About
Why Jitoku exists.
I came to kendo looking for a sport that shapes the mind as much as the body. I started in March 2025 and I am currently 5th kyu, so I write this as a beginner, not as a teacher.
Like many kendoka outside Japan, I cannot train as often as I would like, and sometimes I have to pause for longer stretches. Each time I came back, I noticed how much had slipped away: a correction from my sensei, something that had finally clicked in kihon, the one thing I had wanted to work on.
By profession I am a software engineer, so I started building the tool I was missing: something calm that helps me reflect after keiko, keep what I am taught and work on one thing at a time. Jitoku is that tool. I am building it alongside my own practice, together with kendoka who want the same. When this site says “we”, it means me and the kendoka who test Jitoku with me.
Jitoku will never replace a sensei. It is meant to help the time between keiko count.
Marcel Moll · 5th kyu
The name
Understanding you earn yourself.
Jitoku comes from 百錬自得 hyakuren jitoku: through a hundred forgings, you come to understand by yourself. No one can hand you kendo. Your sensei shows the way; the understanding grows from your own repetition.
- 自 · ji
- oneself
- 得 · toku
- to gain, to attain
The mark
Many strokes, one centre.
Each short stroke is a repetition, like a suburi. Towards the middle they grow stronger, because repetition deepens understanding. At the centre there is no stroke, only a point: the one thing you are working on now.
What we hold to
Calm
Nothing blinks, nothing pushes. Jitoku should feel like the quiet after keiko.
Respect for teaching
The sensei teaches. We build tools around the dojo, never instead of it.
Honest progress
No scores that pretend to measure kendo. Just what you did, and what keeps coming back.
Private by default
Your entries are yours. No ads, no selling of data, no public profiles.
Say hello.
Questions, ideas, or a sensei who would like to help with exercises: we read every message.