The Concept of Kendo
"The concept of Kendo is to discipline the human character through the application of the principles of the Katana (sword)."
The Purpose of Practicing Kendo
"The purpose of practicing Kendo is:
To mold the mind and body,
To cultivate a vigorous spirit,
And through correct and rigid training,
To strive for improvement in the art of Kendo,
To hold in esteem human courtesy and honor,
To associate with others with sincerity,
And to forever pursue the cultivation of oneself.
This will make one be able:
To love his/her country and society,
To contribute to the development of culture
And to promote peace and prosperity among all peoples."
This excerpt was taken from the All Japan Kendo Federation and explains their concept of Kendo. Through this concept we can already see the difference between Kendo and most other martial arts. Kendo is a martial art that focuses on building one's character, through training.
There seems to be a lot of emphasis on "Spiritual" training. Statements like "Vigrous spirit", "Mold the mind and body" or "Cultivation of oneself", suggests that Kendo's founders intended the martial art to be towards building better character, rather than view it as a competitive sport or means of self defense.
Training with spirit, is the essence of Kendo; the very core of training and character building is by training the spirit. And if you do not train without giving your all, you will never learn to do Kendo as it was intended.
