KENDO at Redlands Aikikai

A Brief history of Kendo

As is well known, Kendo is one of the Japanese martial arts. Kendo proper was developed during and a fter the Meiji era (1867 -- 1911). Before the Meiji era was the Edo era (1603 -- 1867), when the art was called Kenjutsu, Gekken , or Hyoho . The content and purpose of Kenjutsu were quite different from that of Kendo today. Originally,

Samurai (warriors) needed Kenjutsu to perform their duties. They trained their bodies and spirits, and developed their skills in order to cut down their opponents or enemies. Some of the Kenjutsu schools that started in the 16th century were: Shinto-ryu, Chujo-ryu, In-ryu, Nen-ryu, Itto-ryu , and Yagyu-ryu . By the end of Edo-era, there were about 400 Kenjutsu schools in Japan. They mainly used Bokken or Bokuto (wooden sword) for practice and sometimes Shin-ken (real sword) for Kumi-dachi (sword matches). The much safer way of practice with Shinai (bamboo sword) and Bogu (light armor) started in the late 18th century. • After World War II, Kendo was considered one of the sports rather than a part of Budo (martial arts) and became open to everyone. The Japan Kendo Federation was founded to develop and propagate Kendo to the mass of people and, as a result, today Kendo can be enjoyed all over the world.