It's
estimated thatsomewhere around 14 million people
world-wide are kendokas, or active
practitioners and students of Kendo.
Unlike almost every other martial
art, Kendo
has one global federation, and every country has only one national
organization.
This derives from a strong orientation towards
cooperation and mutual respect in every aspect of Kendo - the blind
competitive drive that has splintered other martial art federations is
non-existent.
If you train Kendo, or plan to start, it doesn't matter
were you live because your local dojo (club) is a part of the same
organization as every other in the world.
Although there are subtle
differences in how a particular dojo or national federation approaches
Kendo, the bases are essentially the same.