The purpose of this study is to determine how karate was perceived by leading educators and organizations in the modern Okinawan youth education system, mainly focusing on the modern era of Okinawan history, specifically from 1909 to 1930, and how it became established in that system as a result.

Karate was introduced into Okinawan junior high schools in 1905, and since then has spread throughout Okinawa and Japanese society. For this reason, up to now studies of karate history have focused on the general education system, including junior high schools, but have not accumulated much information on the youth education system. Therefore, the focus of this study is the youth education system, which functioned as the most popular education system in modern Okinawa, based on the actual activities of the modern and general education systems.

The research methodology included a survey and analysis of newspaper archives and Okinawa Kyoiku, an educational magazine published by the Okinawa Prefectural Education Association from 1906 to 1944.

After the Russo-Japanese War, the youth associations were beginning to fall under the purview of prefectural governance. In 1910, these associations were forced to review their recreational activities, and karate, too, was required to be treated in the same way. As a result, karate was redefined and reintroduced by the leadership. However, since the youth associations were run on a regional basis, the enthusiasm for the introduction of karate varied from one association to another. In fact, the Shimajiri-gun Youth Association supported renewed encouragement of karate, while the Kunigami-gun Youth Association did not, in part because of concerns over the potential for violence.

However, in 1914, the Kunigami-gun Youth Association reversed its initial opposition to karate by commending its physical education and recreational functions. As a result, karate gained social status as a pastime in Kunigami-gun. The Shimajiri-gun Youth Association also found a physical education function for karate by 1929. Furthermore, karate was conceived for use in vocational supplementary schools and continued to be practiced in youth education settings, including youth associations, throughout the modern era. In summary, although karate was not universally welcomed in the early stages of its introduction in the youth associations, it gradually transformed into a recreational activity with a physical education function and thus became a part of the youth education system.

The purpose of this study is to clarify the factors that cause working kendo practitioners to withdraw from kendo practice in the medium to long term.

In this study, we conducted an interview survey of 23 kendo practitioners (11 male, 12 female) who withdrew from kendo practice for more than 3 years after entering the workforce. The survey asked about the reasons for their withdrawal from continuous kendo practice, and elicited a detailed background of their more than 3-year withdrawal from it.

For the method of analysis, interview information was collected as text data. Through text mining, a correspondence analysis was conducted to analyze the extracted words and the relationship between the extracted words and external variables. Next, using the same text data, the withdrawal factors were organized by element and category using the KJ method.

The following results were obtained:

1) Eighteen items were extracted as withdrawal factors, which were then divided into five categories: “emergence of priorities”, “decline in motivation”, “challenges in the kendo environment”, “family circumstances”, and “physical and mental anxieties”.

2) The results suggest that for men, withdrawal is prolonged when “the emergence of priorities” and “decline in motivation” are combined, and for women, “family circumstances” and “challenges in the kendo environment” or “physical and mental anxieties” are prolonged if combined.

3) It seems that “decline in motivation” and “challenges in the kendo environment” were expressed as factors that hindered the resumption of kendo, caused by its unique background.

The purpose of this study is to clarify the background of the establishment of the Dai Nippon Butokukai Chosun Regional Headquarters (DNBCRH) and the projects to spread kendo. The method of this study is mainly based on a document analysis of the Dai Nippon Butokukai and the “Chosun Budo” journal. The findings of this study are as follows:

1) The DNBCRH was established in 1928 under the Office of the Governor-General of Korea as part of a project to establish regional departments of the Dai Nippon Butokukai. The organization became the largest Dai Nippon Butokukai Overseas Regional Department．The projects to spread kendo were implemented based on the “Dai Nippon Butokukai Regional Department Regulations”.

2) The DNBCRH projects to spread kendo were teaching programs, matches, and mid-winter and mid-summer trainings, as well as dan/kyu examinations. The teaching programs emphasized not only technical aspects, but also the cultivation of morals, and mental and physical training. Furthermore, the matches were held for the purpose of developing kendo and the culture of Japanese martial arts. The mid-winter and mid-summer trainings were conducted to train the mind and body and to make develop techniques.

3) The DNBCRH’s projects had many similarities when compared to the Dai Nippon Butokukai’s projects. However, especially in the written kendo exam questions, contents were included that had a different meaning, for example, questions that require students to discuss the superiority of Japanese kendo. This suggests that the intention was to raise the morale of the Japanese living in Korea and, by extension, spread Japanese kendo among the Korean people for the purpose of reconciliation.

An interview-based survey was conducted with judo therapy instructors to investigate the effects of judo therapy provided for children who go to after-school daycare. Each of the four representative judo instructors interviewed performed judo instruction during after-school daycare at one of four institutions. Orally collected data were transcribed into text form. A qualitative analysis of the content and effects of judo therapy was then conducted using the SCAT (Systemic Cause Analysis Technique).

All four judo instructors interviewed were dan-holders certified by the Kodokan Judo Institute, and three had been active as instructors for a relatively long time.

At all four institutions, the judo therapy content was similar to general judo training content. The institutions were classified by whether or not they offered randori (free-style sparring practice).

The effects of judo therapy were classified, using the KJ method. A total of 93 low-level items were identified, which were then summarized as 22 mid-level items, which were organized under three high-level categories: social, physical, and psychological. Thus, the main effects of judo therapy were social, physical, and psychological. Numerous intervention effects that make social life less problematic were identified among items in the “Social” category. Numerous elements that enable daycare-using children to control their own impulses more effectively were identified among items in the “Psychological” category. Some items in the “Physical” category indicate that judo therapy can improve exercise capability and increase muscular strength.

The results suggest that as an intervention, judo therapy may contribute to helping children with developmental and cognitive disabilities resolve some of the difficulties they suffer.