Where is kendo played

Martial arts schools began opening all over Japan in order to preserve the techniques used in warfare and to cultivate discipline and self-growth in participants. These included jiu-jitsu schools that were dedicated to the practice and preservation of the hand-to-hand fighting techniques of the samurai and kenjutsu schools who trained in the sword techniques of their forebearers. In the eighteenth century, it is believed that the father and son duo of Yamada Heizaemon Mitsunori and Naganuma Shirozaemon Kunisato of the Jiki-shinkage school developed the light weight armour known as bogu and the wooden practice sword known as the shinai.

This was deemed necessary to allow realistic fencing training while minimising the risk of injury, which were commonplace when using real swords or the wooden training sword known as the bokken.

Both the bogu and the shinai were improved and refined in the early nineteenth century, and the period also saw some degree of systemisation within kenjutsu. Chiba Shusaku was particularly influential on modern kendo as in the s, he introduced gekiken hitting sword , full contact fights with shinai and bogu using what became known as the Sixty-Eight Techniques of Kenjutsu , some of which are still used by kendoka today.

With the start of the Meiji Restoration in and the return of Imperial rule in Japan, samurai culture was mostly outlawed including a ban on carrying weapons. Now, only the state police were allowed to carry swords in public and the practice of martial arts went into decline. However, in , the Dai-Nippon Butoku-Kai was established to help promote and preserve the martial arts of the samurai, including the sword techniques collectively known as kenjutsu.

Sakakibara Kenkichi popularised gekiken kogyo from , whereby martial artists would demonstrate their skills with the sword by putting on public demonstrations. The first of these took place in Asakusa and was a ten-day event that could be watched by anyone for a small fee; spectators could even participate if they had the skills or were brave enough to try.

While these events were often seen as too showy and extravagant for some hard-line traditional martial artists, they did succeed in generating much interest in the sport side of swordsmanship and played a large part in the revival of the martial arts in Japan. Police officers who are put in the special skills training unit could spend up to half the day practicing kendo, which would be comparable to the practice hours of a professional athlete. There are many competitions too, and many of them have become Japanese champions.

Those who are in the special unit get the opportunity to play at national level from a young age, so it is a great environment for kendo lovers. If you would like to spend most of your life playing kendo and getting results, this may be a good path for you. Kendo is also practiced in the security industry, ALSOK, which is a famous security firm, has a corporation team that is very strong at kendo and many of them have achieved good results at national level.

Kendo differs from other combat sports, such as wrestling and judo. In kendo , there are no classes that separate competitors by weight or size. Players compete using bamboo swords to try to strike the protective gear of opponents in set target areas: primarily the men helmet , the do breastplate and the kote gauntlets.

Players score points by decisively striking these targets. Kendo players go head to head outside at Shiofune Kannonji Temple in Tokyo. However, what is called kendo now has evolved over many centuries in the cultural milieu of Japan. Not only seen as weapons, sword production flourished as an expression art representing strength and beauty.

From the Warring States period — through to the early stages of the Edo period — , many schools of swordsmanship kenjutsu were established, and in the 18th century protective training armor resembling that used in kendo today was developed. Through this a new safe, full-contact methodology for kenjutsu training using bamboo swords shinai took root. Consequently, a competitive style of kenjutsu competition gained popularity and spread throughout the country around the end of the Edo period. The method of kendo that we study and enjoy now is a product of centuries of development in Japan, not other countries.

The promotion of kendo does not mean merely increasing the number of practitioners, nor does it mean to hold more competitions.