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| The History of Bogu12:00am on 03/01/2007The History of Bogu
by NAKAMURA Tamio
Translated from Kendo Jidai magazine by Alex Bennett
All copyright belongs to the author, Nakamura Tamio
Originally printed Kendo World Magazine, Vol. 1 Issue 1, 2001.
Budo Perspectives
 Currently, the official Japanese term used to refer to the protective armour used in kendo is not bogu but 'kendo-gu' Nonetheless, the term bogu is still the most commonly used, and I will use it in this article. Before delving into the history of bogu/kendo-gu, I will first offer an explanation of these terms and how they came to be used.
Origins of the Terms
There are no actual records indicating that the word bogu was ever utilized during the Edo Period (1600-1867). Other expressions were used to refer to protective armour donned for martial training such as dogu, bugu, take-gusoku, and so on. The first time that the term bogu came to be employed was by the military during the Meiji Period (1868-1912), when the Japanese army was remodeled on the French system.
In 1884, a French military advisor, Kiehl De Villaret, was invited to instruct the art of French fencing and bayonet techniques to the Japanese armed forces. In 1889, after he had served his purpose and left the shores of Japan, major reforms were made to the armed forces, and the Kenjutsu Textbook (Kenjutsu Kyohan) was compiled outlining the official Japanese military method of swordsmanship. This textbook was divided into sections covering kenjutsu, gunto�jutsu (saber), and ju-kenjutsu (bayonet). In the text it stipulates that, Ju-kenjutsu equipment can be divided into two types, the weapon, and the bogu� Furthermore, 'The bogu consists of men, do (with tare attached), shoulder pads, and kote' thus making it the first known reference to the term bogu. It appears that from the time Japanese soldiers began training in French-style kenjutsu and ju-kenjutsu, the term bogu was derived from bo�shin-yoo�gu (body protection equipment).
The Kenjutsu Textbook was revised three times, and gradually became more oriented to traditional Japanese equipment and techniques. After the third revision in 1915, the armour worn in the distinctive armed forces-style kenjutsu training generally utilized do with tare attached, but it was still deemed permissible to use armour of the type used in conventional non-military kendo circles. Eventually, the term 'bogu' which originally referred to the armour used for the armed forces kenjutsu, was also applied to the equipment used in regular kendo. By the 1920? onward, bogu came to refer collectively to a set of kendo armour consisting of men, kote, d� and tare. This trend continued into the immediate post-war period when kendo was banned for a number of years by GHQ, and was replaced by a less aggressive 'sportified' variant form of fencing called shinai-kyogi, which also used considerably modified armour, but was still referred to as bogu.
The All Japan Kendo Federation was formed in 1952. Consequently, the official All Japan Kendo Federation Competition Rules were formulated, and in the section concerning equipment it states, 'Bogu shall consist of men, kote, do and tare.' With this, the term was set concretely into the annals of official kendo jargon.
Nevertheless, a scan of many of the popular Japanese dictionaries and encyclopedias in the 1950's and 60's will rarely if ever find mention of the word, indicating that it was not used by the general population until after the middle of the sixties when major dictionaries such as the Kojien (Second edition) defined bogu as 'The protective equipment utilized in kendo consisting of men, kote, do and tare.' This same term was also later applied to the equipment used in western fencing.
In 1979, the 'Kendo Shiai Regulations / Kendo Shimpan Regulations' were widely revised, and Article 4 concisely states, 'Kendo-gu will consist of men, do kote and tare.' Since this revision bogu was officially replaced with the term kendo-gu. Incidentally, in the 1995 revisions of the same regulations, the term keiko-gi was modified to kendo-gi.
Thus, terms for protective armour used in kenjustu evolved from dogu to bogu, and finally to kendo-gu. Now I will investigate the evolution of the armour itself.
The Emergence of Bogu
Until now, it was generally accepted that bogu first came on the scene sometime between 1751-1772. Still, it is incorrect to conclude that bogu suddenly appeared at any one particular point of time in history. During the period 1661-1681, multitudes of martial schools came into being, and it was from this time in particular that the various schools explored different ways to engage in safer training by developing pieces of protective armour.
