Ritual Activity in Kendo

Tyler Tran

Dr. John Kelly Anthropology 130 6 March 2014

The art of kendo is deeply rooted in the traditions of the Japanese samurai, incorporating both their legendary fighting spirit as well as their more introspective qualities. The name itself reflects this, which is comprised of two words: ken and do. Ken is simply sword while do is the more abstract way or way of. Quite literally then, kendo means way of the sword. Perhaps the most recognizable do word for a Western audience is bushidothe way of the warrior, which describes how an honorable samurai (and indeed human being) should live. Of great importance to bushido is the aspect of humbleness, focus, and self-improvement. These qualities are perhaps more obviously displayed in the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, called sado, or way of tea. These do arts stand in stark contrast to the jutusu arts such as ninjutsu, jiujutsu, kenjutsu (method/technique of the sword) which are about learning how to fight in real situations; in the case of kenjutsu, more emphasis is placed on learning the most efficient way to kill. In kendo, on the other hand, the emphasis is on the mental growth of the practitioner, or kendoka. That said, one form is not better than the other. In fact, kendo in its present form is fairly modern and as such is considered to be the modern sport descendant of the many schools of kenjutsu that existed in feudal Japan. Its official history remains hazy to the majority of kendoka, but kendo has developed away from its roots in such a way to be less about knowing many things and not being killed and more about introspection, mental strength, and perfecting only a few things. Indeed, it is this focus on the internal growth of the kendoka that leads to ritual activities in the practice of kendo. In this paper, I discuss some of the standard rituals, keeping in mind that individuals as well as individual dojos may also have their own unique ones. A traditional kendo practicekeikois itself one large ritual containing many smaller, shorter ones. Because so much of kendo is practiced with a focus and intensity that goes beyond
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a day-to-day mindset, it fits nicely with Padens ideas of ritual. The main ritualistic activities during keiko are putting on the uniform, bowing into practice, putting on armor (bogu), taking off bogu, bowing out of practice, and taking off the uniformall of which are considered in this paper except the two dealing with bogu. That said, all ritualistic activity in kendo is done with an overarching, continued focus mindset. It may also be observed that that the sequence of the six rituals listed above occur in a circular fashion with the innermost rituals completing before the outer ones. If one takes this idea of a circle further, keiko becomes symbolic of the circular journey of practicing martial arts: As a beginner, you learn the basics of your art and continue to learn more and more advanced techniques as you grow, but after a certain point of mastery, you return to perfect the basics. A similar narrative is of a martial artist who becomes a black belt. The belt is a deep black at first, but as the years go by, it loses its dye and eventually turns white, signifying the importance of both humility and returning to the basics. These concepts are also reflected in all ritual activities of kendo, from the way we dress to the way we interact with other kendoka during kendo, all of which will be examined in the context of these core values. It is often said that kendo begins and ends with rei, or manners. Etiquette is a huge part of kendo, and it begins with the way you dress. The uniform is comprised of two piecesthe top, or kendogi, and the skirt-like trousers called the hakama. The kendogi must be tied with horizontal bows; to do so otherwise would be considered bad etiquette and a reason to be marked down in grading examinations. Whether you put the left side or right side of the hakama on first is a matter of what sensei or dojo you are studying under. Either way, tradition dictates that you ponder the meaning of the seven pleats that make the hakama distinctive: Jin (benevolence), gi (honor/justice), rei (etiquette), chi (wisdom/intelligence), shin (sincerity), chu (loyalty), and koh (piety). After both legs are in the hakama, it is pulled up to around belly-button height (kendogi

