Picture yourself alone in an ancient oriental styled training Dojo. The musky smell of 200 year old Cedar and Oak interlaced with the faint aroma of the hundreds that have fought before you in this very place. Fingers of light through the shutters are all that’s left of the morning’s sunrise barely illuminating the eyes of your opponent who has just stepped out from behind a pillar in the distance.

Your eyes narrow, but instead of missing a beat your heart seems to merely pump more evenly, your senses are more crisp as you have been in this position before and are ready. Although you are 9 paces apart, the battle has already begun. The stranger carefully looking for an opening, a weakness that can be exploited as you both cautiously draw near. With each slide of your bare foot, you unconsciously feel each ancient floor board until the point is reached that you stand sword tip to sword tip, eye meeting eye. You show no emotion, nothing to indicate your deepest of intentions. But something is waiting, deep down inside you have a fire that is raging, waiting for that moment you can execute a perfect technique.

The crisp stillness of the morning reveals the only movement as faint wisps of breath escapes the grill of your opponent. Something grows from within, a deep rumbling that overspills from inside you into a “call to battle “cry. Your spirits soar as your opponent answers raising the tension to a level never imagined, a shift of feet as you probe each other for an opening.     

You push forward, firstly with your sheer will and then in body as your opponent defends with only the slightest movement of their sword. The fire is unleashed in a flash of movement, sound and presence as you take the opening just created overcoming your opponent’s will as you pass them by and turning to confront them once again in this ageless struggle of will.

As you draw apart constantly facing the other like the relentless battle between the sea and a rock face, a mutual bow of respect and gratitude from both parties completes a meaningful conversation spoken with conviction and humility.

Millions of people around the globe enjoy such conversations with one another, regardless of language or race. Barriers are crossed and lifelong friendships are formed as everyone in the world of Kendo has the passion in common. Come and find out why at the Auckland Kendo Club.