From here I will introduce a few documents of that period, which describe such developments. Unfortunately documented evidence from this period is rather scant, making it difficult to piece together a detailed picture. Still, the famous military and Confucian scholar Yamaga Soko has left us some interesting references in regards to the utilisation of protective equipment in the early Edo period. 'In regards to the benefits of the system of training in kenjutsu with a shinai, adepts used to attach armour, with an iron protective mask, and were able to engage in rigorous mock-combat to their heart's content [without the worry of injury].' In the second month of 1663, we find reference by Kamiya Denshin Yoriharu, the headmaster of the Jikishin-ryu in an essay he sent to Osawa Tomoemon concerning the use of protective equipment. 'In the trainings conducted at other schools, leather armour is worn accompanied with various other pieces of equipment including face masks. In the Jikishin-ryu, however, we do not ask that such equipment be utilized.' Accordingly, we can determine from this passage that several unnamed schools other than the Jikishin tradition engaged in combat training aided by safety equipment from the early Edo period onwards.
In 1682, a collection of illustrations sketched by Hishikawa Moronobu titled Chiyo no Tomozuru depicts two young warriors wielding safety-tipped yari (spear) engaged in a contest with another young warrior equipped with men, do-tare, and a naginata.
This illustration was probably completed some time towards the end of the 17th C. Curiously, the type of bogu depicted in this illustration is of a men minus the protective padding on top, and also without a nodo-dare (throat protector). The men is no more than a grill covering the face, and appears to be made from bamboo. The tare is attached to the do(do-tare), which is also made from bamboo, similar to those made in a later period. Similar drawings by Hishikawa from around 1684 can also be found in Ukiyotsuzuki, which again demonstrate to us that the use of protective training armour was relatively widespread from early in the Edo period.
Bogu Employed in Sojutsu (spear combat)
The question arises, as to out of the two disciplines of kenjutsu or sojutsu, which first started utilizing training armour? In Shimokawa Ushio's Kendo no Hattatsu (The Development of Kendo) it states that given the differences in technique between kenjutsu (mainly cutting) and sojutsu (mainly thrusting), and also considering which of the two was more dangerous, it stands to reason that items of armour such as the do and tare were doubtlessly born of sojutsu and then later applied in kenjutsu.
By the beginning of the Edo period, martial schools had started to specialize in a particular weapon. However, in any given curriculum various weapons were taken into consideration. Thus, a school specializing in sojutsu would obviously have to learn to deal with an opponent armed with a sword. This fact makes it hard to draw the conclusion that bogu was developed solely by sojutsu schools, and then later employed by kenjutsu practitioners.
I will leave the debate of which discipline first started using armour at that, and turn my attention to the style of bogu used in sojutsu, and its gradual development in comparison to that of kenjutsu.
In regards to the first illustration, I made mention of the style of men being used which seems to be made from bamboo and has no protective padding on top of the head or on the throat. The warrior in the picture is also not using kote at that time, or in later illustrations by Hishikawa.
However, in Kashibuchi Arinori's Geijutsu Buko-ron (1768), illustrations of the bogu used by Masaki-ryu sojutsu practitioners shows an improved style. The men comes equipped with both protective padding on the top and covering the throat, not to mention the metal grill protecting the face. The tare is attached to the bamboo do and we can also see underarm and waist protection.
Thus, in the space of one hundred years we witness an evolutionary jump in the style of men. It is more robust through the utilisation of metal for the grill, and provides far more effective protection to the fragile head and throat with ample thick padding.
We can also detect the extent of this evolution in a text written toward the end of the Edo period outlining the equipment used in the Fuden-ryu. It informs us that the tsuki-dare was made from bamboo and leather, and was the same width as the actual men (left).
