THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KENDO AND KENJUTSU

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KENDO: is a sport with rules and conventions guiding acceptable targets, techniques, and scoring procedures grew mainly out of Itto Ryu in the mid1700's but has developed its own its own techniques and philosophy targets: wrists, head, throat, belly and sides of the waist stance is upright, facing forward with the whole body, rear foot (left) slightly off the floor main (most basic) cut is typically vertically straight down weapon is a bamboo sword (shinai) movement is predominantly linear curriculum consists of mostly fencing bouts some contend that kendo is an art more geared towards improving oneself through spiritual development the goal is to improve oneself through the study of the sword Return to Top of Page KENJUSTU: is an art concerned with accurate and realistic sword technique applications,

learning to fight with the sword in a reallife context is a term referring to old styles of Japanese swordsmanship, most of which were created in the 1400-1600's uses wooden swords, real swords, or bamboo swords, depending on the style can involve study of a variety of weapons which may include: spear, staff, short sword short, halberd, short staff, etc. targets are any targets of opportunity, but certain styles have preferences for specific targets like the head, wrists, etc. grew out of the need for training samurai to fight on the battlefields and practical concerns of battlefield fighting. stances, techniques, and tactics used depend on the particular style. movements can be linear or circular or any combination of the two, depending on the style. curriculum consists mainly of training in kata (pre-arranged patterns of movements with or without a partner) and cutting practice. some contend that kenjutsu is the art of winning real fights with real swords. the goal is victory over opponents