The good thing about kendo is what it creates. At first, you’re always lost, confused, and so unconfident in all the strikes. But during each time you practice, you gain this unquestionable focus. You loose the complicated mind that you’ve been with and you focus on your strikes. On their precision. On your breathing. On everything for it. You start refining your body. Now most interestingly is the change is puts on you. After a kendo practice, you walk away different. You’re more calm, more confident, more focused. You see things more reasonably, more quickly, react better with better decisions and over all just refines yourself. You feel… yourself. Personally, I can’t explain it well. It’s just the experience, the sport, the exercise. It’s what kendo is. However, Japanese people have always explained it as “ki,” your inner body spirit. Japanese kendoka (kendo-ists) have always sought to refine this ki, this spirit of yourself. From the Chinese version, it is “chi,” your inner breath, your inner energy, just like ki. Over all, they’re what they are. However, certain ways of life and exercise such as kendo brings such feelings no matter what they are. Anyways, this was just my little summary of my kendo experience so far.