This same text also has illustrations that show kote, which were probably used for matches against kenjutsu exponents, and sune-ate (shin guards) most likely used in matches against the naginata. This goes to prove that much of the training in sojutsu, was not based around yari vs. yari, but also practised against opponents using a variety of different weapons (isshu-jiai), and the evolution of bogu centred on such considerations. This was possibly due to the popular phenomenon at the time of contests between schools (taryu-jiai).
Nevertheless, other texts show that the use of the tsuki-dare was not universal among schools even by 1812, as can be seen in the illustration above, that shows sojutsu training with a tsuki-dare-less men, and a leather do at the Nisshinkan Dojo. This particular picture is a depiction of one of the three sojutsu schools active in the Kaitsu clan (Ouchi-ryu, Hozoin-ryu, Isshi-ryu), although it is difficult to tell which. What we do know is that training was conducted utilising protective armour and safety-tipped yari.
Looking at all the pictures you will notice that for the most part kote are not included for some reason. This is probably because yari practice was conducted with bare hands, and kote were not initially included in the training armour utilised for that particular art until the Bakumatsu period onward (1850's). As I will examine shortly, kote were probably introduced into the practice of sojutsu from kenjutsu, where they were utilised from the early Edo period. Whatever the case, both disciplines borrowed and improved the other's developments until bogu gradually evolved into its current form.
Kenjutsu Bogu
In regards to the types of protective armour used in kenjutsu, Shimokawa states in Kendo no Hattatsu that in the Jikishinkage-ryu, Yamada Heizaemon Mitsunori (1639-1716) lamented the lack of spirit in many practitioners who concentrated only on kata training. He then started to devise a system of training that would allow practitioners to strike with full force without any danger of suffering or causing injury. His third son, Naganuma Shirozaemon Kunisato (1688-1767), completed the task between 1711-1716. I will use Shimokawa's theory as a base as I delve into the evolution of kenjustu bogu.
The Jikishinkage-ryu school started with Sugimoto Bizen-no-Kami Masamoto, of Shinkage-ryu. The 5th successor of the tradition, Kamiya Denshinsai Sadamitsu changed the name to Jikishin-ryu. This was continued as Jikishin Seitoha by the 6th Headmaster, Takahashi Danjozaemon Shigeharu, and then into Jikishinkage-ryu by the 7th Headmaster, Yamada Heizaemon Mitsunori.
According to the Heiho Denki Chukai, a Jikishinkage-ryu manuscript, Yamada Heizaemon suffered a serious injury at the tender age of eighteen in a match conducted with bokuto. He stopped practicing kenjutsu until the age of thirty-two, when he was exposed to the teachings of the aforementioned Takahashi Danjozaemon's school where 'face mask and protective gauntlets were donned thus enabling one to engage in combat training without the risk of injury.' He wasted no time in becoming a student of this school, and it is recorded that by the time he was forty-six, he was awarded a license to teach (menkyo).
This was 1684, but it is obvious that Takahashi Danjozaemon's school had been using bogu for a number of years already. However, this bogu only consisted of a facemask and gauntlets, but nothing resembling a do was employed. The Sagawa Shinkage-ryu, an associated school in the far north, employed only facemasks and gauntlets in their training. However, this indicates that all the related schools from the Shinkage-ryu line were making use of fukuro-shinai (prototype of modern shinai) as well as men and kote. In the drawing at right, taken from Suzuki Shozo's Sendai Fuzoku-shi (1927) we see a Shinkage-ryu adept using only a fukuro-shinai, men and kote. Thus, it states 'As the trunk was protected only by the thin material of the kimono that one was wearing, one learned the meaning of pain upon being hit in this rather vulnerable spot during keiko!'
Takahashi Danjozaemon's teacher Kamiya Denshinsai decreed that, 'When engaging in contest combat with other schools, always use a bokuto. The use of shinai is strictly prohibited.' He was a hardened kata advocate, and it wasn't until the era of Takahashi Danjozaemon that bogu came to be the norm rather than the exception.
