Judging the outcome of shiai and handing down a decision may at first appear a simple task but, in fact, it is far from it. It would be more accurate to say that it is one of the most difficult of tasks. Perfect refereeing can be achieved only by the Gods alone – it is […]
A couple of weekends ago I found myself in Kyoto watching this years All Japan Teachers Kendo Championships. It was the first time I’d attended this event and was intrigued into how it ran. The taikai was split into basically three competitions: ladies individuals, mens individual, and mens team, with all competitors either being a […]
I cannot, just by telling you about it, convince you of the pleasure of what happens at such as festival as well as you would learn for yourself, sitting in the middle of the crowd watching the arete of men and physical beauty, amazing conditioning, and great skill and irresistible force and daring and pride […]
This years All Japan Championships were won by 21 year old Takenouchi Yuya, a 3rd year student at Tsukuba university, one of the top kendo universities in the country (not to mention the direct descendant of one of the most famous kendo establishments that ever existed: Tokyo Shihan Gakko). It’s only the 2nd time in […]
On the 4th and 5th of May 1934, Saineikan – a budojo located in the grounds of Tokyo Imperial Palace – was the venue of the second of three Showa-period Tenran-jiai (a budo or sports competition held in front of the Emperor). This post was mainly written in order to share some of the pictures […]
In 2009 I wrote a post called TSUBAZERIA RULE CHANGES IN HIGH SCHOOL KENDO that looked at new rules that were being implemented for high school kendo competitions here in Japan. Just over 4 years later and I can say without a doubt that the flow of shiai has improved drastically due to this simple […]
So, at the 2012 World Kendo Championships in Italy there was a presentation and vote to decide where the next championships would be held. There were two countries in contention: Japan and Korea. A few weeks before the event I was contacted by a rep of the ZNKR and asked to give my opinion on […]
Note: this is a guest post by Jon Fitzgerald. This year saw Tora Dojo host the 6th London Cup. Once again we were lucky enough to be joined by kenshi from all over Europe, including various current and former national team members. Countries taking part included France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, […]
しない競技は、終戦後の廃墟と混迷の中から生い立った新しい競技である。 Shinai kyogi was a new sport that sprung up In the ruin and confusion of the post war period.” … is the first line of the chapter on Shinai-kyogi in the book “How to study kendo” that was published in 1965. It goes on to explain in a bit more detail: To say it […]
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 […]