The first All Japan Kendo Championship

The very first All Japan Kendo Championship (Dai-ikkai Zen Nihon Kendō Senshuken Taikai) was held on 8 November 1953 (Shōwa 28) at the Kuramae Kokugikan in Tokyo.

Its significance is described in Kendō Hyakunen (“A Hundred Years of Kendo”) by Munemitsu Shōji:

“This AJKC was the greatest event wherein the recreated Zen Nihon Kendō Renmei (All Japan Kendo Federation) emerged itself to the public, and also an important milestone foretelling its future development. Moreover, the tournament adopted a revolutionary approach, abolishing the traditional distinction between professional and non-professional competitors. There were no restrictions on age, dan or shōgō (teachers’ ranking); representatives were selected through tough prefectural preliminaries, and the champion ought to be a truly ground-breaking concept among them.”

The tone of following description conveys a sense of excitement by its author – Munemitsu Shōji. Several words about the author: after graduating from the University of Tokyo, Munemitsu Shōji worked for the Hōchi Shimbun newspaper, and in 1939 (Shōwa 14) relocated to Manchuria, where he served as Permanent Director of the Manchurian Headquarters of theDai Nippon Butokukai. Upon the establishment of the All Japan Kendo Federation, he became its Executive Director and later its fourth President.

Getting back to our main theme – the Tournament. Competitors were selected as follows: prefectures which population was under three million sent one representative; those with up to six million (Hokkaidō, Aichi, Ōsaka, Hyōgo, and Kanagawa) — two; and Tokyo, with over six million, sent three. Fifty-three competitors from regional preliminaries were elected to the AJKC.

Tadashi Sakakibara (榊原正, aged 33), Aichi prefecture’s representative, had become the first champion of All Japan Kendo Championship.

His progression though the AJKC:

• Round 1: Sakakibara — men-men — men Hatsuji Nagao (永尾初次,Shizuoka)
• Round 2: Sakakibara — kote-men — kote Shōichi Yanai (矢内正一, Fukushima)
• Round 3: Sakakibara — men-men — men Noriyoshi Aoyama (青山憲好, Yamagata)
• Round 4: Sakakibara — kote — Yoshio Nakazawa (中澤芳雄, Hiroshima)
• Semi-final: Sakakibara — kote-men — Hajime Ueda (植田一, Kagawa)
• Final: Sakakibara — kote —Saburō Abe (阿部三郎, Tokyo)

Sakakibara secured victory with a kote strike against Saburō Abe of the Metropolitan Police Department right prior the end of the final match. Only the semi-final was won by scoring two points in a row within the six of his matches; three were won two-to-one, and two matches — including the final — were decided by a single point.

His second-round match against Shōichi Yanai from Fukushima (a forty-four-year-old ex- Toyama Gakkou (戸山学校) instructor) who fought in jōdan, extended to four overtimes. Sakakibara later recalled that he had never faced a jōdan before and had no knowledge how to stand against one, but he relied on fast footwork and somehow managed to score a men.

Sakakibara worked at Nagoya Prison (名古屋刑務所) during that period. The book Kendō Hyakunen described him as follows:
“Before the AJKC Sakakibara was imperceptible, however, the sharpness of his initial attacks, quick transitions from kote to men strickes, and sound balance between the offence and defence made him an exceptional opponent never to be seen before. His victory was by no means accidental.”

He had not been deemed as a favourite. In a later Kendō Nippon interview, he remarked, “Not knowing is strength.” He lacked any information about other competitors, therefore he fought without any pressure or desire to win.

Moriharu Suzuki (鈴木守治, aged 32), also representing Aichi prefecture as an employee of the Nagoya Shōwa Tax Office (名古屋昭和税務署), made it to the third place. Sakakibara’s alma mater, Tōhō Commercial School (東邦商業学校), had dominated the national kendo scene during the 1930s, its golden era. Suzuki was one year junior to Sakakibara there.

Their teacher, Toshio Kondō had once told Kōkichi Edo, which was later inscribed in his memoir Yumekenshi Jiden (夢剣士自伝), that among Tōhō’s five top kenshi during its prime years Sakakibara was the weakest, and Suzuki superseded him. The strongest member of the era had perished in the war. Both Kondō and Edo — who later crossed shinai with Sakakibara and Suzuki many times — referred to that Suzuki was a prodigy fencer, whereas Sakakibara was a rational and orthodox one. When Kondō received a message regarding Sakakibara’s victory, he thought of a mistake for Suzuki at first, after all Suzuki was the first one at the Aichi preliminaries and Sakakibara was the second.

