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 A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, founded in 1952 and officially formed on March 14, 1954.

Purpose

The All Japan Kendo Federation (AJKF) promotes and popularises

kendō 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 t ...

iaidō , abbreviated , is a Japanese martial art that emphasizes being aware and capable of quickly drawing the sword and responding to sudden attacks.Christensen, Karen and Allen Guttmann et.al (2001) ''International Encyclopedia of Women and Sports ...

and

jōdō , meaning "the way of the ''jō''", or is a Japanese martial art using a short staff called ''jō''. The art is similar to ''bōjutsu'', and is strongly focused upon defense against the Japanese sword. The ''jō'' is a short staff, usually a ...

Membership

The All Japan Kendo Federation (AJKF) has been member of the

International Kendo Federation The International Kendo Federation (FIK) was founded in 1970. It is an international federation of national and regional kendo associations. The FIK is a non-governmental organisation and its aim is to promote and popularise kendo, iaido and ...

(FIK) since it was founded in 1970. The All Japan Kendo Federation (AJKF) is a member of the Japanese Budo Association (Nippon Budo Shingikai) and the Nippon Budokan Foundation.

Championships

The first

All Japan Kendo Championship is a kendo tournament held every year in Japan. The men's tournament is held at Nippon Budokan on 3 November, on Culture Day. For Kendoka - not only Japanese -, the event is considered as the most prestigious in this sport, even more prestigio ...

were conducted in 1953.

Register of Dan Grades

A census of members of the forty-seven prefectural associations affiliated to the AJKF made in March 2006 showed there were 1,429,718 members including 401,121 women and about half are dan graded.

References

External links

All Japan Kendo Federation
Website of All Japan Kendo Federation. {{Authority control

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 ...