In Yamada Heizaemon's text Heiho Zakki, he writes 'in order to really reach an understanding of mortal combat it is necessary for both adepts to don men, kote, and other pieces of protective equipment and forge oneself through the confusion encountered by engaging in daring unrestricted training.' This particular passage is referring to uchikomi-geiko, or training by actually striking with the shinai, something evidently promoted by Heizaemon in his latter years. Heizaemon died in 1716, the period that corresponds with Shimokawa's assertion that bogu was all but perfected�by this stage.
In addition, the inscription on the gravestone of Yamada Heizaemon's third son Naganuma Shirozaemon Kunisato (1688-1767), the heir of the Jikishinkage-ryu tradition, states that his exploits included improving the bokuto and shinai, and refining the armour by adding a metal grill to the men and thick cotton protective coverings to the kote. Kunisato inherited the tradition from his father Heizaemon in 1708, and the two of them worked hard together to improve the bogu until Heizaemon's death.
Given these records, it is probably safe to conclude that the improvements of men and kote used in the Shinkage-ryu line of schools, and the addition of do to protect the trunk were the innovations of Yamada Heizemon and his son Naganuma Kunisato, particularly in the period 1711-1716.
The Bogu of Jikishinkage-ryu
Now that we have had a look at the process of bogu evolution in the Jikishinkage-ryu tradition, I shall turn our attention to what it actually looked like. Having said that, as far as I am aware, there are no original Jikishinkage-ryu sets of bogu left in existence. However, we can get a general idea from the illustrations contained in Tominaga Kengo's 1931 book Sho-Ryuha Budogu-Zue (Illustrations of Protective Armour from Various Martial Traditions)
By taking a close look at these illustrations we can surmise that the men was made of bamboo, and there is no protective covering for the throat (tsuki-dare). The do is made of flat bamboo slats strung together, the kote cover the whole forearm, and the shinai is a fukuro-shinai. If we compare these illustrations with the Shinkage-ryu armour in illustration 5, we notice a couple of the main differences are that the latter has no protective cotton padding on the top and that there is no do. The bogu depicted in illustrations 6-8 was probably not too dissimilar to the bogu developed by Naganuma Kunisato.
Refinements
In the period spanning from 1751-1764, about fifty years after the Shinkage-ryu bogu was completed, Nakanishi Chuzo Tsugutake of the Itto-ryu school engaged in full contact uchikomi-geiko using a men made of metal and bamboo armour. In Nakanishi Koresuke's Itto-ryu Heiho Toho Kigen (treatise concerning the Itto-ryu - 1861 edition) it states 'The Nakanishi Clan first employed the use of training with shinai in the Horeki Period (1751-1764).' In Shirai Toru's Heiho Michishirabe (1834 edition) it makes reference to how Tsugutake, after his father died, excelled in the art of kenjutsu by branching out and experimenting with shinai, rather than confining himself to more traditional methods of training.
The reason why Nakanishi Chuzo Tsugutake trained using the shinai in uchikomi-geiko is recorded in a text written in response to a letter by Yamaga Takayoshi of the Tsugaru clan Itto-ryu in the twelfth month of 1775. The letter asked Nakanishi Tsugutake eleven questions concerning the pros and cons of the Nakanishi branch of the Itto-ryu tradition. The replies to these questions are clearly recorded in Itto-ryu Gokui. Nakanishi was stimulated by Yamaga's interest, and he replied to the questions, but refrained from commenting on the question regarding the use of the shinai until the third day of the first month the following year. Yamaga had asked his mentor, Onoha-Itto-ryu Headmaster Ono Tadao the same question in regards to combat with a bokuto and combat with a shinai, to which he replied, 'training with a shinai is unbearably forgiving, and is no more than child's play. If anything, it is a way of avoiding the depth of real combat.' In contrast to this, Nakanishi retorted that this was a complete misunderstanding of the objectives of the Nakanishi group in employing shinai for training. This point of contention concerning the use of shinai in full contact training as opposed to purely kata training would not only remain a major issue within the Itto-ryu, but also became hotly debated by many other martial traditions. It is from here that we see a massive shift from traditional kata training methods using live blades or bokuto to training with the shinai as in modern kendo.
