is a

kendo is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords (shinai) as well as protective armor (bōgu). Today, it is widely practiced within Japan and has spread ...

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

held every year in Japan. The men's tournament is held at

Nippon Budokan The , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally built for the inaugural Olympic judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics. While its primary purpose is to host martial arts con ...

on 3 November, on

Culture Day is a public holiday in Japan held annually on November 3 for the purpose of promoting culture, the arts, and academic endeavor. Festivities typically include art exhibitions, parades, and award ceremonies for distinguished artists and scholars. ...

. For Kendoka - not only Japanese -, the event is considered as the most prestigious in this sport, even more prestigious than the

World Kendo Championship The World Kendo Championship is an international kendo competition contested by the member nations of the International Kendo Federation (FIK). The championships have been conducted every three years since their inception in 1970. The host of the ...

Overview

The All Japan Kendo Championship is a tournament, in which the best male Kendoka in Japan will be decided through a sudden death system. A total of 64 kendoka are participating in the championship. To win the title, the competitor needs to win all of his six bouts. The competitors are not only required to show strength, but also courtesy in accordance with the martial arts spirit. The winner receives the ''Emperor's Cup''.

Qualification

The qualification are conducted on prefectural level. Each prefectural Kendo Federation of the

All Japan Kendo Federation The All Japan Kendo Federation (AJKF) or Zen Nihon Kendō Renmei (全日本剣道連盟 abbreviated 全剣連 ''Zen Ken Ren'') is a national non-governmental organization in Japan, founded in 1952 and officially formed on March 14, 1954. Purpose ...

is responsible for their own qualification. The winner of each qualification tournament will be qualified for the All Japan Kendo Championship. However, in

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

, Ibaraki,

Kanagawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

Shizuoka Shizuoka can refer to: * Shizuoka Prefecture, a Japanese prefecture * Shizuoka (city), the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture * Shizuoka Airport * Shizuoka Domain, the name from 1868 to 1871 for Sunpu Domain, a predecessor of Shizuoka Prefecture ...

Aichi is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefectu ...

and Hyōgo the runner up of also qualifiers, while in

Chiba Chiba may refer to: Places China * (), town in Jianli County, Jingzhou, Hubei Japan * Chiba (city), capital of Chiba Prefecture ** Chiba Station, a train station * Chiba Prefecture, a sub-national jurisdiction in the Greater Tokyo Area on ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, Saitama,

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

both runner up and the third placed Kendoka are qualified for the tournament. Until the 32nd tournament in 1984, only 6th

dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoi ...

kendoka were allowed to qualify, before the restrictions were lowered to 5th dan at the 38th tournament in 1990. Since the 43rd tournament in 1995, there are no restrictions in age and rank.

Winners

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Kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

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, , Nagoya Correctional District Legal Instructor, , 33, , 1st , - , 1954, , Yuichiro Konishi, , 小西雄一郎, ,

, ,

West Japan Railway , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and i ...

employee , , 32, , 1st , - , 1955, , Taro Nakamura, , 中村太郎, ,

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Police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

, , 33, , 1st , - , 1956, , Haruo Asagawa, , 浅川春男, ,

Gifu is a city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. During the Sengoku ...

, , －, , 37, , 1st , - , 1957, , Nobutaka Morida, , 森田信尊, ,

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

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Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

engineering employee, , 39, , 1st , - , 1958, , Moriji Suzuki, , 鈴木守治, , Aichi, , tax office employee, , 38, , 1st , - , 1959, , Taro Nakamura, , 中村太郎, , Kanagawa, , Police officer, , 37, , 2nd , - , 1960, , Tetsuaki Kuwahara, , 桑原哲明, , Miyazaki, , Chemist, , 21, , 1st , - , 1961, , Kiyoji Ibo, , 伊保清次, ,

, , High School teacher, , 41, , 1st , - , 1962, , Tadao Toda, , 戸田忠男, ,

Shiga is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,412,916 (1 October 2015) and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Pr ...