tucked in), and the front sasheshimoare wrapped around the body and tied in a horizontal bow behind your back. This step is critical; not only is a vertical bow considered bad etiquette, it is also a weaker knot and could become untied during keiko. The ritual of putting on the uniform concludes with the back himo being tied in the front with the trailing ends tucked behind other himo to present a tidy look. The next two rituals considered deal with how keiko is started and ended; without a doubt, a lay person would consider these to be rituals, as they have close connections to religious meditation. First, the sensei or most senior kendoka calls for everyone to line up facing the front of the dojo, or shomen. Since it is considered rude to walk slowly and hold up everybody else, people run or jog into rows before kneeling down into the traditional Japanese kneeling position known as seiza. The instructor then gives the command for everyone to sit up straight, and a brief period of meditation follows. For most kendoka, this is the time to focus on their breathing as well as reflect on their kendo. At this point, the instructor calls for everyone to bow to shomen twice by forming a triangle in front of them with their hands and bending from the hips. On the second bow, everyone either says onegaishimasu or arigatou gozaimashita depending on whether practice is beginning or ending. These phrases are also used before doing drills with other kendoka; the former means please as in please train with me, and the latter means thank you as in thank you for practicing with me. In traditional dojos, the shomen has a Shinto shrine to a god, so this act of bowing can be viewed in an almost religious sense of asking and thanking a god for its blessing. Many modern dojos, however, do not have Shinto shrines and instead opt for something more secular like a Japanese proverb. In this case, the ritual of bowing to shomen can be seen as a sign of respect for the space used to conduct keiko.

Especially in the U.S. where most dojos are run out of community center gymnasiums, this ritual sanctifies the place, elevating it beyond a mere basketball court. After bowing out of practice, the uniform must be taken off and stored with just as much care as when you put it on. Thus, even though practice has ended, the focused, ritual mindset still remains. Taking off the uniform is straightforward: it is the reverse of when you put it on. The ritual of folding it correctly, however, is decidedly harder, and the complexity allows for even more reflection and introspection. The kendogi is the simple part, for it is folded in a similar way to a dress shirt at a department store. On the other hand, the hakamawith all its creasesis not folded like anything you may have seen in stores. First, part of the hakama is held between the chin and neck while a free hand pushes the pants divider off to one side to fold naturally. The hakama is then laid out gently on the ground to prevent the pleats from completely messing up. The innermost pleats are refolded first, using your hands to iron out the wrinkles. Then, with just as much care, the hakama is flipped to the other side. Again, the pleats are reworked from the innermost out, creasing well along the way. The hakama is then folded into thirds and the sashes folded in a particular way to be both decorative and functional. Although attitudes towards folding varies from kendoka to kendoka, taking extra time to get the folds righteven doing the whole process twicecan induce an increased clarity and calm that further separates this ritualistic activity temporally from the ordinary tasks of life that need to be done after kendo practice. Those are just a sample of the rituals performed in kendo; indeed, the practice of kendo can be continually divided into smaller and smaller rituals. What should be clear even from this sample, however, is that any archaeological evidence of these rituals would be extremely minimal. Much of the ritual activity happens in the mind when the kendoka goes from a normal
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mindset to a more intense and focused one for kendo. Another reason that it would be hard to find much archaeological evidence in the future of these activities is because of the pattern of disposal most commonly used nowadays. Unlike before, we now have systems in place to move all our trash into a single location devoted to storing waste. From an archaeological standpoint, this means that all kendo-related artifacts would be removed from their context, making it much harder to study in the future. Also, as stated before, many modern kendo dojos are general purpose gyms. As such, anything a kendo group sets up has to be taken down at the end of practice, making the presence of kendo there fleeting in the eyes of archaeological discovery. Thus, perhaps the only way kendo rituals will be recorded archaeologically in context is if a traditional dojo has to be hastily abandonedtraditional in the sense of a purpose-built dojo with equipment in storage and possibly with a shrine at the shomen, such as one of the old dojotemples preserved today in Japan. These artifacts, then, could only be preserved in their original context if everything had collapsed in place and been buried over timeagain, this is difficult in the modern world. Even personal equipment stored in individual homes not be preserved in the archaeological record (for the most part) because of the materials used to manufacture the equipment; traditionally, the most of the equipment is made from a combination of cotton, leather, and bamboo all of which would most likely not preserve under normal circumstances. Possibly the only kendo artifacts that could preserve is the bogu which contains metal pieces and lacquered bamboo. In any case, it is difficult to see how remnants of actual ritualistic activities in kendo could be preserved archaeologically. Kendo is for the most part a life-long internal journey, and as such will remain invisible to those who seek to study it in the future.