Places for supplies:

Useful Terms:

Greetings/Farewells:

Ohaiyo Gozaimasu: Good Morning

Kon’nichiwa: Good Afternoon

Konbanwa: Good Evening

Oyasuminasai: Good Night

Otsukaresama deshita: Said at the end of the practice to say “good effort”

Nukitsuke: Initial draw and cut

Kiriotoshi/kiritsuke: Finishing Cut

Chiburi: Removing blood from the sword. Two types of chiburi: O-chiburi or large chiburi and Yoko-chiburi or horizontal chiburi

Noto: Sheathing the sword

Ichi – 1
Ni – 2
San – 3
Shi – 4
Go – 5
Roku – 6
Shichi – 7
Hachi – 8
Kyu – 9
Jyu – 10

You will hear the following commands in class:

Seiza: The way of sitting in kendo. When we line up, sempai will call “seiza!” meaning “sit!”.

Mokusou: A type of meditation. After we line up and sit, sempai will call “mokusou!” to begin meditation. Clear your mind and think of nothing.

Shomen Ni: Turn to the “shomen” (usually a shrine in the dojo), followed by the lead student calling “rei”.

Sensei Ni: Turn to the instructor, followed by the lead student calling “rei”.

Rei: A command given to bow; means respect.

Toh Rei: A command given to perform a sequence of movements to show respect to the sword.

Hajime: Start.

Yame: Stop.