The effects of high-intensity intermittent training incorporating ʻkakari-geiko' (HIITK) on the maximal oxygen uptake of male and female university kendo players were observed. The HIITK consisted of eight sets of 20-sec maximal exercise incorporating Tabata-style kakari-geiko (continuous attack practice) with a 10-sec rest between the sets. In Experiment 1, seven male kendo players performed the HIITK 3×/week for 6 weeks, and five other male kendo players on the same kendo team served as the control group not participating in the HIITK. The maximal oxygen uptake was measured during treadmill running before and after the training. For Experiment 2, the maximal oxygen uptake of 13 female kendo players was measured during treadmill running before and after 11 weeks of the HIITK performed 3×/week. In Experiment 1, the training group's maximal oxygen uptake was significantly increased (pre: 50.9±8.4 ml/kg/min, post: 54.1±8.0 ml/kg/min, p<0.05), whereas no change was observed in the control group (pre: 51.8±3.9 ml/kg/min, post: 52.6±3.6 ml/kg/min). In Experiment 2, the maximal oxygen uptake of the female kendo players was significantly increased after the training (pre: 42.1±2.9 ml/kg/min, post: 48.3±2.2 ml/kg/min, p<0.001). These results demonstrated that the HIITK improved the aerobic fitness of both male and female university kendo players.

The purpose of this study is to clarify changes in ideas about bushido, especially focusing on the theories of the three historians Shigeno Yasutsugu, Matsumoto Aijū, and Naitō Chisō, which were formulated before the “bushido boom” of around 1905 and until the rise of modern bushido. In this paper, the theories of these three writers will be considered from two main perspectives: “the source of bushido” and “bushido’s ethics and morality”. On the “source of bushido”, Shigeno believed bushido to be something that existed from the beginning of the foundation of the country and saw its roots in the Mononobe and Ōtomo families that served the imperial household. Like Shigeno, Matsumoto thought the source of bushido was found in ancient times and the Yamato Court. In previous research, it was asserted that Shigeno was the first return to the source of bushido and emphasise the connection between it and the emperor. Nevertheless, such a view can also be seen in Matsumoto’s work from the previous year. Naito, who wrote his bushido theory two years earlier than Matsumoto, saw the source of bushido as emanating from the generals Nitta and Kusunoki, who protected the imperial household during the Nanboku-chō period. Before the works of Shigeno and Matsumoto, there was also a theory on the origins of bushido based on an historical view inherited from the early modern period, which can be seen in the position of the “Nanchō seitō-ron” (controversy surrounding the Northern and Southern Courts) of the Mitogaku school of Japanese historical and Shintō studies to which they belonged. As for “bushido’s ethics and morality”, the words “ethics” (rinri) and “morality” (dōtoku) were not used in Shigeno and Matsumoto’s theories of bushido. They were critical of the trend at the time to bring historical research and modern ethics and moral education closer together. Thus, their theories of bushido focused on piecing together historical evidence. Naitō, however, used the word “ethics” (rinri) in his discourse. The third decade of the Meiji Period was a time when Japanese literary history was becoming increasingly associated with ethics and moral education. The fact that Naitō was one of the key figures in this movement was thought to be the reason why he spoke of bushido as a source of ethics and morality. In addition, it could be said that such historical trends at that time may have influenced the ideological theory of bushido combined ethics and morality later purported by the scholar Inoue Tetsujirō during the “bushido boom”.

The purpose of this study is to clarify the formational process of the thought about women and bushido seen in Kendo Gokui (1916) by Kagawa Teru. To achieve that aim, the first step was to reveal the context of the thought between women and bushido in the chapter of general statement of Kendo Gokui while looking at the meaning and positioning of bushido. Next, the background of formation of the thought was explored through analyzing the descriptions in the journal titled Seikou.

The results of this study are shown below.

1. Kagawa states in the chapter of general statement of Kendo Gokui that the concept of bushido was to be calm and resolute against those who are strong and fierce, and show love to those who are weak and suffering. The terms “jindo” (human way) or “Nihon-do” (Japanese way) could also be used instead of “bushido”. Furthermore, Kagawa pointed out a problem with the term “bushido”. According to him, the concept of bushido has been misunderstood in that the spiritual characteristics of “do” (way) in the word “bushido” were only for samurai warriors (bushi), and had no relation to the other farmer, artisan, and merchant classes in Japan. Kagawa thought that from such an interpretation bushido is a “way” for all people and that even women should not be excluded from studying it and benefitting from it. For that purpose, Kagawa recommended practicing kendo. Thus, it became clear that in the relationship between women and bushido, for Kagawa these concepts were at the core.

2. When the background to the formation of thoughts on the relationship between women and bushido were explored, Kagawa’s view of women and interpretation of bushido in Kendo Gokui were found to be similar to an article he wrote in a journal called Seikou that was published in 1909. For this reason, this journal article by Kagawa was considered to be the beginning of his view on women and bushido found in Kendo Gokui.

