Kendo means “Way of the sword”, and is a discipline of the martial arts that was evolved from Kenjutsu (meaning the “art of the sword”). The origin of both Kendo and Kenjutsu came from Japan, where these arts used to be practiced by warriors (bushi) and samurai in the 15th century.
In ancient Japan, civil wars were occurring and there was an increasing need to prepare samurai and soldiers for battle. Thus Kenjutsu was born, with its emphasis on the practice of swordsmanship, with the entrance of different types of swords such as the katana, wakizashi, and no-daichi. What a practicer of Kenjutsu would wear is basically traditional, made up usually by hakama (split skirt trousers), keikogi (a heavy weight jacket worn tucked in) and obi (belt).
The art of Kenjutsu requires powerful sword strokes to specific areas that are meant to be fatal to the enemy in a battlefield. Therefore one of the only differences between the initial Kenjutsu and the latter Kendo is the idea that Kenjutsu is meant to be aggressive and to harm, whereas for Kendo the practise is more for cleansing the soul and to practise the basic elements of swordsmanship.
As for Kendo, the start of it came about as Kenjutsu started to decline in its influence.
Due to the military and aggressive nature of Kenjutsu, many disputes came about and the idea that moral and spiritual development should be inculcated in sword work was formed. Hence Kendo was born, to unite both the spiritual aspects and physical training of sword practice together.
For Kendo, Traditional gi (clothes) are worn, and outside the gi there is the budogu (fencing armor), a protective gear not dissimilar to what people wear for fencing. The budogu consists of the men (a face mask with throat protector), the do (a breastplate), the kote (gloves and gauntlets), and a tare (heavy apron). In a competition, strikes are scored based on where the strikes lend on the opponent’s body. Legal strikes include wrists, the torso area, the head, and throat; where the throat would gain the competitor the highest score.
In Kendo practise, usually a shinai or a bokken is used. Both weapons were invented in ancient Japan to prevent injuries from breaking out during a sword practice. The shinai is a weapon that is made out of bamboo and is much softer than the bokken which is made out of hard wood. Both are created as representations of the Japanese sword for sword practice.
Kendo today is a well loved sport and martial art by both the East and the West, practiced by many countries in the world including Africa, China, Thailand, Australia, UK and many more. Kendo, even now, serves the people not only as a form of physical training, but as a form of training for the mental strength, inculcating value like respect and discipline. The reason why Kendo exists today is because of its unique way of uniting body and soul in a discipline that not only calms the mind but at the same time trains the body.