Blairdardie Primary Receives Taster in Kendo with University Club
When a young child reads about the Samurai and the roles they played in medieval Japan in class, they would not expect their modern counterparts to appear on their school grounds.
Two weeks ago, members of the Glasgow University Kendo Club paid a visit to Blairdardie Primary School, located within the Glasgow Metropolitan Area, and provided a demo of the martial arts to two Year 7 classes.
According to the club captain, Irene R., she received an email from Miss Campbell, a teacher from the school, and found out that she expressed an interest in showing how the Samurai culture evolved into modern kendo.
At the time, both classes were studying Japanese history, and more importantly, the Samurai themselves and the virtues they upheld as warriors of nobility and strategy.
Kendo loosely translates to ‘The Way of the Sword’ in Japanese, and originally the sport was developed as a way to hone one’s swordsmanship and strengthen the body and mind in a safe environment.
Irene commented that the visit was a ‘great opportunity’ not only for the kids to approach a sport that is distinct from the others but for the club to engage with their community and promote activities.
After a brief introduction, Irene, her vice-captain Alicia G. and two other members were left in charge of two groups of 30 children.
Soon, each group was taught how to execute the basic footwork and how to move during combat.
Then, Irene explained to the children about the concept of Kiai or vocalization, and how behind every strike in combat, a Kendo practitioner draws strength from the power of their lungs.
While embarrassed at first, the students quickly gained confidence and found racing up and down the hall, screaming and shouting out loud ‘a lot of fun’.
Finally, each child was given a shinai, a bamboo sword, and taught how to properly hold it before learning to perform a strike to the head, known as ‘Men’ which translates to face or helmet.
Not only were the kids extremely excited to have the opportunity to hold a kendo sword like the Samurai, but they were also given the chance of striking Alicia in full armour. One by one, the children lined up and performed ‘Men’ and hit the vice-captain’s helmet.
At the conclusion of the session, one child chosen by Miss Campbell donned her own set of full armour provided by the club and had a go at sparring with Alicia.
Irene claimed this part of the event was one that stood out, and commented that the girl possessed ‘great spirit’, expressing no sign of fear of being hit by the vice-captain.
Overall, the captain believed the kids had an enjoyable and fun experience spending time with modern Samurai, and so did the club members.
Furthermore, she hopes the children will become more involved with the sport, believing visiting schools and performing demos is a good approach to exposing to youths a martial art that is not widely known when compared to others such as Karate and Taekwondo.
For now, the club will be dedicating most of their time to training new beginners who recently joined their ranks in their university, and preparing for incoming competitions and the organization of a potential national event soon.