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books history kendo

Kendo: a detailed explanation of its essence and teaching methodology (1935)

A couple of years ago when I was visiting Tokyo for some kendo, I stumbled upon a chunky kendo book from 1935 in a second hand bookstore. What immediately caught my attention was name of one of the most fearsome kenshi of the 20th century on the cover: Takano Shigeyoshi (adopted son of Sasaburo). Another name on the cover suggested it was co-written, but that person I had never head of: Tanida Saichi. Of course, I immediately bought the book, took it back to my hotel room, and had a closer inspection. It was at this point I noticed that Tanida was the principal author whereas Takano served as a proofreader/mentor for the project.

I couldn’t uncover any information about Tanida at all other than what was written in the introduction (where it mentions Takano was his sensei and that he has studied kendo for over 20 years) which is very frustrating! At a best guess – based on the content of the book – I’d say that he was some sort of professional school kendo teacher. The fact that Takano was his sensei suggests that he was either a student of Takano at the Urawa Meishinkan between 1900-14 or in Manchuria sometime after 1914. Perhaps it was a bit of both.

Anyway, an extremely detailed book, it goes into a lot more detail and covers a much larger scope than any other kendo book I have seen, pre or post war. To give you a clue as to just how comprehensive it is, here are the chapter titles:

1. The nation and athletics
2. The social position of Budo
3. The development of kendo
4. The significance of kendo
5. The purpose of kendo
6. Kendo and discipling the body
7. Kendo and discipling the spirit
8. Kendo and technical skill
9. Where does the essence of kendo lie?
10. Kendo and calligraphy
11. Kendo and character
12. Kendo is dignity
13. Kendo and the military
14. Kendo and bushido
15. The holes in modern kendo
16. The steps in kendo
17. Things to prepare about in your kendo shugyo
18. The process to walk the path of kendo
19. What we can apply from the life of self-improvement led by Confucius to our kendo shugo
20. Dojo
21. Things we should be careful about during practise
22. Kendo bogu and uniform
23. Basic movements
24. Kamae
25. Basic striking
26. Other ways to strike
27. Things to be careful about when striking
28. Basic drills
29. How to move the sword
30. Special training
31. Musha shugyo
32. Attacking strategies
33. Defending strategies
34. Keiko
35. Types of keiko
36. Tsuabazeria
37. Dealing with jodan, nito, naginata, or other types of weapons
38. Men techniques
39. Kote techniques
40. Dou techniques
41. Tsuki techniques
42. Kendo in school
43. Discussion on teaching kendo
44. Discussion on how to help others improve
45. Discussion about competitors
46. Kendo teaching material
47. The steps in designing kendo teaching material
48. The conventions for teaching material
49. Things you should be careful about as a kendo teacher
50. Grading kendo
51. Dai nippon teikoku kendo kata
52. Shinpan
53. Shiai
54. Types of shiai
55. The style of “Kokutai yusho taikai”
56. Kendokai (keikokai)
57. Kendo seminars
58. Size/weight of shinai
59. How to improve technical skill
60. How to forge the spirit
61. Taking stock
62. Kendo and women
63. Iai
64. Eishin-ryu iai
65. Shizuka-ryu naginata
66. Setsunin-to, katsujin-ken
67. Shuriken
68. Things you should know about the katana

Whew!! I don’t think I translated the chapter titles 100% accurately, but I think you get the gist: the book is super comprehensive. In fact, I think I’ll have to wait for retirement before I’ll ever find the time to sit down and read it from start to finish.

I contemplated translating a small part of this book today, but I think I’ll leave that for another time. Instead, please enjoy some pictures/illustrations from the inside of the book itself.

btw, when doing some online research about the book I discovered that it was re-issued in modern format a few years ago. I haven’t seen the new version, but if you are interested you can pick it up here at amazon.jp.


Gallery

By George

George is the founder and chief editor of kenshi247.net.
For more information check out the About page.

13 replies on “Kendo: a detailed explanation of its essence and teaching methodology (1935)”

This is so awesome! Sensei, is there a possibility that you would translate this book to English in the near future? I’m especially interested in seeing the chapter on Eishin ryu in relation to kendo. I practice both kendo and iai.

I would love to have the time to do a translation project like this, but it’s simply impossible. I have a full time job and a family … this large book would take a considerable time to translate.

Wow! This book looks amazing based on just the chapter titles. I look forward to reading more on this book! 😀

I wouldn’t sit around waiting for me to translate something… it would be faster if you learned Japanese yourself and went out and bought the book!

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