Running

Head:

The

Relationship

between

Kendo

and

Interview Report: The Relationship between Kendo and Kenjutsu

Zongshuo Wei
Kyongson Park
ENGL 106
10/21/2014

Kenjutsu

The Relationship between Kendo and Kenjutsu

Introduction
The person I interviewed is Masahiro Imafuji sensei (instructor) who is the founder and
representative of Kendo for Life, LLC and runs the website-Kendoguide. Imafuji sensei was
born in 1973 and started kendo at the age of 7 in Japan. Whom he learned kendo from was the
famous Tsurumaru sensei and Miyazaki sensei. After moving to the United States, he started
instructing kendo at West Virginia University. Currently, he instructs at Mudokwan and
Gotokukan Imafuji Dojo (Practice field) in Indianapolis, Indiana. He holds 6-dan (six level) in
kendo now. On October 11, 2014, he came to Purdue dojo (CoRec Center Room MP5) to give
the members of Purdue Kendo Club a lesson about kata (kendo form). After that, I interviewed
him on one of my project topic which is the relationship between kenjutsu (ancient Japanese
sword art) and kendo, including the history part of the development process, the main difference
of the footwork and hitting ways between kendo and kenjutsu, and the inner philosophical part of
these two kinds of activities.

The Relationship between Kendo and Kenjutsu

The relationship between Kendo and Kenjutsu Research

The first question I asked is the history part of the development process. According to the
books I have read, there are two main historical factors in the development of kenjutsu. So, I
asked: Which one do you think has more impact on the development from ancient kenjutsu to
modern kendo? The Meiji Reform or the prohibition after the Second War? Maybe this question
was a little bit tricky, Imafuji sensei hesitated for a while but then laughed out loud and said: It
is quite hard to say which has more impact because they are both important turning point in the
development of sword art in Japan. Then I revised my question to make it more specific: So,
which one made more promotion to modern kendo? Imafuji sensei understood my question and
made the response that if the question was about kendo, he thought the Second War was more
important. Then he went deeper into the question. From what he said, I got to know that after
Japan lost the war, the conqueror forbade the practice of not only kendo, but also nearly all kinds
of martial arts in order to prevent the development of militarism. These traditional skills like
kyudo and jiujutsu were facing an unprecedented challenge. In order to change the attitude of the
conqueror toward kendo. The masters made new regulations like forbidding kicking motion and
many other fierce wresting motions to paying more focus on its competitive part instead of its
fighting part. So, thats why we are now using bamboo sword to hit several points in the body
to get points. Imafuji sensei sighed, All that we have done was for the survival of kendo, our
tradition. I sank into a deep consideration. Although the Japanese government has an

The Relationship between Kendo and Kenjutsu

ignominious history during the Second War, what they were doing after that was admirable.
Every country has its own culture, every culture deserved to be protected.
Then I asked him about the main difference of the footwork and hitting ways between
kendo and kenjutsu. The difference? Oh, that is totally different. Imafuji sensei laughed again.
From his words, I learnt that since the kendoists in 18th century invented shinai (bamboo sword),
the change began. Then they made special rules and special armor for arms, head, and body
which led to the difference in footwork and hitting ways. Imafuji sensei also pointed out that in
kenjutsu, people pull to cut which means this is a skill to kill. On the contrary, in kendo, people
push to hit which means they just want to hit his/her opponent and get point in a more efficient
way. Whats more, there is also a significant difference in footwork. As I have already known,
kendo shinai (bamboo sword) is longer than normal katana (mental sword), so we do not usually
make long steps in kendo but make little split steps instead. The reason of this kind of motion is
that our body balance and sword balance will not be disrupted by big steps. Do you think the
styles of Kenjutsu still remain the same as what they used to be in ancient times? I asked. Well,
I think most of them have good inheritance from past to now. Imafuji sensei smiled with
satisfaction. But then he also claimed that some of the people in charge do changed their skills a
little bit to increase the efficiency of fighting in duels and battles during feudal times. But in
recent period, people do not use sword to fight anymore, so any extra changes are useless. What
they are trying to do now is just doing their best to protect their own unique features. I was
shocked by this answer, it was still about protection, but this time, the main point was the
characteristic in different styles of kenjutsu.

The Relationship between Kendo and Kenjutsu

The last question I asked was focused on the core part of kendo. Do you think we should
still keep kendo as a kind of martial art or we should pay more attention on its competitive part?
Imafuji sensei make the response immediately, Both, spiritual part and competitive part to
kendo is like bones and muscles to a person. We cannot split them into two parts. I was quite
satisfied with this answer because I think everything should have dual characters. Then he
mentioned that most kendoists trained hard when they were young, then they went to
competitions and fought for honor. But when they got older and older, they cannot train as hard
as they used to do. As their reactions and physical abilities got worse and worse, they started to
pay more attention on the spiritual part which can fulfill their inner requirement. Although we are
now practicing for competitions every day, we should never forget kendo is still a part of ancient
martial art. A good example is kata (kendo form) which is summarized from many styles of
sword arts. The main reason we still keep kata as an important part of kendo is we want to
protect this connection of kendo and kenjutsu. If we throw away the inner part of kendo, this
kind of activity will become an empty shell.
At last, Imafuji sensei gave some advice to the kendoists nowadays. Competition is good,
everyone want to win. It can make a practicer full of passion. But win is not everything, instead,
losing can teach a person more about this game and his/her life. Whats more, never forget the
inner part, respect, self-examination, courage, and persistence.
As an expert in Kendo, Imafuji sensei gave me a lot of important information and
enlightment such as the historical influence of kendo, the difference between kendo and
kenjutsu and the major trend of kendo which can contribute to my paper. I also got to know that

The Relationship between Kendo and Kenjutsu

the development of kendo is actually the protection of this kind of special culture. If I combine
our ideas together, I believe it will be an interesting issue.
Keywords: Kendo, Kenjutsu, Traditional martial art