Population

[John W]

There are so many threads now, so I don't have a clue if this has been covered or not. :wink:

How many people are there practicing kendo in the world?

I have heard that in Japan it's about 7 million and the rest of the world is about 1 million.
:confused2

[Kirin]

More than 60% of japanese kendo population is under 18yrs old.

and in USA, AUSKF membership is no more than 5,000 ppl.

[Hyaku]

I would have said a lot more than 60%. Just took membership fees for another 380 last week. Other schools would be doing the same. Our prefectural population is around 0.8 million. Then again in the School Kendo Association we have five people between fifty an sixty years of age. Not enough to make up a team if someone cannot come.

Even police dont continue after they graduate a few continue such as the kidotai to field a police team. We have around 200 in the prison service of all ages They all did kendo or judo and all graduated from the same school. In that same population there must be around twenty iaido members, half of them practice.

The whole M.A. population is around less than 2% of the population. Also 2% like peanut butter!

[forbidden]

What i've heard a few years ago, was 2,5 millions world wide, 2 millions of those in japan alone.

[Curtis]

More than 60% of japanese kendo population is under 18yrs old.

and in USA, AUSKF membership is no more than 5,000 ppl.
Membership for the AUSKF for 2003 was a little over 3000.

[AngryMonkey]

According to the European Kendo Federation, there are 4297 people holding dan grades in Europe. Even if 90% of people are at Ikkyu grade or below, that still less than 50,000 for the whole of Europe. I can't find any exact numbers, but I imagine thats a fair guess.

[Will]

that seems a little high....

[Kirin]

According to the European Kendo Federation, there are 4297 people holding dan grades in Europe. Even if 90% of people are at Ikkyu grade or below, that still less than 50,000 for the whole of Europe. I can't find any exact numbers, but I imagine thats a fair guess.

4,297 ppl means accumulative number.... since 1970s?
many quit, so actual dan holder now is 10-25% of this number.

[Kirin]

FYI, 2002 Japanese dan holder list.
Again, this is accumulative number, so hard to tell how many are still healthy and practicing kendo.


Sho-dan ６３４，６７８
Ni-dan ３８５，８９０
San-dan １６２，０６１
Yon-dan ４１，４６３
Go-dan ３８，５７３
Roku-dan １４，０１１
Nan-dan １１，８７７
Hachi-dan ４６６
(Kyu-dan) １３　　　　
Total １，２８８，０３３


Renshi　　　　　　　１９，２５８
Kyoushi　　　　　　１８，０００
Hanshi　　　　　　　　　　３７６

[Neil Gendzwill]

How do you get more kyoshi than nanadan and hachidan combined? Even if they were all kyoshi, that would mean over 40% of the rokudan are kyoshi and I thought that percentage was more like 0.

[Kirin]

How do you get more kyoshi than nanadan and hachidan combined? Even if they were all kyoshi, that would mean over 40% of the rokudan are kyoshi and I thought that percentage was more like 0.

In past there were 7-dan Hanshi, and 6-dan Kyoushi.
So I guess the discrepancy in those numbers come from ppl who are grandfathered from old regulation.

[Hyaku]

How does this reflect on the fact that everybody gets another dan grade when they die. Do they get the grade then get deleted form the records?