the unity of human and sword. This would then extends its definition to KenDou 剣道 as, the way to achieve unity in human and sword (starting to sound very wrong and g*y).
**Billion dollar question answered... now waiting for the cheque..**
This term would most fit the phrase that we would always hear in kendo (which I hope is a way the HanShi 範師 has been hinting us kendoka for decades). And that phrase would be none other than:
気剣体一致
Ki Ken Tai Ichii
Ki 気, would mean the spirit/mind of the wielder while, Tai 体, signifies the body, thus would interpret as Jin 人.
Ken would be the Katana 刀.
Ichii 一致, also means to unify or synchronise thus interprets the ,Ai 合.
Hope this article clears the doubts of most of the readers. Do feel free to discuss away in the comments column and also your views on the question "What is Kendou?".
**Inconstructive comments of negative nature or flaming comments would be deleted**
Til' the next post,
Ja mata zo!
-Takeshi 武-
9th December
十二月九日 水曜日
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