 "Photo: N/A")
If you’ve ever walked by Umrath Lounge between 7 and 9 p.m. on Tuesday nights, chances are you’ve heard a distinctive clashing mixed with a chorus of fierce shouting. If you actually venture inside, you’ll learn that the clashing actually comes from bamboo swords, and the fierce shouting belongs to the warriors of Washington University’s Kendo Club.
Literally translating as “the way of the sword,” kendo is the Japanese martial art that the samurai developed in order to practice their swordsmanship without slicing each other up. From its roots as a traditional samurai practice, it has since grown to become a popular sport in its own right. In Japan, kendo is the activity of choice for many high school students and has, to some extent, caught on in the rest of the world.
Kendo is fought with bamboo swords called shinai, and each competitor wears a traditional uniform called a bogu, which consists of a robe of thick cloth and protective elements around strike points that must be hit in order to score. The most recognizable piece of equipment is the special headgear, which resembles a fencing mask, but with a grill instead of mesh. The combination of the uniform with the tradition of shouting creates quite a daunting scene.
The sport requires a great deal of technique in order to hit the specific target zones of the head, wrists, chest or throat. As such, the members of the Kendo Club show a great amount of dedication to their craft. Sessions always begin with warm ups and drills before moving on to sparring. The members consider kendo a sport meant to be taken seriously; they even refer to their weekly meetings as “practice.”
The enthusiasm of the group is really quite remarkable, as demonstrated by their casual use of Japanese words during conversation. At first, my raised eyebrows were greeted with momentary confusion, as if they had been speaking English the whole time, but that quickly gave way to a good-mannered apology and more often than not, a detailed and lively explanation.
The club now has 30 or so members, with around half of that number showing up regularly to practices. In addition to undergraduates, Kendo Club also attracts graduate students and even TAs. In the past four years, the club has been steadily growing. Practices were originally held in the racquetball courts in the Athletic Complex and later in the Mallinckrodt Food Court, but they have since been upgraded to their current location in Umrath Lounge.
Over fall break, Kendo Club took a trip up to Minneapolis for a tournament sponsored by the Midwest Kendo Federation to compete in a team tournament and test for new ranks. The team, consisting of Wash. U. alum Jim Debrecht, fifth-year student Alex Jeffrey, MBA student Yoshiya Amanai and two members of the Bloomington University Normal Kendo Club, took third place at the tournament.
Debrecht, a technician at Wash. U.’s Medical School and one of the re-founders of the club, tested for and earned the rank of shodan, or black belt. Jeffrey, the vice president of the club, earned his san-kyu, which is three degrees below black belt.
Perhaps most exciting of all, the Wash. U. Kendo Club was officially accepted as a probationary member of the Midwest Kendo Federation, which means it is now recognized as a dojo and can invite high-ranking sensei for instruction, the costs of which will be covered by the Federation.
For many of the members, kendo’s appeal lies in its technical and competitive nature. Wash. U. senior and Kendo Club President Paul Anderson had been involved in sports and karate for much of his life before coming to the University and found kendo to be a great fit.
“Since I wasn’t playing sports, I was looking for a martial art that was serious and fun to learn,” Anderson said. “Kendo is one of those sports you learn more by playing against other people that are better than you.”
Debrecht likewise enjoys the unrelenting pace of the sport, in which matches can be won or lost in less than 30 seconds.
“People joke about driving 10 hours to play five minutes worth of kendo,” Debrecht said, “but it really is neat to be able to compete under the pressure.”
Then again, sometimes people join for the best reason of all: As Jeffrey said, “Hitting people with sticks just sounded like fun.”
The University’s Kendo Club is open to everyone, “regardless of age or experience,” and meets Tuesday nights in Umrath Lounge from 7-9 p.m., where they’re pretty hard to miss.
Be the first to comment on this article!