Daily Archives: May 14, 2012

The path of kendo is a physical, mental and aspirational path. We see others begin to follow the path in the dojo in the way beginning students try to learn to strike, moving their bodies and learning what we take for granted.  If we observe still others we can see that many have traveled far in the path of kendo and their movements seem natural and effortless. What everyone shares is the same simple kendo strikes. Both student and master strike yet one is learning to strike perfectly while the other is practicing the perfect strike in an ordinary way. To see the master move is to aspire to someday use the sword as one would use “no sword”, meaning to strike without the thought of how to use the sword. Through the realization of suhari, or making use of all that the master has taught him the student has internalized and made the teachings his own. We see as time passes the student eventually becomes a master. The master never stops learning ever new aspects of kendo. Indeed the path of kendo can be seen today in many dojos.