At the Nagoya Prison dōjō, both prison staff and local residents trained together at one place; Suzuki belonged there as well. Thus, both the champion and third-place runner emerged from the same dōjō.
Sakakibara competed in the first three All Japan AJKCs (through 1955), he had never run up to the winning places since the second AJKC though. However, during All Japan East–West Kendo Tournament in 1956 (Shōwa 31), he held a record by achieving ten consecutive victories in the newly introduced kachinuki-shōbu (“winner-stays-on”) format.

The runner-up was Saburō Abe (阿部三郎, aged 34, from Tokyo). Before the war, he joined the South Manchuria Railway Company (Mantetsu), later serving as an instructor at the Mantetsu Ikusei Gakkō. After returning to Japan at the end of the war, he entered the Metropolitan Police Department in March 1948 (Shōwa 23) as kendo assistant instructor. Interestingly, Kendo had not yet been banned within the police at that time; the prohibition arrived the following April. During the following three years until its lifting the ban, Abe continued to train in secrecy.

In the following years, he became fourth at the second AJKC, and run up to the third in both the fourth and fifth AJKC. Though, he never won the title throughout the early years of the AJKC, they say he demonstrated solid strength. He later became an instructor (shihan) for the Metropolitan Police and attained the rank of hanshi, 9 dan.

At that time, the third place was still a separate bout. Hajime Ueda (植田一, aged 40, from Kagawa) lost to Moriji Suzuki and gained the fourth place. Ueda was the third son of the renowned Ueda Heitarō, who had participated in all three pre-war Shōwa Tenran Jiai tournaments (tourneys at the Imperial Court). Ueda himself had been active in many competitions prior the war and taught kendo at Takamatsu Higher Commercial School. He later achieved hanshi, 9 dan as well.

The author had the opportunity to interview the second, third and fourth place runners - Abe, Suzuki, and Ueda respectfully, but regrettably never got a chance to speak with the champion – Sakakibara, even though he passed away only in 2007 (Heisei 19). The time was right, yet the opportunity never arose.

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While there are no surviving records of every competitor’s age, since the All Japan Kendo Federation had only been founded a year earlier the AJKC, but most of competitors had been practicing kendo for a while since or before the war. Moreover, the predecessor – All Japan Shinai Kyōgi Federation, which was established in 1950 (Shōwa 25), however, its members were over thirty and had begun kendo before or during the war. In fact, from the first through the seventh AJKCs, every winner was in his thirties.

Kiyoshi Nakakura (中倉清, aged 43, from Kagoshima), who had just been appointed Police Sergeant Major of the Kagoshima Prefectural Police, achieved various notable performances throughout each pre-war tournament and was widely regarded as a strong contender for the first place. Sadao Okamura (岡村貞雄, aged 56, from Nagano) was the oldest competitor at the time.

However, the AJKC didn’t lack competitors in their twenties. Kazutoshi Noma (野間和俊, aged 25, from Yamaguchi) — who defeated Nakakura in the second round — was the youngest. As he would have been seventeen at the end of the war, it is unclear whether he began kendo in the height of the war or in his early twenties after Shinai Kyōgi was established. Yoshihiko Ōura (大浦芳彦, aged 28, from Fukuoka), who lost to Ueda in the quarter-finals, began kendo in primary school around 1935 (Shōwa 10). Suekichi Nagashima (長島末吉, Tokyo Metropolitan Police), who reached the top-sixteen, was listed by newspapers as twenty-six years old, however, born in January 1925 (Taishō 14), he was actually twenty-eight years old; obviously he had started prior the war.

Being the first championship, it might have been difficult task to predict the winner, but the Hōchi Shimbun newspaper published an article on November 8, 1953 in an attempt to forecast results. Each block of the article introduced notable competitors and their experience. Regarding Nakakura, the article stated that “in both experience and technique, he had no equal.”
Other names mentioned included:

• Suekichi Nagashima (26, Metropolitan Police, Tokyo) — winner of the Kanto Police AJKC
• Iwao Nakao (38, Kobe Police, Osaka) — National Shinai Kyōgi individual champion
• Tsutae Kikuchi (35, Harada Construction Co., Kanagawa)
• Tōichi Yamamoto (41, Nishinomiya City Police, Hyōgo)
• Saburō Abe (34, Metropolitan Police, Tokyo) — participant in the 3rd Tenran Jiai
• Yasunori Taniguchi (32, Teacher, Fukuoka)
• Shingo Yoshioka (42, Company Director) — semi-finalist in the 3rd Tenran Jiai
• Takeo Nagai (38, President, Myōgi Publishing Co., Tokyo)
• Kishimoto ?? (38, Osaka Police)
• Toshihiro Shizuka (36, Amagasaki City Police, Hyōgo)
• Shōichi Yanai (44, Company Employee, Fukushima) — former instructor at the Army Toyama School

On the spot, Nagai (from Tokyo) and Kishimoto (from Osaka) never showed up for AJKC, apparently replaced at the last minute. Among the top competitors of the AJKC only Abe had been listed among the favourites; Sakakibara, Suzuki, and Ueda had no attention at all until their runner ups.

