Why Practise Kobudo?

When people ask me about my passion for our school, I regularly hear remarks about the fact that a fencing school is not very useful in modern society. Some state, “You don’t walk around on the street with a sword”. This remark, of course, is appropriate on its face only. It is only true if one looks at the "exterior" of the techniques. Those who look deeper will understand the true value of these techniques.

Kobudo, be it Katori Shinto Ryu or another school, can be practised for different reasons. One reason to start with weapons training is an interest in the ancient martial art schools. To get a better understanding of contemporary martial arts, several experienced martial artists started with the study of the ancient arms on the pretext of "On ko chi shin." To others, Kobudo is a complementary discipline. It is not that sword fighting itself is essential, but they wish to refine their timing, their distance, their angles and their movements.

The reason why is not important. It is essential that one has the right attitude to learn the correct technique, positions and that one perseveres. This final point is most important because day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year one must keep exercising while being told a certain technique, a detail, or a movement is not being correctly performed and therefore has to be improved.