3. The background of Kagawa’s article published in the journal Seikou in 1909, firstly, it was the close relationship between girls and budo in girls’ education in the middle and late Meiji era. It was confirmed that, as governor of Saga prefecture, Kagawa was involved in girls’ education by opening a girls’ high school. Furthermore, similarities were found between interpretations of the view of women and bushido in Kagawa’s Seikou article, and the view of women and bushido described in Bushido, edited by Abe Masato and published in 1902. This was not only because of the teacher-student relationship with Yamaoka Tesshu through Kagawa’s kendo training, but also the close time between the two discourses. From these facts, it can be said that the accounts of Yamaoka Tesshu’s verbal teachings were the background for the generation of the view of women and interpretation of bushido in Kagawa’s Seikou article.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of short-term icing of the forearm muscle group between exercises on the grip endurance of judo athletes. The participants were eight female university judo athletes (mean age: 21.3±3.1 years). Grip endurance was evaluated through an exercise task by attaching weighted “Uchi Komi Straps” to the forearms of the judo athletes, and then measuring the gripping time (all-out time). The exercise task was performed twice with a 5-minute rest period between the two sets. During the rest period, four intervention conditions were performed: icing, stretching, icing and stretching, and rest only (control). In addition to measuring the all-out time during the exercise task, maximum grip strength, rate of force development during gripping, skin temperature of the forearm, and subjective feeling of fatigue in the forearm were also measured before and after the tasks. Blood flow through the flexor muscle group of the forearm after the intervention was also measured and compared with the blood flow at rest. The results revealed a reciprocal action in the all-out time during the two sets of the exercise task, and in the second exercise task the two conditions that included icing significantly suppressed the all-out time reduction compared to the control condition. While there were no significant interactions between the four conditions and maximum grip strength, the rate of force development during gripping was not adversely affected by icing. There were no significant differences in the blood flow of the forearm flexor muscle group among the different intervention conditions. These results suggest that it may be possible to prevent a reduction in the grip endurance of judo athletes by icing the forearm muscles for a short period of time between exercises or by using a combination of stretching and a short period of icing.

The All Japan Kendo Federation (AJKF) was established in October 1952. After World War II kendo was revived as a means of physical education and a sporting activity, with its organization democratically managed, and rational match processes and judging methods being considered while spreading and developing as a competitive sport (a general term for sports that emphasize winning, losing, and ranking). On the other hand, in 1975 the AJKF established its own philosophy, stating that “kendo is to discipline the human character through the application of the principles of the katana (sword)”, which is slightly different in meaning from the philosophy of sports, which states that “sports are athletic competitions and physical activities that are undertaken for the sound development of body and mind”. (Sports Promotion Act, 1961) To clarify the intent and content of this concept, it is necessary to re-read the historical development of kendo as a competitive sport.

From the Meiji period onward, among the first to practice competitive sports were students who belonged to the athletic associations of Tokyo Imperial University and Tokyo Commercial High School, and the alumni association of Daiichi Higher Middle School. In such a climate, Western competitive sports were actively practiced in the old junior and senior high schools during the Meiji period. Kendo was developed on the model of a competitive sport rather than as a traditional budo.

In the history of student kendo, it was Kyoto Imperial University that pioneered the national tournament. Kumao Ono points out that it was the former Daisan High School (hereafter, “Sanko”) that played a part in this. I was interested in the description of the Sanko Kendo Club members during the Meiji period, who tried to understand kendo in terms of the new concept of “athletics”, which at that time was a collective noun for all Western competitive sports. However, I could not find any previous studies. Therefore, as part of my search for the roots of the transformation of kendo into a competitive sport, I decided to first focus on the Sanko Kendo Club, which seems to have been a forerunner of this movement, in order to understand the actual state of students’ attitudes toward kendo during the Meiji and Taisho periods.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the actual state that the old high school system played in the development of kendo as a competitive sport, and to examine in detail the magazines Gakusui-kai Zasshi and its predecessor, Jinshin-kai Zasshi, which were published independently by the Gakusui-kai (alumni association) of Sanko, as well as other Sanko-related materials such as the Jinryo Shoshi (Short History of Jinryo) and the Sanko Hachiju-nen Kaiko (Sanko 80th Year Review).

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On August 27, 2020, the All Japan Kendo Federation issued a new set of rules in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These provisional rules are intended to nullify, as far as possible, the risk of infection during kendo matches, and are applicable to all practitioners at all levels nationwide. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of the provisional rules upon matches held at a university-level tournament. In particular, the study set out to investigate how the provisional rules affected match content, how far the practitioners were aware of, and how they responded to, the provisional rules, and how favorably the provisional rules were evaluated by the referees. A comparison was made between an annual tournament held three times under the previous rules between 2017 and 2019, and its 2020 version held under the provisional rules. The comparison focused on the number of yuko-datotsu (valid strikes), hiki-waza, hansoku (violations), hansoku relating to tsubazeriai, and match duration. A web survey was distributed to the practitioners (student of six universities; N=129) in order to elicit their impressions of competing under the provisional rules. Referees (N=53) were similarly asked to evaluate the provisional rules and their effect upon matches. The collected data showed that the provisional rules shortened average match-duration time but increased the proportion of drawn matches (hiki-wake) and matches going the distance. Taking match duration into account, the provisional rules were found to have had no effect on the frequencies with which yuko-datotsu, hiki-waza and hansoku occurred. Among the practitioners, those who had not previously participated in matches under the normal (original) rules were found to be more accepting of the provisional rules and less affected by them. The referees determined that the provisional rules reduced the frequency of hansoku and improved match content with respect to attempted and successfully executed legal techniques. The results of this study conclude that the provisional rules have the potential to improve the form of kendo matches and, by extension, kendo practitioners.