the do (the left-side cord tied to the right loop and vice versa). The shorter cords are tied loosely behind the back in a neat bow. When tying the do, the right-hand cord should be tied to the left loop first.
The next step is to put on the men. To absorb sweat and prevent the himo (cords) that secure the men from catching the hair on the back of your head, a cotton cloth known as a hachimaki or tenegui is worn. Tenegui are often given as souvenirs when Kendoka participate in tournaments or visit other dojo.
The student puts on the men, being careful to fit the chin in the rest in the front of the face mask. You should also make sure that the ears lie flat and are not creased inside the men: apart from being uncomfortable, you also run the risk of creating enough pressure to rupture an eardrum if a strike goes astray and hits the side of your head.
The cords attached to the bottom grill of the face mask (the fourth row from the bottom) are brought around each side, wrapped around the back of the head, and then stretched up to the front of the men, where they are put through the top of the iron grid, criss-crossing and leading once again to the back of the head, where they are snugly secured. It is considered good form for the cords not to be twisted and to lie flat. You should also attempt to make sure that the ends of the bow you tie when securing the men are even. A simple way to do this is to pull the loops of the bow out until you can see them in front of you, and make adjustments accordingly. Once the bow is completed, toss the ends back over your shoulders so they hang behind you.
The kote are the last piece of equipment put on. Always put the left mitt on first, then the right. When taking them off, always remove the right mitt first. The pattern here echoes that of stepping into the hakama. It is considered good form to put on your kote this way, since any time you are wearing your right-hand mitt, you are considered ready to spar. Making it the last thing put on signals a definitive readiness to engage in training. In the same manner, by removing the right kote first, when you are ending your activity, you make a clear statement about your intentions. Since the Kendo dojo is, in many ways, a psychically charged environment, clear signals are needed to signify individual readiness.
Removing your bogu in a formal training or contest session is a process we will discuss under Etiquette (see below). When you get your equipment home, however, some special care is needed A vigorous training session wearing bogu tends to make you perspire. When you are finished, you need to permit your armor some time to dry out. The fabric part of the men will often become sweat-soaked. After taking it off, you should lay it face down and let the air get at it, wiping off any surface moisture with your hachimaki. The palm part of the kote will also be wet. The mitts should be placed face up to dry. Be careful to let your bogu air in a place that avoids direct sun or moisture, since these can damage the pieces.
When storing your dried bogu, there is (as in most things in Kendo) a method.
First the cords of the tare are folded up neatly and secured. The tare is a placed upside down and wrapped across the front of the do. The long do cords are wrapped to the front and crossed over. One cord is drawn up and over the top of the do. The other is drawn under the bottom. These cords are tied in a bow in the center of the do's back. The shorter cords are wrapped around the bottom of the tare and tied in front of the do.
Particularly when the men is new, the side panels (or "wings") formally known as men-buton need to be bent up when stored so they will fit correctly when worn. The process will be familiar to anyone who has ever broken in a baseball mitt. The kote are placed with the hand portion in the bowl created by the face mask. The wings are bent up and forward and tied in place by the strings. The men then fits inside the do for storage.
Bogu, tangible symbols of the heritage of the samurai, should always be treated with care and respect. Especially in the dojo, bogu should be neatly placed in the appropriate manner. Kendoka should be careful never to step over the armor or hit it with their feet, nor should you ever touch anyone else's bogu or shinai without permission.
4. The Community of Learners
kendo's development
Kendo as a modern martial art, or shin budo, is a relatively recent development. Of course, it is widely known that the art has its roots in Japan's feudal past, and some of the dash and exotic flavor of the era of samurai warriors cling to it even today. It evolved from the techniques of swordsmanship developed from the fourteenth through the nineteenth centuries and practiced by a class of professional fighting men. They were known as bushi (warriors) or samurai (a more formal designation of their class).
Bowing in
We discuss this historical development in the sections of the book entitled Wind and Void.
Briefly, Kendo was developed into its modern form by adopting selected elements of swordsmanship and adapting them to the changing needs of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Japan. The Abe Ryu was the first to formally designate its system as "Kendo," during the eighteenth century. Prior to this, swordsmanship was generally labeled kenjutsu.
Part of Kendo's development included the adoption of safety features. It was for this reason that fencing gloves and armor were introduced into practice, along with the widespread use of the shinai. The increased margin of safety in practice encouraged training in Kendo even by those who were not professional fighting men, and, by the mid-nineteenth century, a substantial number of Japanese, samurai and commoners, were engaged in what was known as shinai-geiko, or the type of training in which students used the shinai and protective armor.
During the nineteenth century, Japan entered the modern world with the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate and the restoration of the Emperor Meiji. At the same time that the government felt driven to modernize Japan's economy and government, however, there was also a feeling that much that was good in Japanese culture and society needed to be preserved. The particular qualities of courage, loyalty, and discipline that were believed to be encouraged by training in arts such as Kendo were considered vitally important by officials of the Meiji government. As a result, beginning in 1871, traditionalists urged the Japanese Ministry of Education to make Kendo compulsory in all public and private schools in Japan.
Despite this, interest in Japan's martial heritage began to wane in the late nineteenth century, as the Japanese people focused on modernizing their country. Public Kendo exhibitions became common during this period in the hopes of reviving interest, and this may have encouraged a further development of Kendo's evolving "sport" and competition emphasis.
Government sponsorship of these arts eventually served to revive interest. In 1895, the government established the Dai Nippon Butokukai (Greater Japan Martial Virtue Association) in Kyoto, which stressed the role of Kendo and judo in the moral education of Japanese citizens. Making arts such as Kendo and judo part of the education of Japan's young eventually ensured that interest would not die out. In 1905, Tokyo University became the first college in the nation to sponsor a Kendo team, and other colleges soon followed. In 1928, the All Japan Kendo Federation was established as a governing body to regulate and standardize the art throughout Japan.
The close involvement of the government with the martial arts caused the Allied Powers to temporarily ban their practice after Japan's defeat in World War II. The aggressive militarism of Imperial Japan during the 1930s and 40s made it seem as if the martial arts had little positive to offer the world, and the attitude of the Allied Powers is understandable. The arts most closely associated with the samurai, particularly those associated with swordsmanship, were proscribed. This ban lasted until 1948.
The fundamentally positive aspect of Japanese budo soon impressed itself upon officials, however, and they came to understand that the excesses of Japanese expansionism could in no way be attributed to budo itself. This process of rehabilitation
