‘Mindset is as important as moves’

Hamilton Kendo sensei (teacher), Sam Tsai talks to Kate Monahan about the Japanese martial art of Kendo, “the way of the sword”.

“THE sword is an old way of fighting through history. In ancient Japan, The samurai used swords. They were like soldiers or police, as well as politician and judge. So they had to be fair and just, and the mindset and mental balance were important.

Modern Kendo takes from this philosophy. You have to have discipline and a clear mind. You have to be moral. Practice Jin (benevolence), Gi (justice), Rei (manners), Chi (wisdom) and Shin (faithfulness, trustfulness).

We train with this philosophy, and it impacts on our daily life. To do things right, for we may die tomorrow. We want to cultivate a vigorous spirit, but also learn about human courtesy and honour through correct and rigid training and doing Kendo.

Ken means sword, and do means way of, so Kendo is the way of sword. It’s like fencing, a little bit. It’s fun, but it’s also training the mind.

We practice using a bamboo stick, called a shinai, and you score points by striking your rival on different parts of the body. We wear special clothes and body armour – a keikogi, which is like a heavy shirt, and hakama, or long shorts, on the bottom. When you hit a part, you have to call it out. It’s loud. You have to show your spirit in doing the move, so yell with all your might. Hitting the head armour, you say ‘men’, ‘do’ for a chest strike, ‘kote’ for the arms.

You have to attack and defend at the same time. It helps to think the five elements: fire, earth, wood, water and metal. You want to be aggressive like fire, but also calm and have your moves flow like water.

I started Kendo in 1983, when I was living in Taiwan. When I arrived at Hamilton in 1998, no one I knew was doing Kendo. I didn’t know anyone.

I put up an ad for a Kendo club at the Waikato University Rec Centre with a note saying ‘please contact me’. I didn’t hear anything for seven months, then one day I got a phone call. It was a guy that had done it before. He helped me with my English, and I helped him with his Kendo. During one university orientation week, we I put up table about Kendo at Clubs Day. One hundred and five people signed in. I will never forget that number. From that, about 30 people came and started learning Kendo.

I met my wife doing Kendo in 1984. We became good friends. Now I teach beginner Kendo and she teaches seniors Kendo. In 2001, Waikato won the team section of New Zealand Open Championship.

We are only the fifth club in New Zealand, and we have about 50 members. Recently, we have lots of children join. There are about 15 primary and secondary school kids in our club. The oldest one started when she was 58, a Japanese lady.

Kendo is most popular in Asian countries. It’s also big in the US and Canada. There are 44 member countries of the International Kendo Federation.

In Kendo, the mindset is as important as the moves.”

Waikato Kendo Club website: www.waikatokendo.org.nz