kendo

She eventually became a Zen priest herself, and continues to live at the temple today, where she trains in a particularly rigorous form of Japanese swordsmanship called kendo.

In your time at Chozen-ji you studied kendo — the way of the sword — and chado — the way of tea.

“Ken” means sword, and “do” means way, so kendo is the way of the sword.

In our approach to kendo we don’t learn any defensive maneuvers.

The ideal is that the separation between kendo opponents, between the person and the sword, between the tea host, the utensils and the guest — all those boundaries disappear.