Glossary

Onegaishimasu (お願いします) - "Please teach me / Please practice with me" said before an exercise

Arigatou gozaimasu (ありがとうございます) - "Thank you very much" said after practice or exercise

Seiza (正座)  - A sitting, kneeling position in traditional Japanese martial arts.

Shisei wo tadashite (姿勢を正して) - "Correct your posture", sometimes said before mokuso.

Osame-tou (納め刀) - "Put your sword away"

Hajime (始め) - A command to begin

Yame (やめ) - A command to stop

Rei (礼) - A command to bow

Seiretsu (整列) - Line up

Mokuso (黙想) - Meditation done at the start and end of a kendo practice

Shomen (正面) / Jouseki (上席) - Front of the dojo

Kamaete (構えて) - En garde; ready your guard

Otagai (お互い) - Each other

Senpai (先輩) - Senior student; denoting relative experience not age

Kouhai (後輩) - Junior student; denoting relative experience not age

Sonkyo (蹲踞) - A squatting posture, to show respect before an exercise or match.

Sensei (先生)  - Teacher

Chudan-no-kamae (中段の構え) - "Mid level stance"; the kamae of water. The most fundamental stance in kendo. This is the stance that you will first learn and vast majority of people use.

Jodan-no-kamae (上段の構え) - "High stance"; the kamae of fire. Very aggressive and difficult stance, sometimes seen in kendo.

Gedan-no-kamae (下段の構え) - "Low stance"; the kamae of earth. A defensive and inviting stance, sometimes used fleetingly in kendo, often as a way of inviting an opponent to strike.

Jouge-buri (上下振り) - An exercise where the shinai is brought all the way up and then all the way down, almost hitting the floor, while cutting forwards and backwards. The focus is to relax the body and warm up the muscles.

Haya-suburi (早素振り) - A vigorous exercise where the cut to the shomen is combined with a very fast step forward and backward (often looking like a jump, or hop).

Naname-buri (斜め振り) - An exercise very similar to jouge-buri but with each cut being at a 45 degree angle and the blade turned correctly with the cut.

Zenshin kotai shomen suburi (前進後退正面素振り) - A variant of shomen-suburi where we cut moving forwards and backwards.

Shomen-suburi (正面素振り) - A basic men cut, stepping forward and stopping the blade with the tip at your eye height. Then return to chudan, stepping back.

Zenshin kotai sayu-men suburi (前進後退左右面素振り) - A variant of zenshin kotai shomen suburi where we cut at a 45 degree angle, aiming at an opponents temples. 

Ichi (一) - One

Ni (二)  - Two

San (三) - Three

Shi (四) - Four

Go (五) - Five

Roku (六) - Six

Shich (七) - Seven

Hach (八) - Eight

Ku (九) - Nine

Juu (十) - Ten