, , Chemist, , 23, , 1st , - , 1963, , Taro Yano, , 矢野太郎, , Hyōgo, , Police officer, , 40, , 1st , - , 1964, , Tadao Toda, , 戸田忠男, , Shiga, , Chemist, , 25, , 2nd , - , 1965, , Yasuhiro Nishiyama, , 西山泰弘, , Tokyo, , Police officer, , 29, , 1st , - , 1966, , Masashi Chiba, , 千葉仁, , Tokyo, , Police officer, , 22, , 1st , - , 1967, , Kunihiro Hotta, , 堀田国弘, , Hyogo, , Police officer, , 41, , 1st , - , 1968, , Shohei Yamazaki, , 山崎正平, , Niigata, , Niigata City Hall staff, , 45, , 1st , - , 1969, , Masashi Chiba, , 千葉仁, , Tokyo, , Police officer, , 25, , 2nd , - , 1970, , Takeshi Nakamura, , 中村毅, , Tokyo, , Police officer, , 29, , 1st , - , 1971, , Tetsuo Kawazoe, , 川添哲夫, , Tokyo, ,

Kokushikan University is a private university in Setagaya, Tokyo, Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan. Combined teams of the Graduate School of Engineering and the Department of Science and Engineering competed against 130 team and came in 11th place in the 27th Formula SAE in 20 ...

4th year student, , 21, , 1st , - , 1972, , Masashi Chiba, , 千葉仁, , Tokyo, , Police officer, , 28, , 3rd , - , 1973, , Hironori Yamada, , 山田博徳, ,

Kumamoto is the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a population of 1,461,000, ...

, , Police officer, , 25, , 1st , - , 1974, , Eiji Yokoo, , 横尾英治, ,

Wakayama Wakayama may refer to: *Wakayama Prefecture, a prefecture of Japan *Wakayama (city) Wakayama City Hall is the capital city of Wakayama Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 351,391 in 157066 househol ...

, , Wakayama Prefectural Board of Education staff, , 24, , 1st , - , 1975, , Tetsuo Kawazoe, , 川添哲夫, , Kōchi, , Teacher, , 25, , 2nd , - , 1976, , Kojiro Uda, , 右田幸次郎, , Kumamoto, , Teacher, , 23, , 1st , - , 1977, , Isao Ogawa, , 小川功, ,

, , Police officer, , 34, , 1st , - , 1978, , Masahisa Ishibashi, , 石橋正久, , Fukuoka, , Police officer, , 27, , 1st , - , 1979, , Eiji Sueno, , 末野栄二, ,

Kagoshima , abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...

, , Police officer, , 30, , 1st , - , 1980, , Mitsutoshi Toyama, , 外山光利, , Miyazaki, , High School teacher, , 26, , 1st , - , 1981, , Yuji Nakata, , 中田琇士, , Tokyo, , Police officer, , 34, , 1st , - , 1982, , Keiichi Ishida, , 石田健一, , Osaka, , Police officer, , 33, , 1st , - , 1983, , Kazuyoshi Higashi, , 東一良, , Aichi, , Police officer, , 33, , 1st , - , 1984, , Tetsuo Harada, , 原田哲夫, ,

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

, , Police officer, , 31, , 1st , - , 1985, , Yoshifumi Ishizuka, , 石塚美文, , Osaka, , Police officer, , 34, , 1st , - , 1986, , Yuki Iwabori, , 岩堀透, , Osaka, , Police officer, , 34, , 1st , - , 1987, , Kiyonori Nishikawa, , 西川清紀, , Tokyo, , Police officer, , 32, , 1st , - , 1988, , Akira Hayashi, , 林朗, ,

, , Hokkaido Kendo Federation secretary staff, , 30, , 1st , - , 1989, , Kiyonori Nishikawa, , 西川清紀, , Tokyo, , Police officer, , 34, , 2nd , - , 1990, ,

Masahiro Miyazaki Masahiro Miyazaki (宮崎正裕 - Miyazaki Masahiro, born 1963) is a Japanese Kendo practitioner who works for Kanagawa Prefectural Police in Japan. He participated in the All Japan Kendo Championship 12 times from 1990 to 2001 and won 6 times, ...