Concerning the changes in bogu from the end of the eighteenth century there is a reference in Zokukoken Koon's Nisho Gogo no Ben (1794 edition), which describes the state of equipment at the time. The so-called armour is no more than cotton or leather packed with stuffing then stitched up, and pieces of bamboo strung together. In Yamazaki Toshihide's treatise on kenjutsu, Kenjutsu Giron (1791 edition), it states 'There is no better way to grasp the principles of combat than by putting on a men and kote, and practicing techniques with a shinai without any worry of injury.' Similiarly, in Kenjutsu Hiden Doku Shugyo (1800 edition) by the same author, it is recorded 'Firstly, both adepts don men, kote, and bamboo body protection so as not to sustain injury.' These passages indicate that utilisation of protective training armour was fairly widespread by this time. The armour depicted below from Hokusai Manga (1808) is representative of the bogu used during this period.
However, upon inspection, one will again notice that there is no throat protection, as was the case with the Jikishinkage-ryu bogu shown in the drawings above. This seems to indicate that tsuki techniques were not employed, and the basis for training revolved around strikes to the kote and men.
In regards to tsuki techniques, there is an interesting record concerning one Oishi Susumu of the Yanagigawa clan who, in the Tempo era (1830-1844) used a particularly long shinai measuring 5-shaku 3-sun (approx. 167cm) to soundly defeat a renowned Edo fencer with tsuki and do cuts. It just so happens that Oishi was not only the master of his own Oishi Shinkage-ryu, but also held a teaching license in Oshima-ryu sojutsu (spear). He appears to have utilized his sojutsu thrusting skills to take full advantage of the weak points of kenjutsu bogu. Maybe in part due to Oishi's exploits, longer shinai became the rage in later years.
Also, as is depicted in some pictures of the bogu of the period in Takano Sasaburo's well-known book Kendo, broad throat protective padding was added to the men in an attempt to guard this rather tender target.
Anything popular in Edo soon made its way back to the provinces, and throat protectors on the men were no exception. For example, a basic set of handmade bogu from a small village in 1836 is made from bamboo, but has an enormous throat protector. (right)
Another set of armour was also found in the same village, but has a metal grill on the men instead of bamboo, suggesting that there was another transition in the style of armour around this time.
As we have seen, modification to metal grills, protective tsuki-dare, padding on top of the head, and an upper-chest protector on the do seem to have been adaptations for kenjutsu copied from the bogu used in sojutsu. Conversely, the kote were initially a kenjutsu innovation incorporated into the equipment used in sojutsu. Hence, both forms of martial tradition utilised and improved on each other's innovations until it eventually developed into the familiar form used today where the standard kendo bogu consists of a men complete with tsuki-dare, kote, do and tare. From this time on the basic form was established, and the evolution of bogu moved into a period of refining the individual elements.
In the bustling town of Edo, the Kajibashi, Atago, and Shitayakanari Kaido areas contained a number of stores that specialized in selling bogu and shinai. In Muta Takaatsu's Sho-Koku Kaireki Nichiroku, a travel journal, there is reference to him ordering a leather do at a shop in Nichikage-cho for the price of one ryo We can also learn from the text that shinai cost the grand total of 200 mon. The average cost to a kenjutsu practitioner for a shinai back then, so it seems, was anything from 200 mon to 270 mon.
In the close vicinity of where many of these shops were concentrated stood the Jikishinkage-ryu Naganuma dojo, making it indeed a kenjutsu stronghold. Furthermore, the reason why the Bakufu constructed the Kobusho military academy in this area was for naval defense due to close access to the sea, and also because of the fact that the area was swarming with kenjutsu adepts and equipment.
