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By Baptiste Tavernier

The 18th All Japan Jukendo Championship was held on August 6th, 2010, at the Nippon Budokan in central Tokyo. This year, with the tournament being scheduled on Friday, the Budokan was nearly empty. Nevertheless, the 64 participants (6-dan and above) offered us very interesting and powerful performances in their shiai.

There were only two courts this year compared to the several courts of the past, so it was a little bit easier to follow the action. ...

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Recently, a new book regarding the history of kendo was released by the publishers of Kendo Nippon Magazine. The book, A Bilingual Guide to the History of Kendo, is, as its title suggests, a bilingual guide to the history of kendo. The author is Sakai Toshinobu, expert in sword history and professor at the University of Tsukuba. The English translation was done by me.

The book is comprised of a number of essays outlining the earliest sword ideals from the continent and how they were introduced and developed in Japan, right through the international situation of the art in the 21st century.They were originally published every month for two years in ...

Von Steven Harwood MA
Kendo World Vol.1 Nr. 3 2002, übersetzt von Stefan Alpers.

Seiza oder Mokusô und Atemkontrolle
In dieser Ausgabe möchte ich zuerst die Übung von seiza (1) und mokusô (2) betrachten, wo man vor und nach dem Training für eine Weile ruhig sitzt, und im Besonderen seine Verbindung zur Zwerchfellatmung untersuchen. Die korrekte Haltung für mokusô ist die ge-wöhnliche japanische formale knieende Haltung für seiza (3). Die Elemente des seiza sind sehr ähnlich mit denen, dich ich für shizen-tai in meinem letzten Artikel beschrieben habe: der ganze Körper ist entspannt; ...

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Content Outline:

Editor-in-Chief
Alex Bennett Ph.D.

A little under forty years after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Japan had transformed itself from a country that was vulnerable, isolated, and weak, to arguably the strongest power in the region – one that was modernizing and industrializing at an extraordinary rate. Japan also rapidly became a player on the world stage, and its arrival was signified by its victory over Russia, then one of the world’s foremost powers, in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. The successes that Japan was experiencing were attributed by some to the teachings and philosophies of “bushido”, the “Way of the Warrior”. The purpose of this article is to compare some of the Tokugawa period classics of bushidō literature by Yamaga Sokō, Daidōji Yūzan, and Yamamoto Tsunetomo ...

By Kate Sylvester

The 2nd All Japan Inter-Prefectural Ladies Kendo Championship was held on Saturday the 17th of July at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo.

With 235 of the Japan’s best female kendoka representing 47 prefectures in 5 member teams, the competition promised to be a sensational event.
This competition has replaced the annual All Japan Inter-Prefectural housewives' Kendo Championship due to the growing skill level of women’s Kendo in Japan.

The 5 member teams were selected from each prefecture’s best senshu ranging from the top high school student as senpo to the most accomplished 6 or 7-dan as taisho. Each team was represented by a high level of skill and depth of ...