, , 宮崎正裕, , Kanagawa, , Police officer, , 27, , 1st , - , 1991, , Masahiro Miyazaki, , 宮崎正裕, , Kanagawa, , Police officer, , 28, , 2nd , - , 1992, , Toshiya Ishida, , 石田利也, , Osaka, , Police officer, , 31, , 2nd , - , 1993, , Masahiro Miyazaki, , 宮崎正裕, , Kanagawa, , Police officer, , 30, , 3rd , - , 1994, , Kiyonori Nishikawa, , 西川清紀, , Tokyo, , Police officer, , 39, , 3rd , - , 1995, , Toshiya Ishida, , 石田利也, , Osaka, , Police officer, , 34, , 2nd , - , 1996, , Masahiro Miyazaki, , 宮崎正裕, , Kanagawa, , Police officer, , 33, , 4th , - , 1997, , Fumihiro Miyazaki, , 宮崎史裕, , Kanagawa, , Police officer, , 32, , 1st , - , 1998, , Masahiro Miyazaki, , 宮崎正裕, , Kanagawa, , Police officer, , 35, , 5th , - , 1999, , Masahiro Miyazaki, , 宮崎正裕, , Kanagawa, , Police officer, , 36, , 6th , - , 2000, ,

Naoki Eiga Naoki Eiga (栄花直輝 Eiga Naoki, born 1967) is a Japanese kendoka who in 2000 won the individual event at World Kendo Championship (WKC) as well as the highest title in Kendo: All Japan Kendo Champion. His progress toward the championship ...

, , 栄花直輝, , Hokkaido, , Police officer, , 33, , 1st , - , 2001, , Hidenori Iwasa, , 岩佐英範, , Tokyo, , Police officer, , 31, , 1st , - , 2002, , Kaigo Ando, , 安藤戒牛, , Aichi, , Police officer, , 29, , 1st , - , 2003, , Takumi Chikamoto , , 近本巧, , Aichi, , Police officer, , 32, , 1st , - , 2004, , Tsuyoshi Suzuki, , 鈴木剛, ,

, , Police officer, , 32, , 1st , - , 2005, , Satoru Harada, , 原田悟, , Tokyo, , Police officer, , 32, , 1st , - , 2006, , Ryoichi Uchimura, , 内村良一, , Tokyo, , Police officer, , 26, , 1st , - , 2007, , Shoji Teramoto, , 寺本将司, , Osaka, , Police officer, , 32, , 1st , - , 2008, , Kenji Shodai, , 正代賢司, , Kanagawa, , Police officer, , 27, , 1st , - , 2009, , Ryoichi Uchimura, , 内村良一, , Tokyo, , Police officer, , 29, , 2nd , - , 2010, , Susumu Takanabe, , 高鍋進, , Kanagawa, , Police officer, , 34, , 1st , - , 2011, , Susumu Takanabe, , 高鍋進, , Kanagawa, , Police officer, , 35, , 2nd , - , 2012, , Daiki Kiwada, , 木和田大起, , Osaka, , Police officer, , 34, , 1st , - , 2013, , Ryoichi Uchimura, , 内村良一, , Tokyo, , Police officer, , 33, , 3rd , - , 2014, , Yuya Takenouchi, , 竹ノ内佑也, , Fukuoka, ,

Tsukuba University is a public research university located in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. It is a top 10 Designated National University, and was ranked Type A by the Japanese government as part of the Top Global University Project. The university has 28 college c ...