There is a delightful picture in Katsushika Hokusai's Ehon Azuma Asobi (1802), which depicts a scene of the goings on in one such shop. At a glance we can see fukuro-shinai and bamboo protective gear hanging from the walls of what really seems to be a traditional armour shop. Through this we can surmise that it was primarily these craftsmen who also took care of contemporary training equipment.
Bakumatsu Bogu
With the arrival of Perry's black ships in Uraga, Japan was forced to open its doors to the West, and there was a tremendous increase in sales of weapons and armour. The Bakufu was caught unawares by these events, and hastily set about constructing a national military academy (the aforementioned Kobusho) in Edo in 1855 to encourage the study of bujutsu.
The Kobusho was responsible for unifying the criteria pertaining to bogu and shinai used in kenjutsu training, which until then had varied from school to school, and dojo to dojo. The Kobusho also proceeded to place less emphasis on kata training, and more on shiai training, and set regulations for the length of shinai permitted at no more than 3-shaku 8-sun (approx. 115cm). This effectively took kenjutsu to a new level detached from any particular school or tradition. This emphasis on shiai also started a revival in inter-school matches (taryu-jiai), and more durable and portable bogu was developed.
As the period of Bakufu rule drew to a close, the widely used one-piece leather do was incorporated into an easy to carry set of armour. In the case of the bamboo armour, the breast area down to the hips was basically straight and rigid, however, the leather do was able to incorporate a curve to accommodate the line of the body. Also, with the bamboo armour, the do and tare were connected as one unit, and the tare consisted of three protective flaps. However, with the leather version, the do and tare were separate, and the tare was improved with an addition of two extra flaps. The men was not dissimilar to the men used today consisting of 40 horizontal metal bars protecting the face. The vertical and horizontal bars were protuberant and were strong enough to offer protection against thrusts to the face. Also, the men cushion was about the same size as the throat protector so it hardly protected the shoulders and was very short in comparison to today's men. The throat protector was quite substantial in width, but did not have backup padding behind it as modern men do.
Around this time, do were made of bamboo with a layer of protective leather stretched over the front. The main part of the do became rotund, very similar to do in use today. (below)
Bogu After the Meiji Period
With the commencement of the Meiji Period, clans (han) disbanded, and kenjutsu went into decline. What saved kenjutsu from extinction were kenjutsu shows performed for the entertainment of the masses, and the creation of private dojo by individual kenjutsu enthusiasts.
The Meiji government re-structured its army on the basis of the French military system as I already mentioned. In 1884, the Japanese invited the French military advisor, Kiehl De Villaret, who proceeded to introduce methods of French swordsmanship. This style of kenjutsu was later structured and presented in the textbook referred to at the beginning of the article, Kenjutsu Textbook (Kenjutsu Kyohan). This is the first time that the term bogu was used, and it referred to the French style of protective armour.
However, Japan eventually turned its military focus from the French system to the German system. In the aforementioned textbook, ammendments were made in which it was stipulated that Japanese style bogu would be used to practice the one-handed European style of swordsmanship. Even with these changes in the military system, traditional Japanese bogu continued to be used and developed, and new do for example, were mass-produced with extra protection for under the armpits, and the curvature of the do was further emphasized.
In the Taisho Period (1912-1926) the mass production of bogu continued, and machine stitched bogu was introduced as well as the traditional hand-stitched equipment.
In the Showa Period, the kote were snipped at the top of the funnel, and the padding on the men increased in length so that it eventually covered the entire shoulder area. This is the stage in which we can say that the evolution of bogu was complete.
Incidentally, according to a shop catalog from 1932, the most expensive bogu they had for sale went for 85 yen a set. A breakdown of the costs reveals that the men (1-bu 5-rin stitching, leather trimmings, metal grill) was 26 yen, kote 18 yen, do 24 yen, and tare 17 yen. The cheapest bamboo set of armour available went for 10.5 yen (10 yen and 50 sen). Leather do could cost anything around the 20-30 yen mark. If we multiply these prices by ten thousand to get a modern equivalent, the price fans out to 850,000 yen (approx. US$8000). This shows that bogu was by no means a cheap commodity back in those days. A set of bogu was already being considered an object of art created by skilled craftsmen, rather than just simply training gear.
