All Japan Kendo Championship

The All Japan Kendo Championships (全日本剣道選手権大会, Zennihon kendō senshuken taikai) is a kendo tournament held every year in Japan. The men's tournament is held at Nippon Budokan on 3 November, on Culture Day.

All Japan Kendo Championships
Men's final in 2009 Takahashi (left) vs Uchimura (right)
Competition details
DisciplineKendo
TypeKendo
OrganiserAll Japan Kendo Federation
History
First edition1953
Editions66 (2018), at Nippon Budokan
Final edition2018
Most winsMasahiro Miyazaki: 6 titles

Among Kendoka, whether Japanese or not, the tournament is considered to be the most prestigious event in this sport, even more prestigious than the World Kendo Championship.

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 participate 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 is responsible for their own qualification. The winner of each qualification tournament will be qualified for the All Japan Kendo Championship. However, in Hokkaido, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Shizuoka, Aichi and Hyōgo the runner up of also qualifiers, while in Chiba, Tokyo, Osaka, Saitama, Fukuoka both runner up and the third placed Kendoka are qualified for the tournament. Until the 32nd tournament in 1984, only 6th dan 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

YearNameIn KanjiPrefectureProfessionAgeChampionships
1953Shō Sakakibara榊原正AichiNagoya Correctional District Legal Instructor331st
1954Yuichiro Konishi小西雄一郎FukuokaWest Japan Railway employee321st
1955Taro Nakamura中村太郎KanagawaPolice officer331st
1956Haruo Asagawa浅川春男Gifu371st
1957Nobutaka Morida森田信尊NagasakiMitsubishi engineering employee391st
1958Moriji Suzuki鈴木守治Aichitax office employee381st
1959Taro Nakamura中村太郎KanagawaPolice officer372nd
1960Tetsuaki Kuwahara桑原哲明MiyazakiChemist211st
1961Kiyoji Ibo伊保清次TokyoHigh School teacher411st
1962Tadao Toda戸田忠男ShigaChemist231st
1963Taro Yano矢野太郎HyōgoPolice officer401st
1964Tadao Toda戸田忠男ShigaChemist252nd
1965Yasuhiro Nishiyama西山泰弘TokyoPolice officer291st
1966Masashi Chiba千葉仁TokyoPolice officer221st
1967Kunihiro Hotta堀田国弘HyogoPolice officer411st
1968Shohei Yamazaki山崎正平NiigataNiigata City Hall staff451st
1969Masashi Chiba千葉仁TokyoPolice officer252nd
1970Takeshi Nakamura中村毅TokyoPolice officer291st
1971Tetsuo Kawazoe川添哲夫TokyoKokushikan University 4th year student211st
1972Masashi Chiba千葉仁TokyoPolice officer283rd
1973Hironori Yamada山田博徳KumamotoPolice officer251st
1974Eiji Yokoo横尾英治WakayamaWakayama Prefectural Board of Education staff241st
1975Tetsuo Kawazoe川添哲夫KōchiTeacher252nd
1976Kojiro Uda右田幸次郎KumamotoTeacher231st
1977Isao Ogawa小川功OsakaPolice officer341st
1978Masahisa Ishibashi石橋正久FukuokaPolice officer271st
1979Eiji Sueno末野栄二KagoshimaPolice officer301st
1980Mitsutoshi Toyama外山光利MiyazakiHigh School teacher261st
1981Yuji Nakata中田琇士TokyoPolice officer341st
1982Keiichi Ishida石田健一OsakaPolice officer331st
1983Kazuyoshi Higashi東一良AichiPolice officer331st
1984Tetsuo Harada原田哲夫KyotoPolice officer311st
1985Yoshifumi Ishizuka石塚美文OsakaPolice officer341st
1986Yuki Iwabori岩堀透OsakaPolice officer341st
1987Kiyonori Nishikawa西川清紀TokyoPolice officer321st
1988Akira Hayashi林朗HokkaidoHokkaido Kendo Federation secretary staff301st
1989Kiyonori Nishikawa西川清紀TokyoPolice officer342nd
1990Masahiro Miyazaki宮崎正裕KanagawaPolice officer271st
1991Masahiro Miyazaki宮崎正裕KanagawaPolice officer282nd
1992Toshiya Ishida石田利也OsakaPolice officer311st
1993Masahiro Miyazaki宮崎正裕KanagawaPolice officer303rd
1994Kiyonori Nishikawa西川清紀TokyoPolice officer393rd
1995Toshiya Ishida石田利也OsakaPolice officer342nd
1996Masahiro Miyazaki宮崎正裕KanagawaPolice officer334th
1997Fumihiro Miyazaki宮崎史裕KanagawaPolice officer321st
1998Masahiro Miyazaki宮崎正裕KanagawaPolice officer355th
1999Masahiro Miyazaki宮崎正裕KanagawaPolice officer366th
2000Naoki Eiga栄花直輝HokkaidoPolice officer331st
2001Hidenori Iwasa岩佐英範TokyoPolice officer311st
2002Kaigo Ando安藤戒牛AichiPolice officer291st
2003Takumi Chikamoto 近本巧AichiPolice officer321st
2004Tsuyoshi Suzuki鈴木剛ChibaPolice officer321st
2005Satoru Harada原田悟TokyoPolice officer321st
2006Ryoichi Uchimura内村良一TokyoPolice officer261st
2007Shoji Teramoto寺本将司OsakaPolice officer321st
2008Kenji Shodai正代賢司KanagawaPolice officer271st
2009Ryoichi Uchimura内村良一TokyoPolice officer292nd
2010Susumu Takanabe高鍋進KanagawaPolice officer341st
2011Susumu Takanabe高鍋進KanagawaPolice officer352nd
2012Daiki Kiwada木和田大起OsakaPolice officer341st
2013Ryoichi Uchimura内村良一TokyoPolice officer333rd
2014Yuya Takenouchi竹ノ内佑也FukuokaTsukuba University 3rd year student211st
2015Hidehisa Nishimura西村英久KumamotoPolice officer261st
2016Yosuke Katsumi勝見洋介KanagawaPolice officer301st
2017Hidehisa Nishimura西村英久KumamotoPolice officer282nd
2018Hidehisa Nishimura西村英久KumamotoPolice officer293rd
2019Rentaro Kunitomo國友鍊太朗FukuokaPolice officer291st
2020Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic, postponed until 2021
2021 (postponed 2020)Kenshiro Matsuzaki松崎賢士郎IbarakiTsukuba University 4th year student221st
2021Keita Hoshiko星子啓太KagoshimaTsukuba University graduate231st
2022Tetsuhiko Murakami村上哲彦EhimePolice officer301st

Most wins

  • 6 times:Masahiro Miyazaki (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 dedicated for doing professional kendo as a profession. The largest tokuren squads fully dedicated to kendo are the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and the prefectural police departments 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

Youngest Champions

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

Oldest Champion

  • 45 years:Shohei Yamazaki(1968・16th)

See also

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