Kendo ("the way of the sword")

Kendo is generally considered a classical budo (martial way), being formulated before the Meiji Restoration. In its most modern form it is practiced more as a sport and to improve the mind of the individual, rather than a form of combat.

In the beginning, kendo was a technique for training in kenjutsu without the bodily consequences of mistakes inherent in bokken or live katana or tachi practice (live blades). The standard weapon of kendo is a shinai, which is a split stave of bamboo with a leather tip cap and a leather handle. There is no curvature and the shinai is quite light in weight.

Traditional gi (clothes) are worn, but over this are budogu (fencing armor), similar to what western fencers wear. The men (a face mask with throat protector), the do (a breastplate), the kote (gloves and gauntlets), and a tare (heavy apron). Legal strikes are to the wrists, the sides of the do, and three cuts to the head (left right and center) and one thrust (the throat). An defined area (a square about 10 meters on a side) is the legal mat area, and two legal strikes as called by judges are required to win a match.

Advancement is done by way of kyu and dan, similar to colored belts in other martial ways. But the obi (if worn, sometimes deleted) always remains the same color. At the higher dan levels one is required to show some minimal competence with a live blade in ten kata, with both long (daito, katana or tachi) and short (shoto, wakizashi) swords. Classical ryu have all but disappeared within kendo, and so the emphasis is much more on the sport aspects.