The most expensive judo-gi back then cost 2.6 yen. A basic blue kendo-gi cost 2.9 yen, with the upper range costing up to 6 yen. Children's shinai cost 0.4 yen (40 sen) with high quality shinai going for 80-90 sen. Thus, the price of bogu alone could be considered a major factor hindering the popularisation of kendo back then too.
Postwar Bogu
In the immediate post war period, the practice of martial arts was prohibited. In place of kendo, a new sport called Shinai-Kyogi, combining kendo and western fencing was developed. The protective equipment to be used in this fencing concoction was stipulated as '1) Men (mask), Do ate (protector), and gloves. (2) The mask will consist of metal mesh on the front and sides. (3) The protector will consist of thick cotton padding with durable (metal or bamboo) panels. (4) The gloves will have long forearm protection aided with rigid panels.' One can imagine from the description of the equipment the influence of western fencing in the design.
The All Japan Kendo Federation was inaugurated in October 1952. In the Shiai Regulations published in March the following year, it stated, 'The bogu to be used in Kendo will consist of men, kote, do and tare.' (above) Thus, pre-war armour was officially re-introduced which was obviously different to the recently developed Shinai-Kyogi gear. There was a short period of time where both styles were practiced side by side, but in March 1954, the All Japan Kendo Federation and the All Japan Shinai-Kyogi Federation were combined into yet another all-encompassing All Japan Kendo Federation, which essentially spelled the end of the road for Shinai-Kyogi.
Subsequently, such things as duralumin do and five-fingered kote were fashioned, but no major changes in the style of bogu to speak of have eventuated. Of course, carbon graphite shinai were first put on sale in 1985, and were finally permitted for use in official shiai on March 18th 1987, and are still used by many people.
Another interesting development in the bogu world was the production of men with clear Perspex face guards, which were released onto the market in March 1997. Due to the popularity of these men, the All Japan Kendo Federation moved to recognize the use of them in official shiai as of revisions to the rules on 15th March 2000, and these revisions were enforced as of the 1st of April, 2000.
The Future of Bogu (Kendo-gu)
To conclude this article, I would like to tie up the history outlined so far with some thoughts on the future of bogu (kendo-gu). The third wave of bogu history has begun with the official name changes starting from dogu to bogu to kendo-gu. This new age of bogu is represented by the invention of carbon-graphite shinai, and wide-view Perspex men, all of which changed the conventional image of bogu. I suspect that the next things to change will be the himo (cords) for the men and do. Amazingly enough even Japanese people are forgetting how to tie men and do properly. I forecast that men will be developed utilizing Velcro fastenings, and do will probably follow suit with some similar material. Likewise, the traditional craftwork of the bogu makers will fall into obscurity as the production process becomes simplified.
As far as the question of tradition and modernisation in kendo is concerned, currently there is a debate raging in Japan about the point of going down into sonkyo before starting or finishing matches when the two kendoka also demonstrate mutual respect in the form of a standing bow. Are both forms of courtesy actually necessary? This trend of debating the rationality of certain traditions in kendo will more than likely result in the scrapping of those aspects judged to be meaningless. Even if an action such as sonkyo does have a meaning, this is undermined by the question of whether it is actually necessary in shiai. Making victory poses or gestures of joy by throwing the hands up in the air after winning a shiai is still very much frowned upon in kendo. This is something often witnessed in judo or sumo, but for some reason is considered unforgivable in comparatively conservative kendo circles. We have to clarify what is or is not forgivable as far as progress and change is concerned in order to avoid detrimental clashes in the future. My point being, the issue of maintaining a careful balance between popularisation and tradition is something the kendo world must take very seriously from now on.
Kendo World would like to thank Professor Nakamura and Kendo Jidai Magazine (where the original was first published) for kindly allowing us to use this article. All rights for this article remain the property of the author, Nakamura Tamio.
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