Foreword by Kate Sylvester.
With the World Kendo Championships (WKC) fast approaching, this series of articles focus on women’s perspectives and approaches to competitive kendo leading up to the WKC in Italy (July 4-7, 2024). The articles feature insightful and inspiring reflections from women competitors, coaches and referees.
The first time I saw Freija D’hont’s kendo was in the same year as she won the European Kendo Championships (EKC) in 2022. As coach of the Swedish women’s team, one of our team members had Freija in her pool. I was new to the European kendo scene at the time and was unaware of Freija’s depth of experience, previous success, and competitive prowess. After seeing her fighting in the pool, it came as no surprise that she progressed through to the final, winning the championship. I also recall her performance in the following year at the 2023 EKC, especially her stunning match against Moutarde of France (who was undefeatable during the team competition), which she won with a cracking debana kote. Furthermore I was impressed by the skill and cohesiveness of Team Belgium as I wrote in my article Women’s Perspectives on Female Kendo at the 32nd EKC, “One memorable match was the France v Belgium quarterfinal that came down to daihyosen. A highlight was observing Team Belgium decide on the daihyosen representative and it was evident that the women had an effervescent, collaborative, and strong team spirit”.
Freija is modest about her accomplishments, but I did manage to find out that she has won 74 kendo prizes, with the 2022 European Kendo Championships achievement being the most personally significant to her. Freija also considers that passing her 5 dan last December was rewarding as it called on her strength to try again after failing once.
Although I have not met Freija in person, I was fortunate to train at her club Ko Jika Kendo Club last summer when I visited Ghent thanks to fellow Belgium national team member Lisa Van Laecken Koga. Aside from Ghent being a gorgeous city, I was very impressed by the club. I found that the club members were very friendly and also passionate about kendo. The training was one of the best sessions I have had since moving to Europe due to the focus on kendo fundamentals and positive energy that emanated from the club leader Marie-France Mercy sensei, the 7 dan sensei (Chieko Yano sensei and Peter D’hont sensei) and all of the members. I shared an enjoyable meal with the club afterwards and was fortunate to spend time talking to Marie-France Mercy sensei. I drew inspiration from her and sincerely admired her long-term commitment and contributions to kendo. The successful organisation of the International Spring Youth Tournament (this year will be the 30th edition) and of course Freija’s achievements, are representative of the club’s leadership, philosophy, and love for kendo.
The following text shares Freija’s open and sincere responses in her own words to a series of questions on her competitive experiences and knowledge in kendo. Her answers reflect the courageous heart of a leader and champion in kendo.
Please share how you started kendo?
Family, in my kendo life, family is the ‘key’ word. The third day after I was born, my mom went straight from the hospital back to the dojo. She took me with her and that was my first encounter with kendo ever. I don’t really remember the first years I did kendo. I officially started when I was five. That means, already 21-years of kendo.
I do know that I didn’t always like it. I remember that I cried almost every time before practice at home, because I didn’t want to go. But my mom always told me, the minute I entered the dojo, I stopped and I enjoyed the full practice. I do tell people that I was forced in it, but I am very grateful my parents did somehow. Otherwise I wouldn’t be at the same level I am now. And I wouldn’t love and appreciate it as much as I do now.
What do you appreciate about kendo and find challenging?
I appreciate the world and atmosphere around kendo. Wherever I go in the world, I can call kendo my second home. I have always felt that I can be my complete self. I think a lot of people think like this. I also appreciate the structure and discipline there is in kendo. I do feel that it has changed a little bit over the years, but still the respect we all have for each other is big.
I find it challenging to work on very small things in my own kendo that take a long time to improve. I know I have mistakes that I need to fix. This works in stages for me. First of all I have to choose which one I’ll work on first. Second, it takes time to improve what I want and what coaches/teachers expect. It’s sometimes hard to keep hearing that I make the same mistake, knowing that I have been focusing on that for already a long time. Sometimes the frustration is bigger than other days. But I think we all know that kendo will be a life-long work/hobby/sport.
What motivates you to continue competition kendo and what do you love about shiai?
I think I will always do competition kendo. I just love competition in general. It’s something that I really like and it’s fun as well. You see friends again that you haven’t seen in a while, you get to watch really nice kendo, you get to share new experiences and the wins of your teammates. Shiai also activates my brain. I am a (over)thinker and I think before I fight about what and how and when do I/we need to score. What would be the right path in the competition. How many ippons do we need to win. I love to do and calculate all these things. One day, I hope to be an inspiration for other kendoka. I have kendoka I look up to and that I admire. I wish and hope to be once as good as them. But I have a small hope that one day, new kendoka will think the same about me.
