Beginning Kendo

Vocabulary
Here is a list of basic kendo terms.
A. Japanese Pronunciation

When written using English letters, Japanese

follows some basic rules of pronunciation:
 A is pronounced as “ah”
 I is pronounced as “ee”
 E is pronounced as “eh”
 O is the long “o” sound, as in “go”
 U is pronounced as “oo”
 when an I or U come at the end of a word,
they are often almost silent, depending on
the speaker. Thus, “ichi” will often sound
like “eech” and “desu” will sound like “des”
 there is no distinction between R and L in
Japanese. The same character is used for
both. For example, even though the word
for 6 is roku, with an R, it is pronounced
“loku”.

B. Counting
  Ichi – 1
 Ni – 2
 San – 3
 Shi – 4
 Go – 5
 Roku – 6
 Shichi – 7
 Hachi – 8
 Kyu – 9
 Ju – 10
 Ni-ju – 20
 San-ju – 30
 Yon-ju (or Shi-ju) – 40
 Kai – number of times. So, if the
dojo master says “ju kai,” it means
do the exercise ten times. You will
often hear “san ju kai” because we
do some of the exercises 30 times.

C. Directional Words

2
  Mae – forward
 Ahto – back
 Migi – right
 Hidari – left
 Zenshin – moving forward
 Koutai – moving backward
 Sayu – left/right (alternating between migi
and hidari)

D. Other Kendo Vocabulary and Concepts

 Arigato gozaimashita – “thank you,”

past tense. When bowing to a sensei
(teacher), you should add “Domo” at
the beginning: domo arigato
gozaimashita. Present tense: arigato
gozaimasu.
 Hajime – begin
 Yame – end
 Yasume – rest position with shinai
low and to the right
 Hantai – opposite; do the opposite
now

3
  Mo ichi do – one more time
 Mo itt kai – one more time
 Shoshinsha - beginner
 Maai – the distance or space between
two individual fencers
 Shiai – a match between fencers
 Kikentai ichi – spirit, sword, and
body are one

Now that you are familiar with some basic

vocabulary, we can look at the stretching
and warmup exercises we do at the
beginning of every class.

E. Stretching Warmup – at very beginning of

class

4
  When class is called to begin, all shinai are
placed in a wheel formation on the floor in
the middle of the dojo
 Then dojo members spread out in a circle for
stretching exercises.
 You can just copy what the rest of the class
is doing for stretching exercises so there is
no need to review the Japanese terms. But,
when you begin the next part of class, you
are in the front line, so it is helpful to
memorize the exercises.

F. Suburi Warmup Exercises with the Shinai

 Line up, kids and beginners are in

the front line(s)
 Kamae-te – take the basic stance
with sword at medium guard position
 Perform one sonkyo
 Okuri ashi - Moving backward,
forward, side to side, without
swinging shinai.
o Two steps forward, two back,
two right, then two left.
5
 o Mae mae, ahto ahto, migi
mighi, hidari hidari
 Jougeh-suburi - Moving backward
and forward, swinging shinai – two
forward, two backward. The shinai
movement in this exercise is to
stretch for maximum long range,
meaning you swing further backward
when raising the shinai and swing
down almost to the floor when
swinging downward with the shinai.
 Side to side (sayu) suburi, alternating
which foot is forward. When
swinging to the left, right foot is
forward, and vice versa. The rear
foot moves into a line directly behind
the other foot. Like the Jougeh
suburi exercise, the swing is extra
big to stretch.
 Ippon uchi (single strike)

6
 o Hit the men following a call
“Men wo ute.”. Repeat 2-3
times.
o Hit the kote following a call
“Kote wo ute.” Repeat 2-3
times.
o Hit the do following a call
“Do wo ute.” Repeat 2-3
times.
o Hit the tsuki with fumikomi
following a call “Nodo wo
tsuke.” Repeat 2-3 times.
 Renzoku waza (multiple strikes)
o Hit the kote-men following a
call “Kote-men wo ute.” Two
steps forward, striking the
kote and the men each time.
Then taking two step back,
and counting “ichi, ni” but
not striking.
o Following a call “Renzoku
men wo ute.”, hit the three-

7
 consecutive men strikes
forward, and then three-
consecutive men strikes
moving backward.
o Following a call “Renzoku
sayu men wo ute”, hit the
three-consecutive mens
similarly, but alternating right,
left, right forward, and then
left, right, left backward,.
 Matawari suburi- Sonkyo men
strikes - feet shoulder width apart,
keeping back straight. This is done
30 times with counting.
 Hayasuburi – rapid forward and
backward movement with a sword
strike on the forward movement.
Performed 30 times with counting,
followed by a fumikomi men
forward, then turn around and
execute another fumikomi-men to
move back to starting position

