Communication and Kendo: Part 3

Here is the last post, unfashionably late, in my "Communication and Kendo" series. I tied communication to the art of kendo in Part 1 by talking about kendo and self-improvement. Then I introduced the idea of "Ki Ken Tai Ichi" as the second point that brings kendo and communication together. Now I want to tie in the final point of kendo - respect yourself and others. Showing respect equates to understanding who we are in relation to others.

Photo taken by David P.

Kendo is a difficult martial art to understand because it doesn't teach you useful ways to defend yourself, unless you plan to carry your bamboo sword everywhere with you. Unlike hand-to-hand martial arts such as karate or aikido, kendo keeps you at a distance from your opponent, so while the goal is to hit first (and hit correctly) you do not make any contact with your opponent except with a sword. So what's the point?

Communication and Appreciating Culture

I have unfortunately neglected writing my blog posts, and the main reason is I've been busy writing for Mapquest's new travel site, Parachute. My secondary reason is I contracted a mean case of the lazies while on Christmas vacation and now I need to kick it into overdrive to get back on track with my writing.

I did want to talk about my last article that I wrote for Parachute, because it directly relates to my current work in progress. While vacationing on Maui, almost every day I passed by the Pu'unene Mill - the last operating sugar mill in the islands. I would have a passing thought, "Oh, that's right. I need to set up an appointment to tour the mill for research." Then the thought would pass with "Next time," and I would move on to other vacation-related thoughts. Like the beach.