Kendo Club at UC Davis

Kendo Club Spring 2017

Location: The Arc Pavilion (Northeast Side)

When: Monday/Wednesday 6-8 P.M.

Sensei: Shunsuke Maekawa

Club Fees: $25

Email: kendoclub-request@ucdavis.edu

What is Kendo?

Kendo, translated as "The Way of the Sword", is a traditional Japanese martial art based off of the swordsmanship of Japanese samurai.

Kendo equipment consists of the swords, uniform, and armor. Kendo utilizes the shinai, bamboo sword, for practice and tournaments and a bokken, solid wooden sword, for kendo kata, or defined sequences of motions illustrating one or more aspects of the art. Kendoka also wear a uniform, consisting of keikogi, a woven cotton top, and hakama, a pleated trouser. The armor, or bogu, consists of four pieces: the men (mask), do (protection for the body), kote (arm guards), and the tare (hip and groin protector).

Kendo consists of four main strikes, the three basic being, men, kote, and do which are named after the parts of armor that are being struck. The more difficult strike is known as tsuki, a thrust towards the opponents throat, and is taught to more advanced kendoka. Though there are only four basic strikes, there are many different combinations that can be created.

Anyone interested in joining the club is welcome to come to the first few practices. Prior experience is not required to join.