martial arts Archives - British Kendo Renmei

The Line of Beauty

Now available to download, this powerful essay by Roald Knutsen sensei examines traditional Japanese martial arts based on the theory of beauty discussed by William Hogarth in his book The Analysis of Beauty, published in 1753.

The Line of Beauty:
Notes on the Intangible in Kendō, Iai-jutsu and the Traditional Bugei
by Roald Knutsen.
Japanese translation by Ogino Kinuyo & Phillip Jupp.
Edited by Nakano Tomoko, Matsuda Kazuyo & Nakao Masashi.

The essay, in Japanese and English, can be downloaded here.

After many years trying to introduce traditional Budō to Western students and through long teaching by many Japanese sword masters, all of whom had themselves been instructed by former kenshi, we have long thought of passing the teaching on, just in case it will help a few students forwards on their personal paths to some degree of enlightenment. Maybe our thoughts are correct, maybe they are not, but at the very least we have tried.
Roald Knutsen

Peter Powell 1946 – 2022

We are sad to report the death on Wednesday 10th August of Peter Powell sensei.

Peter was a long time member of Butokukan Dojo, having started kendo more than forty years ago.

As one of the most senior members of the Dojo, he was in regular attendance at kendo practice until very recently, offering his advice and encouragement to the other kendoka. He will be greatly missed.

Peter was rokudan kendo, awarded by the British Kendo Renmei.

His funeral will be held in Brighton on 30 August.

Special Renmei Practice

The Renmei held a special practice in Tunbridge Wells on Sunday. Despite the efforts of Storm Ciara, members from many dojos gathered for a morning of instructive keiko with senior senseis.

We were particularly pleased welcome our guests, Paul Budden sensei kyōshi nanadan and Kazuyo Matsuda sensei renshi nanadan, from Kodokan Kendo in Watford.

Beginners Instruction Guidance

by Roald Knutsen and several senior Yudansha

One of the most troublesome of subjects in the proper martial arts is the best way to teach complete novices from their very first experience in their chosen dojo. The problem is not the new student but the method of teaching him or her and ensuring that those doing the teaching know what they are about. In other words, are these ‘seniors’ aware of what is required and how to go about it? It is of the greatest importance to the whole dojo membership that mistakes and errors don’t become established. Shakespeare put it quite clearly when he wrote: ‘When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions’ – and he was absolutely right. Mistakes not corrected from Day One will plague the student even thirty or forty years in the future – and will always be a handicap to progress. All the masters of Kendo and Iai-jutsu that I and my fellow seniors have had the good fortune to their instruction, have followed one set of principles throughout their own careers: basics – basics – basics – and when fed up with them – yet more basics!

Understanding Kata

by Roald Knutsen
© Copyright 2018

The following article was first written in the 1970s with the aim of helping experienced and newcomers to Kendo and Iai to understand more of the cultural background to these genuine martial systems than is normally done in the present day. The position then, compared to fifty years later, has hardly improved so this version of the original, with some editing and re-appraisal, is offered in the hope that it may help those who are looking for the serious background to the ‘classical’ development rather than the very one-sided image presented by ‘sport’. I make no apologies for the views expressed here; they are entirely my own as are the conclusions I have reached through the teaching of a number of very fine high-ranking masters both in Japan and here.