Seme in kendo

The concept of seme is a difficult one to explain. Seme in kendo is initiative in a spiritual/mental sense as well as a physical one. It is the act of controlling ones opponent through sheer force of personality and will.

You have undoubtedly experienced seme when practicing with a kendoist of greater skill than you. It may have manifested itself through your own nervousness, or it may have manifested itself through your own confidence. You may have felt afraid to attack or even compelled to attack.

Seme, or the verb form semeru, is literally a type of spiritual attack. This is, especially in our culture, difficult to grasp and understand. It is actually something a kendoist will almost always develop with years of devoted practice.

In a pragmatic sense, seme is forcing your opponent to react physically or mentally in order to create an opening for attack. This reaction, usually a lapse in an opponent’s judgment, should be all that one needs to execute a successful attack.

Seme itself is intangible. Imagine yourself facing an opponent twice your size and strength and skill. You’ve seen him fight before, and you see that he is not only strong—he is fast. When he advances on you with his shinai pointed at your throat, you will feel compelled to do one of two things: step back and retreat, or recklessly charge into an attack. In both instances, your opponent has controlled you with his ki and in slang terms: you have been semeed.

Seme can be but isn’t necessarily intimidation. It is merely intelligent use of pressure combined with fluid technique. It can be used to create openings with feints, parries, or simple charging attacks. It can also be used to force an opponent to attack you in the manner you want the opponent to attack you thus opening an array of oji-waza or counter attacks for you to use.

Seme is one of the things you must have in order to score a point in matches. One must have control of the match when one scores or else the point will rarely count.

The only way to develop seme is to practice rigorously and faithfully. Of course, visualization training helps as well. Besides that, merely being confident of yourself in a match will add an edge to your kendo. Be careful, as the line between confidence and arrogance is easily breached. Be sure of your abilities, even when practicing with sensei, but always be open and accepting of criticism and correction.