Do you have inspirational kendo practitioners that you admire? Please share why.
Yes, I do! I have different people I look up to. In general in the kendo world, I have women I look up to. Some of my great inspirations in kendo are Lisa Van Laecken, Pauline Stolarz, Alina Yearwood and Asteria Akila. These 4 women are power women. The fighting spirit they have, the power they put in every shiai, the different and beautiful waza they show, the energy they put in kendo, in their team, the progression they make and show every time. It’s just amazing, but besides their kendo level, they are just amazing people.
Next to them, I have always looked up to my family in- and outside kendo. I look up to my mom, Marie-France Mercy, for how she has built an amazing dojo for already 37-years. The things she has done for juniors and adults all over the world, that’s just wonderful. This of course with the support of my dad, Dirk D’hont. Ko Jika exists out of my family. One by one teachers that I have a big respect for.
My oldest brother, Wesley Haeke, has always been my role model from when I was a kid. He also was European Champion and I always wanted to do as good as him. Now my other brother, Peter D’hont, is the coach of the Belgium National Kendo Team. I am very proud of what he has achieved now with the team since he has become coach.
How do you prepare for a major competition?
Honestly I don’t do much more for a major competition than for another competition. I have the training in my dojo, we have our national team training and sometimes some extra practises. I am not a person that does extra exercises at home or I only make healthy food or I go running. It’s not that I don’t do those things, but not with the mindset for a competition. If I do it, it’s just because I want to do it. This might probably be a bad answer, but it’s the truth.
When you won the EKC in 2022, was there something special you did for that preparation? Can you please describe the feeling before, during and after the tournament.
For the EKC 2022, I didn’t do anything special or more than I always did. I practised a lot in my own dojo and I went to the national team practices. I of course always try to push myself during training, but nothing any different than other years. Regarding my feeling for this EKC, It’s probably gonna sound weird, but to be honest, I had a really difficult personal year. I even told my parents that I was sorry that they came all the way to Frankfurt with my grandmother and that I probably wouldn’t show anything. But somehow, this took a complete other way. I think the main reason I did good after all, is that I took the pressure off myself. I still wanted to try my best, but I hadn’t any expectations for myself.
But during the competition, every shiai I did, I won and some of them were unexpected. It felt so good that I was doing it and that I could make my family, coach and teammates proud. When I eventually went to the semi-final, I was getting super emotional. I just couldn’t believe what was happening. My thoughts were going all the way, thinking: could this really be my year? When I won the semi-final, I again started crying. Everyone around me was so very supportive, I felt that they all believed in me. This was also the year that Lisa Van Laecken won 3rd place. During the competition, I felt that we were both doing this together. Even though we were on the complete opposite of the hall doing our shiai, I felt that we did this together.
When the final was there, I told myself “this is it, this just might be my year, this might happen for a reason to get myself back on track after all the things that have happened that year|”. So when I did, when I won, the weight that fell off my shoulders, the excitement, the emotions, the support, the proudness of all these people. I felt it and it felt so good.
After all these years, of course I wanted this to happen one day. But I didn’t think that it would be that year. How my team came running towards me when I left the shiaijo, how my niece Sakura Haeke cried for how proud she was and also how my parents and grandmother were crying. That day, with all those emotions, is a day I will truly never forget.
How do you deal with the pressure of shiai?
Even after all these years, I still feel a lot of pressure for shiai. I am a perfectionist in things I do and in shiai it’s exactly the same. Normally my teammates know what I like before, during and after shiai. The pressure is different in individual and team competition. In individual competition I feel less pressure than in team competition. If I ‘fail’ during shiai, I only let myself down. In team competition, if I ‘fail’, I feel I have let my team down. But I try to not show it or put my focus on different things. Before a shiai I prefer calmness and normally I just like to focus on the shiai that is going on. I accept it when one person guides me a little bit mentally of what would be good to do or not. I don’t let everyone just talk to me. Normally the people around me know who I need and what I need.
How have you personally grown from kendo, particularly competitive kendo?
I think I have grown on several levels. Becoming the captain of the ladies team has also helped me in my job. My teammates give me the space to learn how to do it. In class, I notice that I am more confident and talkative to get to know my students better. Also to be better at understanding (non-)verbal communication of them.
At home or with friends, when we play games. I always want to win! I have to admit that I am a bad loser. But in kendo, I have grown a lot in that aspect. Of course as a child, I cried several times when I lost in shiai. But I feel I have really learned how to evaluate my shiai. If I feel that it was good, then I am okay with it. There is no doubt that I also want to win, but I am also very realistic that most of the time it doesn’t go like that.
