Kendo- Brief History

Kendo, literally translated means” way of the sword”, and was developed over hundreds of years throughout Japan’s warring past in the form originally known as Kenjutsu, “Sword Art”. However, Kendo in its current form didn’t start to take its shape until the Tokugawa period, (1600- 1868), also known as the Modern Period.

During this time of peace those of the Samurai class were given time to reflect on the concepts of bushido and study the arts of calligraphy and tea ceremony amongst other arts. It was during this time that many new schools of swordsmanship started to develop based on theories and concepts created by past warriors. New training methods were developed, and since shinken shobu, live blade combat, for taryu- jiai, trial between two swordsman of different styles, required consent from the shogun, alternate methods had to be created for sword to sword combat. Due to these regulations, schools started to turn to the bokken, wooden sword, for these trials, but combat still led to crippling injuries and needless deaths. It wasn’t until Hikida Bungoro (1537- 1606), founder of Hikida Ryu, invented the first shinai, in which swordsmen were able to practice shinai- geiko, trial with shinai, at full capacity without fear of severe injury or death. In around 1711, Yamada Heizamon of Jikishin- Kage Ryu developed the first armor for shinai- geiko to eliminate injury and to focus more on waza, technique, and philosophy behind Kendo.

As time passed more rules were added, equipment refinements were made, and philosophies shifted from taking your enemy’s life to scoring and theoretically cutting your opponent which added a sport concept to the art while keeping its combative aspect. This eventually led to the creation of the Dai Nippon Budokai Bujutsu Senmei Gakko, Great Japan Martial Virtues Association Martial Arts Specialty School, which is responsible for systemizing the techniques and training methods of Kendo in 1895. In 1909 a university kendo federation was created and in 1911 the Ministry of Education made Kendo available in middle schools throughout Japan. In 1928, the Zen Nippon Kendo Renmei, All Japan Kendo Federation, was created to control and unify Kendo nationwide. And by 1941, Kendo was offered in all primary schools.

Today Kendo is governed worldwide by the International Kendo Federation (IKF) and the All Japan Kendo Federation. There are about 8 million Kendo practitioners worldwide, with about 3.5 million in Japan alone. Kendo is considered Japan’s third largest sport after Baseball and Judo.