{"id":14,"date":"2022-03-11T13:00:02","date_gmt":"2022-03-11T13:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kenshi247.net\/kendo-book\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2025-02-19T23:37:52","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T23:37:52","slug":"teikoku-kendo-kyohon","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/kenshi247.net\/kendo-book\/teikoku-kendo-kyohon\/","title":{"rendered":"Teikoku kendo kyohon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

— The Kendo Textbook of Imperial Japan —<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Witten by one of the foremost kenshi of the 20th century Ogawa Kinnosuke<\/a> sensei, the Teikoku Kendo Kyohon<\/strong> (The Kendo Textbook of Imperial Japan) was originally published in 1932, then revised and re-published in 1937. Here, for the first time in any language other than Japanese, we are proud to present a complete translation of the revised version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Get it now:\u00a0PRINT\u00a0or\u00a0DIGITAL<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When this book was published in the 1930s, Ogawa sensei was the head instructor of the Budo Senmon Gakko (Busen<\/a>), the school run by the Dai-Nippon Butokukai, the largest and most influential martial arts organisation in Japan. Busen was a teacher-training college and the premier place to study kendo prior to the war. It\u2019s graduates taught kendo all over Japan (before and after the war) and it\u2019s not too much to say that what was taught there \u2013 about the philosophy of kendo as well as it\u2019s execution \u2013 forms the basis of the kendo that we do today in the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ogawa sensei himself was a graduate of the direct forerunner to Busen and a direct student of Naito Takaharu<\/a> sensei, the first head teacher of the school. Graduating in 1910, he then spent 4 years as a police kendo teacher in Nagoya before returning to Busen as a junior teacher in 1914. Obviously a highly adept kendoka, his promotion was swift, eventually becoming the head instructor on the death of Naito sensei in 1929.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is my belief that this book \u2013 the only one that Ogawa sensei wrote \u2013 is one, if not the best reference to understand not only how physical kendo was taught at the the most prestigious kendo teaching facility in Japan prior to the war, but it\u2019s philosophical and ideological background as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the introduction I also add the following reasons about why I chose this book in particular to translate:<\/p>\n\n\n\n