Besides Nakakura, Ueda, Abe, Taniguchi, and Nagashima, several other competitors later achieved Hanshi, 9 dan — Tadayoshi Ishihara (from Okayama), Hikotaro Ichikawa (from Gunma), and Toshifumi Takao (from Mie).

It is also worth mentioning that Tsutomu Ōshima (大島功), who would later become the fifth President of the All Japan Kendo Federation, competed as a Tokyo representative (apparently replacing Nagai).

At that time, the nowadays 10-dan ranking system had not yet been established. The old 5-dan ranking system and the teaching titles Renshi, Kyōshi, and Hanshi, which was inherited by the All Japan Kendo Federation from the pre-war Dai Nippon Butokukai, was still employed. Only Ōshima held neither dan nor shōgō title among the competitors — likely unique example in the AJKC’s history. Four participants held 5 dan, while the remainder were Renshi or Kyōshi.

Kuramae Kokugikan (built 1949-54 / Showa 24-29), used as the event’s venue, had been constructed specifically to replace the sumo arena – Ryōgoku Kokugikan (built 1909 / Meiji 42), that was requisitioned by the GHQ after the war. Construction of Kuramae Kokugikan had began in 1949 (Shōwa 24) by the Japan Sumo Association and had partially opened to the public the following year. The construction was not completed until 1954 (Shōwa 29), thus, it remained a temporary facility at the time of the first AJKC. Its exact state is unclear, though.

The audience and arena itself dimed on the footage, but Kendō Hyakunen and The Thirty-Year History of the All Japan Kendo Federation both recorded exceeding ten thousand of spectators. However, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper stated: “an extraordinary popularity, with some eight thousand spectators, including old-time swordsmen and for the first time women and children.” in its article as of November 9, 1953.

The footage quite differs from nowadays tournaments. Matches took place within a roped-off ring marked by poles at the corners. Same as today, there were three referees, but instead of flags they raised their hands to indicate points.

Drafting the Competing and Refereeing Rules and Regulations (全日本剣道連盟試合規程・審判規程) became a top priority commencing right after the All Japan Kendo Federation was established in October 1952 (Shōwa 27) until the rules were finally enacted in March 1953 (Shōwa 28).

Pursuant to those rules, three referees included omote-shinpan (chief), ura-shinpan (sub-chief), and baishin (associate). The omote-shinpan had the authority to rule over a match in any manner, whereas the ura-shinpan was limited to awarding valid strikes (yūkō datotsu, named yūkō gekitoat the time). According to the rule: “When the judgment of the omote-shinpan and ura-shinpan differed, the decision could only be made after a consultation with the baishin”. The baishin didn’t act openly on the spot instead offered his opinion to the omote-shinpan directly. Providing that among the three referees the baishin did not have to raise his hand immediately.

By April 1954 (Shōwa 29), the regulations were revised meeting the nowadays format of one chief referee and two assistants, all with equal authority to indicate yūkō datotsu. The use of referee flags was appended later, in August 1960 (Shōwa 35). Yet photographs from the fifth AJKC (1957 / Shōwa 32) clearly show referees holding flags, providing that the approach had been introduced earlier — further research is required in order to determine the exact moment.

In the article regarding the “ring” by Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, it was suggested that to deduct points for stepping out the ring, provided that the ring should had been marked by boundary lines with additional space within the ring area.
Of the fifty-two matches, twenty-eight were decided by two points to none, fifteen by two-to-one, and only ten by a single-point victory — a pattern quite different from today. The number overtime matches is unknown.

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Munemitsu Shōji, then Executive Director of the Federation, wrote passionately of the championship’s significance in his book Kendō Hyakunen as follows:

“Formerly, kendo was confined within the rigid walls of the dōjō, and it was rare occasion of public appearance. Consequently, kendo existed only for those who practised it. Now, however, kendo has achieved an unprecedented result – kendo has reached the eyes and souls of the general public for a small admission fee at the national arena of Kuramae Kokugikan.

Since its foundation, the All Japan Kendo Federation has firmly believed that the future of kendo depends not on remaining within of the inner circle but on becoming an art available to everybody, spreading within the wider public. Any and all federation’s future deeds have been following in that direction.

The mere fact that this championship went so smoothly in front of ten thousand audience proves that the federation’s belief is right.”