Kendo: Zanshin

A few notes on what I've learnt lately in Kendo practice. An imprecise attempt at covering the topic of Zanshin.

I’ve found myself relating more of my kendo practice to the rest of my day to day life lately. Concepts such as Zanshin (loosely translated to continued focus) are important even outside the dojo. My dojo’s sensei, Victor Harris, explained a breakdown of zanshin into 3 aspects: the initial zanshin of preparation, that of execution (of the cut in the the Kendo context) and the zanshin of finishing up, ready for the next task.

Continual correct practice could lead to a perpetual cycle of focused activity. Taken into my every day life as a software developer and student of life, I find a lot of time is spent without much focus. Applying this concept to simple day-to-day activities helps one trim the fluff, so to speak, and promote consciousness of one’s environment and the tasks at hand. Focus and analyse the problem at hand, approach the task heartily and survey your work on completion.