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Take a look at the video below. This is the winning point of this years Zen nippon senshuken taikai (All Japan championships), held in the Tokyo Budokan on the 3rd of November 2010. This is the shiai that determines/determined who is the strongest competitor (young/male) in the country (and by extension, the world), and is …

Every year, the kendo community in Aomori conducts two tachikiri events. Tachikiri is often rendered in English as “stand all the way training.” Even has a long time practitioner of kendo, the first time I got to witness tachikiri keiko, I would have been tempted to describe it as “loser stays in” kendo training. Essentially …

The following rule changes will probably not impact your kendo training any time soon nor in the near future. However, implementation of them in competition for young Japanese kenshi ensures that there will be a stylistic change in the kendo leaders of the future and it is also strongly hints at what the kendo leaders …

So, Fujimoto Kaoru… have you heard his name before? Probably not. I hadn’t until quite recently. But like myself, almost everyone reading this website has seen his picture (above). So who was he and – if he was was strong enough to fight in front of the Emperor – why isn’t he more widely known …

This was a question that was asked in an interview with Iho Kiyotsugu hanshi in 1993. Iho hanshi held various kendo teaching posts during his lifetime (Police Academy, Kokushin university, Chukyo university, etc), had a successful shiai career (All Japan high school championships 1st place 3 times, 9th All Japans 1st place, Nippon Budokan 15th …

Among some of the top kendo manuals that are said to have had an impact on the development of modern kendo we have BUDO KYOSHI (1895), by Kumamoto (Keishicho Battotai), KENDO (1915) by Takano Sasaburo (the infamous Koto Shihan Gakko’s kendo teacher), and KENDO NO HATATSU (1912/1926) by Shimokawa (Budo Senmon Gakko’s head of the …

The Japanese team for the 14th World Kendo Championships to be held this year in Brazil has been announced on June 1st (Japanese here). I am sure you will spot many familiar names, in both the mens and ladies teams. Its not surprise that the mens team mainly consists of police, and not a few …

3 years ago when the International Kendo Federation (IKF) entered GIAF and rebranded itself FIK many people wondered whether it was for the protection of kendo as it exists today, or for a push to join the Olympics. Like many others I had assumed (and unashamedly hoped) it was the former. However, a new piece …

Editors note: this post is just for general informational purposes. The format of one of Japans premier kendo competition – the Todofuken Taiko Kendo Yusho Taikai (aka the Todofuken, or in English the “All Japan Team competition”) – has changed from this year, 2009. The main theme of the change was two-fold: to include high …

Every year the University of Valencia in Spain makes an effort to bring the head coach of the Waseda University in Tokyo (Yano-sensei) along with some members of the team. They all train with us during a long weekend and eventually join the 3-kenshi team competition on saturday. This time around Yano-sensei suffered a severe …