Kakegoe can be translated into "shouting" in English. In the matches of the Modern Kendo, various types of Kakegoe, such as 'Men''Kote''Doo''Yaa''Too', have been used. This study has two purposes. One is to clarify where Kakegoe of Kendo is traced back to, and the other is to point out the erroneous assumptions in the former studies of Budo history in order to offer the study of Budo history a new perspective. The gist of this paper is as follows:(1)In the Edo period, there were various schools of Kenjutsu with Kakegoe and various ones without Kakegoe. The KASHIMA-KATORI-SHINTO Schools, for instance, handed down Kakegoe. On the contrary, the SHINKAGE Schools and the ITTO Schools, which were the mainstream of Kenjutsu in the Edo period, did not hand it down. (2)The main function of Kakegoe of Kenjutsu in the Edo period was to increase and display the spirit of the performer, and was similar to that of the spells in Esoteric Buddhism. Some acting elements existed in Katas which were practised in the schools of Kenjutsu with Kakegoe in the Edo period. Because people belonging to these Schools somtimes used Kakegoe for the purposes of giving their opponents the signs of attacking and of expressing their feelings. (3)All schools of Kenjutsu with Kakegoe were local in the Edo period;that is to say, Kakegoe was handed down in the Schools mainly consisting of peasants. Neverthless, their modes of Kakegoe existed in the Shinai-Uchikomi-Shiai-Kenjutsu which became the mainstream of Kenjutsu by the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate and was the original form of the Modern Kendo. (4)It has been considered in the former studies of Kendo history that the Modern Kendo developed from the ITTO Schools and so on which were the mainstream of Kenjutsu in the Edo period. But, the history of Kakegoe tells us that the former studies of Kendo history are one-sided, and that the Modern Kendo can be traced back not only to the samurais' Kenjutsu but also to the Peasants' Kenjutsu.

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In the Edo period the peasants were prohibited by law from possessing weapons. Neverthless, the peasants already practiced Bujutsu in the first half of the Edo period. Documents of the MUSO-JIKIDEN Schools in the possession of the Takizawa family in a village in North Shinano have been found and analyzed by the present author. The purpose of this study is threefold:(1)To clarify what kinds of peasant in a village community practice the martial arts of the MUSO-JIKIDEN Schools. (2)To clarify what kind of Bujutsu they practice, that is to say, what is the MUSO-JIKIDEN Schools. (3)To clarify the purposes for which they practice it. Briefly, the main conclusions were as follows:(1)Many of the peasants that practiced the MUSO-JIKIDEN Schools were also the samurais of the lowest rank in the Matsushiro clan, that is to say, they were the marginal people in the villages. (2)The MUSO-JIKIDEN Schools was comprehensive bujutsu which was medieval. It consisted of jujutsu, bojutsu, iai, nawa, and so on. (3)The purpose of the MUSO-JIKIDEN Schools was primarily vocational educaion, but it was pastime and sport for many peasants in the villages.

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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the trends in the student kendo world since the Meiji period in the Kanto region, especially in the former First Higher School (hereafter, Ichiko-the former higher schools are abbreviated in the same manner). The aim is to clarify the genealogy of spirituality in a self-refereeing system (mukensho). The materials were mainly those from Ichiko, but also those related to Second Higher School, Gakushuin and Tokyo Imperial University (hereafter, Teidai).

The All Japan Kendo Federation (AJKF) established the “Concept of Kendo” in 1975. As will be discussed below, one of the indirect influences on this philosophy is the method of practice at Ichiko in Tokyo, Japan. Ichiko was one of the higher middle schools under the old school system, which was started by the Higher Middle School Ordinance after the Meiji Restoration. It advocated “mukensho”, matches in which contestants judged each other without a referee. Since 1897, the student kendo community in western Japan developed rules and a referee system to promote kendo as a competitive sport, but Ichiko is different from these trends. Although there is no academic research focusing on the Ichiko Gekken (Kendo) Club, its history has been partially clarified in memorials and other publications. Therefore, this paper describes its history based on the results of previous studies.

The Ichiko Gekken Club was born in the third decade (1887-1897) of the Meiji period. Shionoya Tokitoshi (a teacher at Ichiko and a Hokushin Itto-ryu expert), the club president, forbade disrespectful behavior and a sense of triumph and instead formed respect for one’s own personality (sense of self-respect) and dignity in the club. In the fifth decade of the Meiji period, the club members expressed dissatisfaction with matches. Knowing this, Shionoya proposed mukensho and introduced it experimentally in the Ichiko competitions. Students in this period had a common understanding of kendo as the spiritual basis of character formation, and this understanding became the ground for accepting mukensho. The mukensho-like concept can already be seen in training and matches since the middle of the Edo period.

The purpose of the mukensho that Shionoya taught was to develop a person’s character to be able to lead the nation, and specifically, to cultivate a spirit of “brave and unyielding” as well as “honesty and courtesy”. It is also suggested that Shionoya may have used mukensho to judge a valid strike by himself, and furthermore, that he may have considered learning how to judge a win before striking (katte-utsu - striking after winning). In addition to cultivating spirituality, Shionoya also saw in mukensho a technical view that was invisible to third-party judgment.

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In the latter period of Edo era, “shinai-uchikomi-geiko”, the new training method in which swordsmen wearing protectors strike and thrust each other unrestrainedly by means of bamboo swords, became popular and spread in place of the traditional method by means of kata of the school in Kenj utsu. With the propagation of the new method, “taryu jiai”, a match between swordsmen of different schools, which had been put under the taboo, got activated all over the country. There are, however, few detailed investigations into the process except for the Kanto area.
The present study was undertaken to make clear how “shinai-uchikomi-geiko” propagated and “taryujiai”got activated in the Iwakuni clan.
Major findings are as follows;
(1) The trend in kenjutsu, the propagation of “shinai-uchikomi-geiko” and the activation of “taryujiai”by the new method, had extended to the Iwakuni clan at latest in the Tenmei or Kansei period. However at that time all the teachers of kenjutsu-schools refused to adopt the new method, so no one of the bushi-class adopted it and took part in “taryu-jiai” in the clan.
(2) With the activation of “taryu-jiai” in the Iwakuni clan, there appeared participants to it in the bushi-class in the latter half of the Bunsei period. Moreover, there appeared teachers of kenjutsu-school who approved to adopt the new method and to take part in “taryu-jiai” in the next Tenpo period. And this became the main method of kenjutsu in the clan.
(3) When Yoro-kan (the clan school) was established in the 4th of the Koka period, it was publicly decided to adopt the new method and to practice “taryu-jiai” in the school. At this time it was Katayama-school that defied the decision. Seven years later, however, the new method was adopted in the school in the 1st of the Ansei period. As a result, in all the kenjutsu-schools in the Iwakuni clan the new method came to be used and “taryu-jiai” to be practiced, while existential significance of the traditional kata and schools main-tamed with it became quite small.

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