All-Japan Kendo Championship

Bamboo swords will be flying as the country’s top competitors head to Tokyo

Photo: Caleb Crane

The 54th All-Japan Kendo Championship will be held at Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan on November 3, which is a national holiday known as Culture Day. That’s only fitting, because at the competitive level, kendo is as much an art as a sport.

During training at the dojo, kendo competitors practice an endless set of techniques that take years, if not decades, to master. Emphasis is placed on correct form and spirit—synchronized motion and proper follow-through, for example, are often regarded as more valuable than scoring points. Quick, easy points are regarded as cheap shots, while losing a sparring match conducted in the spirit of bushido is considered virtuous. Rigorous practice and never-ending repetition of the library of kendo techniques are necessary to improve and win admirers of the dojo. Dancers and engineers often do well at kendo—the former because they can control their bodies so well and the latter because of their propensity to immerse themselves in the minutiae of whatever they do.

Tournaments, on the other hand, emphasize spirit and fast reflexes, which result in points. Whenever tournament fighters put on their armor, they must become intensely focused and determined to break their opponent. In addition to basic human empathy, many of the hundreds of techniques practiced in the dojo must also go out the window. Instead, the focus is on those key sets of attacks and defenses that are most likely to result in a point. All of this means that strong players have a good chance of winning their match even if they are facing a high-ranking, more experienced opponent.

The All-Japan Kendo Championship is a single-elimination tournament. Points are awarded for striking an opponent on the top and upper sides of the head, wrists, hands and sides of the belly with a bamboo sword. Players may also receive a point if they jab their opponent in the neck or upper chest with the tip of their sword. All of these body parts are covered with armor that dulls the pain of the impact, but does not eliminate it—a shot to the neck is particularly painful. In one-on-one matches, the first player to reach two points wins (sometimes one point is enough if time elapses) and moves on to the next round.

The winner of the 2004 championship, Tsuyoshi Suzuki, triumphed over Satoru Harada in the final round that year. It was Harada’s eighth appearance in the tournament and Suzuki’s third
—which indicates that experience is less important than skill. Last year Harada won for the first time by beating Ryoichi Uchimaru with a quick strike to the wrist for the deciding point of the final round. Harada is a roku-dan, or sixth degree black belt, while Uchimaru is a fifth-dan heading into this year’s competition.

Nippon Budokan, Nov 3. See sports listings for details.

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