Mind, Body, Spirit, Sword

So when I tell people that I do Kumdo or Kendo, and to be completely honest I often will say Kendo simply because it is more recognizeable, the response is often a look of skepticism and I suspect an immediate questioning of my sanity. Comments like “You do what exactly?” and “That’s interesting.” are quite common. I also have a slightly warped sense of humor and will tell people “I get to go beat my son with a stick” quickly followed by “The downside is that he gets to hit me back and he’s getting quicker than I am.” Which will net me a nervous chuckle and funny look. This allows me the opening to explain what it is we do and how it is much more than two people hitting each other with sticks

What is the difference between Kumdo/Kendo, stick fighting, and a couple guys simply hitting each other with a stick…..

So when I first started in Kumdo in 2003 and for many years after, I was making the same mistakes as many others. While sparring I would try and get close enough to tag my target, give a token yell, and try and jump back to avoid getting hit myself. I imagined in my head that what I was doing was something close to good Kumdo but if I’m honest with myself it probably looked closer to what this gym is doing than it was to actual Kumdo or Kendo.

Now to be fair, I have no idea if this is meant to be anything other than people having fun, or if it is represented as genuine martial art training. I simply searched shinai stick fighting and this popped up first. But in watching this I see no beauty, spirit, technique nor artistry in this. It is simply two people hitting one another with a stick, while having no idea what they are doing.

Often this is the case with people in general, we have a vision in our head of what we look like, and this often has little in common with what we actually look like in action. At some point I became aware of the difference between what I was seeing people do and what they thought they were doing. I was observing Cognitive Dissonance in action. Simply put people see what they believe to be true, and what they believe to be true is what they see.

So back to my point. When I see people claiming to be doing Kumdo and what I see is definitely not Kumdo, I tend to have a emotional response, and experience a strong desire to correct or educate people on the errors in their understanding. So I guess I have to answer a couple questions to make clear my motivations in this. Why do I care what other people are doing? Why does it upset me when they are calling it Kumdo? What is good Kumdo vs bad Kumdo? Why does it matter?

So why do I care? Why does it matter?

I practice Kumdo for several reasons. The most important reason, I think, it helps me to balance my mind, body and spirit, which allows me to focus my energy and intention in the moment. Good Kumdo requires us to be aware of our thoughts and feelings, our position in time and space, and to fully embrace the moment we are experiencing. Now this might sound a little too new age, and foofie, and to some it might be. But when we are sparring in Kumdo, this plays itself out it real time and has real world consequences. I have to feel my opponent’s energy and intention, I have to act or react with clarity and focused intention, and I have to channel my spirit, my body and my sword into action.

The reality is that we will often fail at this. We will find we are out of balance or we will try to force the moment to be something other than what it is. When this happens we often miss the opportunities presented to us, and fail to act or react in a way that leads us to insight, growth and well-being. This is simply life. Whether we know it or not, we all struggle to find balance in what we do. The idea is to embrace the struggle, be in the moment, and work towards an acceptance of where we are at. This does not mean that we accept what is, and then give up because we are hopelessly flawed and will never be good or perfect. No the idea is to accept who we are and where we are at, so we can understand our placement in life. A nautical term for this is Reckoning, when we are reckoning we are observing where we were compared to where we are, and this allows us to chart a course to where we wish to go.

Kumdo provides a pathway towards something meaningful, and important. But to find this meaning, it requires a brutal honesty towards the self and those around us. Because I feel a responsibility to the art, my goal is to insure that when people are told they are doing Kumdo it is genuine and authentic.

I personally have witnessed people I know and respect, fall victim to temptation, and deceive themselves into thinking they are teaching genuine and authentic Kumdo. Often denying any claims that they are, in reality, teaching glorified stick fighting disguised as Kumdo. I also have witnessed people attempting to revise history. A intructor will claim what they are doing is more authentic since it is based off of secret teachings dating back thousands of years, and that only they have this special knowledge and only if you are worthy, will they share their secret knowledge. Usually this knowledge was recently uncovered or allowed to be shared to avoid losing the knowledge as a supposed great grandmaster is aged or dying.

Rule #1 to quote Kung fu Panda “There is no secret sauce!” There is no replacement for hard work, dedication, honest self reflection, and perseverance. It is not complicated. It is not part of a secret teaching. It is only through repetition, focus on fundamentals, open discussion and sharing of knowledge that we find mastery.

Rule #2 Be humble. Be open to new information and treat others as if they know something you don’t. If you already know everything, you will find yourself unable to learn anything.

Rule #3 Be willing to struggle. Be willing to fall on your face, pick yourself up, and fall again. We learn who we are during the struggle for something we value. The universe will put obstacles in the way of things we claim are important as a way to test to see if what we say is true.

Next lets look at a personal experience of what I would term Bad Kumdo. This is at a tournament where the individual I was competing against would simply hit as many times as they could, simply hoping something would land and the flag would go up. Again no beauty or spirit, he does however know how to correctly hold his sword, but I would seriously argue over his ability to swing it correctly.

Now one could say that my technique in the video was little better than my opponent at the time and I would wholeheartedly agree. The difference, I would say, between myself and the person who was awarded victory, is more in what the judges were endorsing by awarding points and not censuring a competitor for terrible technique. Standing in front of someone and whacking at them over and over is simply not what the art of Kumdo and Kendo are about, my instructor made this fact clear early on in my Kumdo career.

So what is it that we are aspiring to achieve and what should we staunchly avoid….

Well to make that clear, you first need understand the three steps one must take to beat an opponent.

Kill the sword: This means that we must control the center and insure that our opponent’s sword is not a danger to us when we make our attack. This us accomplished by sliding the opponents sword aside, drawing our opponent to attack and counter when they move their sword, or beginning to attack one target and when our opponent moves to respond we switch targets to one that opens up.
Kill the technique: This means that we use correct form, good strong striking and successfully hit our opponent on a scorable target with full intention and not by luck or incidental contact. This means striking as cleanly as possible and as clearly as possible, not as an exchange involving several blows delivered simultaneously.
Kill the Spirit: This means that you must first attack the person mentally, convincing them they are weak and we are strong. This is demonstrated by our posture and confidence, when our opponent views us they should see strength, fortitude, conviction or resolve , and fearlessness.

When three elements come together we are fully manifesting Ki-Kum-Che, roughly translated as spirit-sword-body. We essentially beat them completely with mind, body, spirit, and sword.

well here are some examples:

My first point I am able to score cleanly and I clearly embody Ki-Kum-Che. My opponent recovers and when I hesitate for a split second, she is able to score a clean point against me, this also resulted in my focus and confidence slipping further creating the opportunity for my opponent score and win the match. If I had maintained focus and confidence I would have had a much better chance to win the match.

Below is a nice point scored against a very skilled opponent, Mr Logan held the center against the attempted wrist strike and scored with a clean strong head point.