8
 Shinkokyu (Deep breething)- One
step forward, shinai up high with
inhaling a deep breath, slowly down
into sonkyo with exhaling. Stand up,
raise shinai up high with inhaling,
step back with exhaling. Execute
fully twice. On the third step
forward and sonkyo, put shinai away,
stand, and step back.
 Bow, and go to the end of the gym
for line exercises.
 Following a call “Suri ahi (or okuri
ahi) hajime.”, fast okuri ashi across
the gym and back, no uchi, but
sword in chodan no kamae
 Following a call “Fumikomi men
hajime.”, alternating long fumikomi
men strikes, into deep fumikomi so
that your forward knee is bent and
you are fully extended, but keep your
back straight (alternating right and
left foot forward)

9
 Following a call “Men uchi san kai
hajime.”, big men strike with
fumikomi, then suriashi step
forward; repeating three times across
the dojo
 Following a call “Kote-men uchi san
kai hajime.”, do the same thing, but
two fumimoki, kote then men, then
move forward. Three times across
the floor
 “Renzoku men hajime.”, do repeated
men strikes with fumikomi all the
way across the gym.
 “Renzoku kote-men hajime.” Same
repeated strikes with fumikomi,
alternating between kote and men all
the way across the gym.
 Form two lines. Practice okuri ashi
listening for the dojomaster’s
commands. See section C.
 Sonkyo, put shinai away. Back up.
Bow.

10
  Form two lines, kneeling

G. Commands Used at the Beginning of Class –

After warmups

 Serietsu – line up
 Seiza – to sit in seiza position with
knees together and shinai to the left
 Mokuso – meditate
 Rei – bow
o Shomen ni rei – bow to
kamiza (banner) or joseki
(higher ranking members)
o Sensei gata ni rei – bow to
the sensei
o Jouseki ni rei – bow to “higher
ranking seat or spot” (only when
Tagawa sensei is absent)
o Otagai ni rei – bow to
classmates
 Kiotsuke/Sageto – come to attention
position

H. Basic Stances and Movements

11
 Gedan no kamae – low guard
position
 Chudan no kamae – medium guard
position
 Jodan no kamae – high guard
position
 Chudan no kamae – basic stance
 Sonkyo – squat with sword in ready
position
 Taito – place the left thumb on the
tsuba and bring shinai up, getting
ready to draw
 Nuki toh – draw the shinai
 Osame toh – sonkyo, then put the
sword away
 Jougeh – up/down
 Jougeh – suburi – one step forward
and one step back, swinging the
shinai to maximum extension each
time.
 Zenshin – moving forward
 Koutai – moving back

12
 Ashi – moving with your legs; no
shinai movement
 Uchi – to strike with the shinai
 Men Uchi - Same as zenshin koutai
okuri ashi, but striking men with the
shinai with each step
 Kirikaeshi – exercise involving two
fencers, one striking and one
receiving.
 Suriashi (or okuriashi) – basic
footwork where the feet are moved
in each direction (see section C)
from the basic foot position. Quiet
steps sliding your feet without
slapping the floor.
 Fumikomi – a basic footstep,
pushing your body using the whole
left leg, and landing on the floor with
the right foot, often with a slapping
sound. This footstep is used when
you strike “uchi” with a shinai, but

13
 usually not with suburi for which
suriashi (or okuriashi) is used. .
 Suburi – Exercise with the shinai,
using basic cuts
 Hayasuburi/chioyaku-suburi – fast
exercise, moving forward and
backward quickly, striking with the
shinai when moving forward and
raising the shinai when moving
backward

I. Parts of the Shinai

 Ken-sen – the very tip of the shinai

 Sakigawa – leather covering on
pointy end of the shinai
 Naka-yui – leather string around the
shinai and located near the sakigawa
 Tsuka – hilt; handle
 Tsuka gashira – butt end of the
shinai

14
 Tsuru – the string leading from the
sakigawa to the tsuka. This
represents the dull edge of the sword
 Monouchi – striking point of the
shinai; around nakayui.
 Jinbu – the entire blade area of the
shinai; from tsuba to kensen
 Tsuba – handguard; plastic ring that
goes on the tsuka
 Tsuba dome – rubber stopper that
holds the tsuba in place

15