Kendo: Culture of the Sword

Kendo is the first in-depth historical, cultural, and political account in English of the Japanese martial art of swordsmanship, from its beginnings in military training and arcane medieval schools to its widespread practice as a global sport Lately. Alexander Bennett shows how kendo evolved through a recurring process of “inventing tradition,” which served the changing ideologies and needs of Japanese warriors and governments over the course of history. Kendo follows the development of Japanese swordsmanship from the aristocratic-aesthetic pretensions of medieval warriors within the Muromachi period, to the samurai elitism of the Edo regime, after which to the nostalgic patriotism of the Meiji state. Kendo was once later influenced within the 1930s and 1940s by ultranationalist militarists and in the end by the postwar government, which sought a gentler type of nationalism to rekindle appreciation of traditional culture among Japan’s youth and to garner international prestige as an instrument of “soft power.” Lately kendo is becoming more and more popular the world over. But while new organizations and clubs form world wide, cultural exclusiveness continues to play a role in kendo’s ongoing evolution, as the sport remains closely linked to Japan’s sense of collective identity.