The video contains a introduction to the complex martial art of Kendo for beginners looking to see what the sport is about and what they can expect, or enthusiasts who enjoy knowing more. The people not knowing what Kendo is may watch it to find out what The Way of the Swords is (this is the meaning of Kendo, ken meaning sword and do meaning way).

In this episode of The Kendo Show the host Andy Fisher takes us through the basics of Kamae, or the basic fighting position in Kendo, and also how to perform Sonkyo - a methodology of basic sitting in which the body is curled up and crouched - in Japanese; in other words, the knees are folded and the hips are lowered.

If you aready practice Kendo you already know all this because you learn all of them during training, but if you want to come to kendo practice you will learn how to begin your training in Kendo.

There are some thing you need to know before starting kendo. You are free to come but you need to know some of those things before starting to practice kendo.

If you as a kendo beginner already know how move during the kendo practice you should learn how to strike (the shinai is a practice sword in order for us to train safely but it is still a sword) . Joge-buri is the first strike we are usually learning the beginners and the strikes men and kote are following.

When a person starts to practice kendo he or she need to start learning a few things first before fighting or learning a specific tehnique that person has in mind. Kendo has a specific footwork called ashi sabaki and any practicion need to learn it very good to continue to learn and do new things.

Kendo suburi are just practice swings the kenshi (kendo practitioners) are doing while warming up. You can watch a different suburi training here (on the Romanian version of the website) and you can better understand what a training is.

There are some footworks in Kendo and fumikomi is on of them. A beginner will learn it after learning good the basic Kendo foodworks and with it the kenshi (kendo practitioner) will reach faster to his / her opponent.

If you already know how to wear the Kendo uniform we wear under the armour you may be interested how to wear kendo bogu. And each of us need to wear it good because Kendo is a full contact martial art and the bogu protects us from the partener's strikes so watch it with attention.

The beginners may be escused for a time depending of the dojo where they are practicing in, but any kenshi needs to wear kendo-gi and hakama and you should know how to get them on. This video shows how to put the kendo uniform (kendo-gi and kendo hakama) on - the uniform we wear under bogu (bogu being the armour). Kenshi, or kendoka, is the person practicing kendo.

When you perform etiquette correctly in kendo, you can actually train and strengthen your body effectively and the kendo team from th dojo wil be better.

Just for beginners information if they want to know more about what Kendo is and some things about how Kendo is practiced. And the ippon from the title is the point we are getting if you are hitting good in the right spot, good meaning good technique and good mind.

Understanding kendo as a beginner is useful and kirikaeshi is an important exercise in kendo so you should watch some video about it and why you need it.

If you really want to practice Kendo you need to know what to expect during out trainings, where to strike, how fast we are and so on. Kendo is a full contact martial art and an anaerobe sport because we practice having in mind speed and speed resistance among other things like precision.

Kiai is the shout we are bringing out during kendo practices when we hit the adversary or the kendo ptactice partners and it's a strong shout.

The spinters are inevitable when you are using a bamboo shinai. When you ar hitting correctly on bogu the strikes can be powerful and the bamboo is getting dryer with time, and that's a good reasont for splinters to appear.

Tusha Buntin, who has studied kendo for 38 years, explains the history and cultural importance of the modern Japanese martial art.

Filmed at the Kendo World Keiko-kai in Tokyo, 2012: 7 exercises are done using the katana, 3 exercises are done using katana and wakizashi.

Kendo is not the creation of one person, for that is hard to establish a date of it's founding as martial art. Kendo as it is practiced now exists a organised form since the beginning of XX-th century.

Evidences of sword manipulation art in Japan exist since the VIIth century the Christian Era. Fencing techniques developed dramatically as long as the art of sword making developed and the shapes fo the swords changed. The develop of the techniques sword making masters was guided by the demands from civil war in that turbit period. Even the people that didn't belog to the samurai class were forced to improve their sword manipulation skills as metod of protection.

The kendo equipment

The ones that practice kendo can not be confound: the swords, the uniform and the armour distinguish them to other practitioners of martial arts. The swords are of two kinds: bokken (bokkuto) and shinai. The first in made of oak or other strong wood and is used in pre-estabilished exercises named kata. The second is made from four slats of bamboo or carbon fiber and it is used for all the other parts of the training, including competitions. The uniform is composed of hakama (a pair of very large trousers) and keikogi. The protection is ensured by an armour named bogu that has four elements: helmet (men), protection for the abdomen (do), the one for the hips and thighs (tare) and thickly gloves (kote).