3rd year student, , 21, , 1st , - , 2015, , Hidehisa Nishimura, , 西村英久, , Kumamoto, , Police officer, , 26, , 1st , - , 2016, , Yosuke Katsumi, , 勝見洋介, , Kanagawa, , Police officer, , 30, , 1st , - , 2017, , Hidehisa Nishimura, , 西村英久, , Kumamoto, , Police officer, , 28, , 2nd , - , 2018, , Hidehisa Nishimura, , 西村英久, , Kumamoto, , Police officer, , 29, , 3rd , - , 2019, , Rentaro Kunitomo, , 國友鍊太朗 , , Fukuoka, , Police officer, , 29, , 1st , - , 2020, , Not held due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, postponed until 2021, , , , , , , , , , , - , 2021 (postponed 2020), , Kenshiro Matsuzaki, , 松崎賢士郎 , , Ibaraki, , Tsukuba University 4th year student, , 22, , 1st , - , 2021, , Keita Hoshiko, , 星子啓太 , , Kagoshima, , Tsukuba University graduate, , 23, , 1st , - , 2022, , Tetsuhiko Murakami, , 村上哲彦 , , Ehime, , Police officer, , 30, , 1st

Statistics

Most wins

*6 times：

(1990, 1991, 1993, 1996, 1998 and 1999) *3 times：Masashi Chiba (1966, 1969 and 1972)/ Kiyonori Nishikawa (1987, 1989 and 1994)/ Ryoichi Uchimura (2006, 2009 and 2013)/ Hidehisa Nishimura (2015, 2017 and 2018) *2 times：Taro Nakamura (1955, 1959) / Tadao Toda (1962, 1964)/ Tetsuo Kawazoe (1971, 1975)/ Toshiya Ishida (1992, 1995)/ Susumu Takanabe (2010, 2011)

Most consecutive wins

*2 consecutive times：Masahiro Miyazaki (1990–1991, 1998–1999) / Susumu Takanabe (2010–2011)/ Hidehisa Nishimura (2017–2018)

Competitor's professions

Police officers provide by far the vast majority of the competitors, followed by teachers. The competitors, who participated in the early years of the tournament were from various professions, but the police force emerged from around 1965 and began to compete with the teachers for the championship in the 1950s. From then on police officers dominate the championships and Japanese kendo at professional level. They are Kendo personnel selected as part of the ''tokuren'', a special unit of the

riot police Riot police are police who are organized, deployed, trained or equipped to confront crowds, protests or riots. Riot police may be regular police who act in the role of riot police in particular situations or they may be separate units organize ...

dedicated for doing professional kendo as a profession. The largest tokuren squads fully dedicated to kendo are the

Tokyo Metropolitan Police The serves as the prefectural police department of Tokyo Metropolis. Founded in 1874, it is headed by a Superintendent-General, who is appointed by the National Public Safety Commission, and approved by the Prime Minister. The Tokyo Metro ...

and the

prefectural police department In the law enforcement system in Japan, are prefecture-level law enforcement agencies responsible for policing, law enforcement, and public security within their respective prefectures of Japan. Although prefectural police are, in principle, r ...

s of Osaka, Kanagawa and Hokkaido. Kendo police officers in smaller prefectural police departments may also conduct regular police work in the riot squad more often than in the latter mentioned departments due to shortage. Teachers also provide a large group among the competitors. Most of them either teach physical education at high school level or kendo. A third significant group at the championships are students. They either qualify via the All Japan University Kendo Championship or through the prefectural qualifying. Two of the youngest winners of the championship were students with Yuya Takenouchi (now kendo police officer in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police) being the first student to win the championship in after 43 years.

Number of championships by prefecture

*16：

(10 people) *13：

(6 people) *7：

(6 people) *5：

(5 people) /

(3 people)

Youngest Champions

* 21 years 5 months：Yuya Takenouchi（2014・62nd）

Oldest Champion

*45 years：Shohei Yamazaki（1968・16th）

External links

全日本剣道選手権大会
National championships in Japan Kendo