Yoshimi Matsuzaki is happy to talk about her sport at length, discussing the finer points of kendo and expounding on the mental conditioning it requires.
Kendo (Japanese fencing) is not a popular sport in these parts, but there has been interest in it since Matsuzaki posted pictures of her gear on the Shiraoi House facebook page.
Last Friday Matsuzaki gave a small presentation for a member of the Shiraoi Twinning Society.
“I’ve been interested in it for a long time. Actually, I saw it on a TV show,” Mikey McDonald, a Shiroai Twinning Society member, said.
So, when she saw the pictures on facebook, she decided to see if she could get a quick lesson from Matsuzaki to see if she would like it.
Matsuzaki was happy to share.
“I’m so happy she is interested in kendo,” she said.
Matsuzaki has been giving presentations like this for the last month, ever since she got her shinai (bamboo practice sword) shipped over from Ontario.
To prepare, she ducks into a room to get properly dressed.
When Matsuzaki comes out wearing the kendo gear, she looks as if she’s come straight out of the Edo era; the look hasn’t changed much since samurai roamed the earth. Each piece of equipment she has on has a name which she explains to McDonald. The kendogi and hakama are worn under the bogu (armour). The kendogi is the kimono-looking shirt; the hakama are the baggy trousers.
The bogu consist of men, the helmet, doh, the chest protector, koté, the gloves and the skirts, or taré.
The shinai rounds out the equipment.
Once properly protected, the duel can begin, almost.
Kendo is a sport of discipline and as such, one can not simply step into the ring and swing the shinai until it makes contact.
First, the players must bow to each other. This is not a formality that can be done away with, it is intrinsic to the very heart of kendo.
“It is especially important to start and end your bout with a bow,” Matsuzaki said.
“We say ‘Rei ni hajimaru, rei ni owaru. It means ‘start with a bow and end with a bow.’
But the word for bow can also mean respect. So, it really means ‘start with a bow to show respect for your opponent and end with a bow to show respect for your opponent.”
The focus on respect is just one part of this sport which Matsuzaki says is mostly mental.
“My opponent is basically myself.”
The goal is focus and discipline, so whacking away will not get a player points. To do that there are four areas that one can strike to get points: doh, or the body; men, or the head; koté, or the wrist; and finally, but only for experts, tsuki, or the throat.
Because tsuki, a thrust at a small guard on the throat, is dangerous, it is not taught to children. In fact, Yoshimi wasn’t even taught it until she got onto the team at her university.
To get a point, one must hit one of these areas. However, a sloppy hit won’t do. The player must still be focused and ready to strike again.
A kendo match is played until one player gets two points, at which time that player is the winner, and the players once again bow.
For Matsuzaki, kendo has been a life long passion.
“I’ve been doing it for 18 years, since I was a child because my Dad also did kendo. He taught me kendo,” Matsuzaki said.
And though it’s a family affair, her mom has never been a fan of the sport. And it’s for reasons any hockey mom will sympathize with – the smell.
“The equipment smells. It’s like hockey gear,” Matsuzaki said.
However, after an intense experience with her university team, during which she practiced six days a week, Yoshimi was ready to give it up after she graduated. For two years she didn’t pick up her shinai. But then, she began to miss it and so she began again.
It was, to an extent, kendo that brought Matsuzaki to Shiraoi House and therefore Quesnel.
“Tomoko-san said it would be good to show kendo, so that is one of my reasons for coming here,” Matsuzaki said.
Despite the interest, she has no one to spar with here, but is looking forward to taking up her training once she returns to Japan.