Feints in kendo

by Jeong

Feints in kendo

Higher ranked people in my dōjō seemed to use feints in their shiai matches. So, exactly how could I do that?

Answer: In kendo, especially, high ranked people (7th and 9th dan) do not want to use the word, feint. It is because you are “faking” your movements.  Here is why.

Feints are easy to do and effective to get a point but it is not the goal of kendo.

You may be able to “hit” a target you want, but you cannot impress your opponent or cannot train your mental strength, if you use feints too much.


But I know how you feel because I was there once. So learn feints by watching others. it is the best way.


Having said that, I would like to tell you what really you should work on.

You have to learn how to execute seme effectively. In seme, we say, “execute seme up or down”. That means we execute seme as we make our opponent think that we are going to strike their upper body (men or tsuki) or lower body (kote or do).

Once you learn that, you can execute a good seme up and make your opponent think that you are going for his/her men or tsuki.  He/she now pays less attention to their kote or do. Now you know what to do.

That is how you control the situation, i.e. make an opening for you to strike.

So please learn this. Once you learn this, you don’t have to learn feints.