The Mirror in the Heart of Master Swordsmen (and Jedi Masters) – Quotes

Many master swordsmen and revered kendo teachers mention the importance of having a heart with a clear mirror.  That with such a mirror, one can intuit the heart and

Really Seeing the Opponent and Opportunities to Strike – Part 1: “O” Sensei

A young Kyoshi 7 dan  from Japan visited the dojo that I practice at this week.  I’ll refer to him as “O” sensei as he preferred not having his name mentioned.  He had once placed

Programming the Opponent – To Adopt Short-Term Conditioned Responses

I came across an interesting technique while reading the book The Art of Learning – An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance by Josh Waitzkin [Waitzkin].  According to the bio,

A Study of Hikidasu 引き出す- Drawing out the Opponent

Hiding out on a bridge in Uljin, S. Korea after the 2018 World Kendo Championships.

This article describes a more advanced technique referred to as hikidasu (or hikidashi 引き出し) to create an opportunity to strike an opponent (utsukikai 打つ機会 or datotsukikai

On “You Want to Strike Men? In Order to Win…” (面打ちたい？勝つために。。。) – A Video by Fuku Sensei

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the 10:41 min video “You want to strike men?  In order to win…” by Fuku sensei [Fuku] may be worth a thousand pictures.  Fuku sensei examines in depth and with clarity a way to strike men first – using a mix of

How to See the Chance for an Ippon (Translation of 一本を取るチャンスの見つけ方 by こごろ一様)

I translated a second article in Japanese by Kogoro-Sama  from Web-Kendo with his kind permission to post it.  Thank you Kogoro-Sama.  As the link and website no longer seems to exist (as of Aug 2019) (http://www.web-kendo.com/002001/column05.php), I have appended the original article in Japanese below after the translation.

Techniques Needed to Win in Kendo (Translation of 勝つための必要な技術 by こごろ一様)

I translated this article in Japanese by Kogoro-Sama from Web-Kendo with his kind permission to post it (Thank you Kogoro-Sama).   As the link at