Last but not least, I have learnt to put my ‘own goals’ in shiai. If I win, that would of course be a plus, but a lot of times I set a goal I want to achieve in a competition. They can be very different. Sometimes it’s a waza I want to use. Sometimes it’s a person I want to fight. Sometimes I focus on body control during my shiai.
How have you dealt with kendo slumps or a disappointing performance?
To be honest, I’m not very good at it. I am a quite emotional person that takes things very seriously if they don’t work out as I want it to. It’s hard to separate these emotions into my personal and kendo life. I’ve had one big moment in my life where I have experienced some sad and disappointing feelings. In September 2022, only less than 4-months after becoming European Champion, my shoulder got dislocated at a practice in the dojo. This was already the second time, so I knew immediately what was wrong. I felt so sad because I wanted to enjoy the time after the EKC to connect more with other kendoka.
It was a hard moment, also because the doctor told me that no matter what, the next time it happens I will need surgery. So in the beginning when I started the process of practising, I was scared that the same situation could happen. Luckily, with the help of medic people, my teachers and my teammates, I am in the condition that I was in before the injury. They gave me the physical and mental space to grow, to get better, and stronger again.
Please share a special shiai experience.
This one is a hard one to choose. I have two moments in my mind. One that has already happened and one that actually still needs to happen.
Obviously winning the EKC in Frankfurt is one of the most special moments ever in my life. It wasn’t an easy road to the final at all. I had to fight Sayo van der Woude in the quarter finals and Alina Yearwood in the semi finals. Two women I already know for a very long time, but most of all two very strong kendo women I have looked up to. To win that day against both of them was very surprising because I was so afraid to fight them. After I won the final, a lot of other kendoka and my opponents came to congratulate me from the bottom of their heart. What I find amazing about shiai is even though we are ‘enemies’ during the shiai, afterwards there is a pureness of happiness for the other person.
But my second special shiai experience still has to come. This one will finally take place at the WKC in Milan. I will be, for the first time ever, in the same team with my niece Sakura Haeke. We are very close and have always practised together. To be able to share this experience with her but now as teammates, is something that I’ve been waiting for my whole life. I couldn’t be more proud of how she is as a person.
What would you like to achieve at this WKC?
As a player at this World Championship, I would love to show again how Belgian kendo grows every year, especially in the team. We are a team that is really fighting every year to become stronger. Of course we would love to go far at the WKC, but I always have the mindset that every match has to be played. I know that sometimes I could be a little more certain, but then after we win, the team feeling is so much stronger!
Personally as a captain, I’d like to achieve that my teammates feel supported and that they know I believe in them. I have really tried to put trust in this team. For some of them, it will be the first year that they will participate at a WKC and I already want to win before we even leave. If I will be able to let them experience the WKC with a peaceful mind, I think I will be happy then.
What I like to achieve on a personal individual level, is of course to get as far as possible. How crazy would it be to get to a quarter final or a semi-final? What could happen at the WKC are only things I’d really like to happen. What I always want is that people see my kendo, the kendo I feel comfortable with. Getting compliments about your kendo always gives you a good feeling.
Please share any words of wisdom or motivational words that may inspire other women and men in the lead up to the WKC.
Get yourself prepared to not be overwhelmed by everything. Make sure you feel mentally good before you leave towards the WKC. If this is the case, your kendo is the most important thing. Trust in your own kendo, it already brought you to this point, so that’s only a good thing. On the shiaijo, also believe in your own kendo. Eventually, this will always bring you where you want to be.
About Freija D’hont
At 26-years of age with many competitions ahead of her, the captain of the Belgium National Women’s Kendo Team, Freija D’hont is one of most successful kendo competitors in Europe. She was born and raised in Ghent, Belgium and is a member of Ko Jika Kendo Club. The dojo was founded by her amazing mother, Marie-France Mercy sensei. Currently Freija works as a full-time teacher, teaching the subjects of sports, science, Dutch and geography. Freija enjoys teaching but is also very creative. She would love to start a small online business with all hand made things. Aside from kendo, her other passions in life are dancing salsa, cats and being a plant mom.
Achievements in Kendo
- European Kendo Championships (Women’s Individual) 1st place 2022
- Several times Belgian Champion
- European Kendo Championships (Women’s Individual) 3rd place 2017
- European Kendo Championships (Junior Team) 3rd place 2014
- European Kendo Championships Fighting Spirit 2017
- Open de France (Women’s 4-7 Individual) 1st place 2019
Kate Sylvester Perspectives 