Before Kendo no kata

Kata training in kendo nowadays is had via the well known and respected “nihon kendo no kata,” and it has played an important part in keeping the “sword” element of kendo alive to this day. We also have the newly introduced “bokuto ni yoru kihon keiko-ho” (although they not officially called “kata”) which is a method of teaching shinai-kendo techniques using a bokuto. But before both these sets of kata, there were precursory attempts to create kata for teaching to kendo people. These forms are still practised in the Japanese kendo community today, although rare.

Keishi ryu (警視流)

Keishicho (Tokyo Metropolitan Police force) has been the leader of modern kendo from its very inception. In 1880 it was decided that all members of the police force would train in martial arts and from that time they started recruiting exponents from around the country to teach. Having many different teachers from many different ryu-ha was obviously a problem so it was decided to create a single set of forms in order to teach.

According to Alex Bennets “A Brief Synopsis of the History of Kendo” : As far as the Keishicho kata is concerned, it is difficult to establish exactly when they were created, but records of a demonstration of various kata by the Keishicho administrators at the 1886 Keishicho Bujutsu Taikai (martial arts tournament) suggest that they were finalised around this time.

The curriculum consisted of 10 odachi, 5 batto, and a number of yawara-jutsu kata. The odachi forms are still practised in Keishicho today, the batto forms are being transmitted outside of the police, and the yawarajutsu portion seems to have been lost.

The odachi kata are completely different from modern kendo no kata but, as a first attempt to consolidate the kenjutsu ryu-ha system into a single, much more easily teachable and transferable method of sword study, there importance cannot be overlooked. Also, that Keishicho have lead – and continue to lead – the kendo world is an important point that shouldn’t be forgotten.

Gogyo no kata (五行之形)

Gogyo no kata are a set of 5 odachi and 3 kodachi forms that were devised by Takano Sasaburo and taught in the Tokyo Koto Shihan Gakko (Tokyo Higher Normal School) in around 1904. These kata were modified forms of kata taken from Nakanishi-ha itto-ryu, of which Takano was an exponent of.

That Takano was a member of the group setup by the Butokukai that devised and presented the later Dai nippon kendo no kata in 1912 – and the direct precursor to todays kendo no kata – is an important point to consider when placing this set of kata in the context of modern kendo.

For those of us that have had some experience of practising or watching Ono-ha or Nakanishi-ha itto ryu, there is more than a passing resemblance between these traditions and kendo no kata, in the manner of execution if not 100% in waza. It strikes me that Takano was extremely influential in the creation of kendo no kata, and his precursor to this was Gogyo no kata.

These kata are still taught today in Tsukaba University (the renamed Tokyo Koto Shihan Gakko).

Pictures taken from kendo nippon.