2022/11/29

Approximately 50 employees of a major manufacturing company’s Europe and US branches came to Japan, and practiced kendo with our university’s kendo club students at the basement of KUFS’s Budo Gymnasium. The event was hosted by Kendo Experience Tour Samurai Trip, which hosts kendo workshops for international visitors to experience traditional Japanese martial arts through their Kendo Project, which our kendo club students joined this time to hold a kendo workshop together. Led by Mr. Ishizuka of the Kendo Project, participants learned etiquette and manners, some basic movements, and tried to pop balloons with their bamboo swords.

Mr. Ishizuka instructed the participants overall, teaching them the importance of synchronizing your mind, technique, and body. Then, KUFS students and Kendo Project members showed their moves, to which the participants were surprised at the speed, precision, and force. After the workshop, participants and KUFS students chatted in English and took pictures together.

One participant said, “It was a great opportunity to get to know Japanese martial arts for the first time” while KUFS students reflected, “We had fun with our international guests and were able to show them how awesome kendo is” and “I wish to continue to share the world the traditional Japanese martial art of kendo.”

Sharing the same art of kendo together, the even became a meaningful cultural exchange for both the international participants and KUFS students.

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