All Japan Kendo Championship

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All Japan Kendo Championships
57e Championnats du Japon (3 nov 2009) 2.jpg
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

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.

For Kendoka - not only Japanese -, the event is considered as the most prestigious 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 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 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[]

Year Name In Kanji Prefecture Profession Age Championships
1953 Shō Sakakibara 榊原正 Aichi Nagoya Correctional District Legal Instructor 33 1st
1954 Yuichiro Konishi 小西雄一郎 Fukuoka West Japan Railway employee 32 1st
1955 Taro Nakamura 中村太郎 Kanagawa Police officer 33 1st
1956 Haruo Asagawa 浅川春男 Gifu 37 1st
1957 Nobutaka Morida 森田信尊 Nagasaki Mitsubishi 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 Tokyo High School teacher 41 1st
1962 Tadao Toda 戸田忠男 Shiga 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 4th year student 21 1st
1972 Masashi Chiba 千葉仁 Tokyo Police officer 28 3rd
1973 Hironori Yamada 山田博徳 Kumamoto Police officer 25 1st
1974 Eiji Yokoo 横尾英治 Wakayama 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 Osaka Police officer 34 1st
1978 Masahisa Ishibashi 石橋正久 Fukuoka Police officer 27 1st
1979 Eiji Sueno 末野栄二 Kagoshima 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 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 Hokkaido Kendo Federation secretary staff 30 1st
1989 Kiyonori Nishikawa 西川清紀 Tokyo Police officer 34 2nd
1990 Masahiro Miyazaki 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 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 Chiba 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 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
2021 Kenshiro Matsuzaki 松崎賢士郎 Ibaraki Tsukuba 4th year student 22 1st

Statistics[]

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[]

External links[]

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