The World Kendo Championship is an international kendo competition contested by the member nations 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). The championships have been conducted every three years since their inception in 1970. The host of the tournament usually rotates in order through the three FIK administrative regions of Asia, the Americas and Europe. The competition is divided into four divisions: Men's Individual, Women's Individual, Men's Team, Women's Team. Team matches are individual between five members from each team which change sequentially at the end of each round. There is an opinion in Japan that this tournament is not of the same caliber as the

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 ...

or the All Japan Police Kendo Championship. The argument being that there is a distinct qualitative difference in the playing level and style of nationalities where Japanese people lived or immigrated to before WW2, and countries that began practicing Kendo post-war. Another opinion is that the level of non-Japanese referees is not of high enough caliber for matches to be judged fairly. In order to offset this, mandatory international referee seminars are organized by the International Kendo Federation with high-ranking Japanese Kendo officials as lecturers. Until 2006, Japan had never lost a championship in any of the four divisions, when the Men's Team suffered a narrow loss against USA in the semi-final, with South Korea claiming victory in the final. This was Japan's first official defeat despite other teams coming close, such as South Korea and Canada in 1997 and 2000 respectively. In the individual division, more and more South Koreans are appearing in the semi-finals and final. On 4 September 2020, FIK postponed the 18th championships (18WKC), originally scheduled for May 2021, to a later date, due to the

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. It was then cancelled on 20 February 2021 The next edition of World Kendo Championships (19WKC) will be held in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

2024 Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1928 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ***''Steamboat Willie'', Walt Disney's f ...

Men's

Team

The following is a summary of medals acquired by country for the Men's Team Division.

Individual

Women's

Team

The following is a summary of medals acquired by country for the Women's Team Division. (5-person team)

Men's

Team

Individual

Women's

Team

Individual

Hosts

See also

References

External links