Kendo, kendon't, I don't mind what ken does.

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From: alex_at_dcs.gla.ac.uk
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 95 23:20:51 BST

There was some discussion recently of Kendo, and in particular the frequency of arm-hits therein. I think the reasons for their relative lack are that: it isn't particularly easy to hit the arms, as your opponent's sword when held in the "ready" stance essentially covers them up, from the generic downwards slashing attack; and that they aren't a "scoring" target.

As to whether Kendo is thus (or otherwise) an "unrealistic" martial art: aren't they all; and what's "realistic", anyway? Kendo is a pretty good simulation of two people in armour beating each other up with bamboo swords, but this is, it might be argued, not exactly the general case. I haven't seen many pub fights in Clydebank determined by such means, and it's also something of a rarefied abstraction of even feudal Japan.

Alex.