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Running head: FILLING THE GAP BETWEEN TRADITIONAL MARTIAL ARTS AND
MODERN SPORTS

Filling the Gap between Traditional Martial Arts and Modern Sports:
The Development of Kendo and Archery
Zongshuo Wei
Kyongson Park
ENGL 106
12/06/2014

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FILLING THE GAP BETWEEN TRADITIONAL MARTIAL ARTS AND MODERN SPORTS
Filling the Gap between Traditional Martial Arts and Modern Sports:
The Development of Kendo and Archery
What is the origin of many of the competitive sports nowadays? Why it seems that those
sports are keeping losing their relationship with the former parts? These questions have haunted
in my mind for several years. I have been practiced kendo and archery for years. I know that
these two kind of sports can not come into existence for no reason. What can be seen from them
every day are only superficial rules of competition. From doing research on the deeper part of
history, equipments development, techniques development, and cultural influences, I found out
that there is a strong relationship between these two kinds of competitive sports and their former
forms- kenjutsu(traditional Japanese sword art) and traditional archery. Differences are also
inevitable in many parts such as basic techniques, equipments and philosophies. Many people
around me hold the idea that it is useless to link traditional martial arts and modern sports
together. But I think reinforcing this connection can definitely contribute to the protection of not
only kenjutsu and traditional archery but also many other kinds of traditional martial arts which
are unique parts of traditional cultures. Whats more, it can also promote the perfection of the
training system and rules of some specific sports.
Modern kendo is the continuation of ancient kenjutsu and the reflection of some special
history periods. From the interview of Imafuji sensei, I got to know that both Meiji Reform and
the prohibition of martial arts have great impacts to the development of kendo, which directly
caused the differences in hitting techniques and foot works between modern kendo and kenjutsu.
(personal communication, November 3 2014) In modern kendo, people use gentle but quick hits

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FILLING THE GAP BETWEEN TRADITIONAL MARTIAL ARTS AND MODERN SPORTS
to get points efficiently. But in kenjutsu, which is a practical combat martial art, those weak hits
are not proper because they can not cause major wounds to kill the enemies. The difference of
footwork is caused by different equipments. Kendo shinai(training bamboo sword) is longer than
the bokken(wooden sword) and katana(metal sword) used in kenjutsu, which makes it harder to
hold and keep balance while moving in big motions. So, the footwork in modern kendo is
mainly small but dense steps. On the contrary, the footwork in kenjutsu is much bigger and the
body center of gravity rise and fall frequently. In Robert Chaffinsarticle(2014)Kendo and
Kenjutsu, he made the definitionkenjutsu is to kill opponents and kendo is to make others
live(p.1). From Figure 1, it can be seen that the kendo before the Second World War is a
combination of kenjutsu and modern kendo. But it is interesting to see that modern kendo still
keeps ten sets of kata(kendo form) practice. According to Imafuji sensei, this number in kenjutsu
is usually fifty or even more. But we can still find out that modern kendo inherits this important
tradition from its ancestor. Kata is not the only thing which modern kendo and kenjutsu has in
common. The inner philosophy still remains the same. As David Aguero(2009) said in his article
What is Kendo, the purpose of practicing kendo is to mold the mind and body.
(p.1)Both of kenjutsu and modern kendo have a requirement of respect, courage and
steadiness, which is also part of the samurai culture.

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FILLING THE GAP BETWEEN TRADITIONAL MARTIAL ARTS AND MODERN SPORTS
Figure

1:

Kendo

before the Second

World

War

combination
kenjutsu

is

a
of
and

modern kendo

In archery, the
relationship
becomes

more

complex,
because this is a
world wide sport
which

has

existed for thousands of years. In the articleThe Asian war bow, Nieminen(2010) holds the
point thatThe Turko-Mongol composite recurve bow(p.1) made a great contribution to the
development of modern laminated material used in modern bows. In ancient Asia, people used
organic glues to glue horn, tendon and wood/bamboo together in order to make the bow limbs.
Although this kind of bow can be easily effected by bad weather, this design still spread quickly
in most of the Asia countries and promoted the development of modern glass fiber reinforced
epoxy resin and wood laminated bow limbs in 20 th century. In the article The First York
Sachers(2014) argues that modern archery competition is developed from a sport for English

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FILLING THE GAP BETWEEN TRADITIONAL MARTIAL ARTS AND MODERN SPORTS
gentlemen(p.1) in the second half of the 18th century. From Figure 2, it can be seen that the
archers in the beginning of 20th century are still using traditional English long bows to shoot in
tournaments. Now, different accessories like stabilizer and arrow rest are usually attached to the
modern target bows to increase the accuracy. But the step by step development of equipments
also followed the history trend. About the target pattern, Sachers(2014) said that First, George
IV established a fixed number of rings and their colors, following the pattern used by the
Finsbury archers, which had been in use since at least 1754.(p.1) So, the competition target
pattern has remain the same for more than two hundred years. In shooting technique aspect,
Gao(1637) used the expression thatit is the archer who shoot the arrow, not just the bow
itself(p.2) to explain that the basic shooting techniques that human beings used throughout the
history should always remain the same. Although traditional Asian style use thumb to pull the
string, which is quite different from the Mediterranean style( three fingers style) and release aid
used in modern archery competitions, the key points of back muscle control and body balance
are still the same.

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Figure 2: An archer shooting in an archery tournament in 1908 Figure 3: Traditional Chinese shooting style

From what I discussed above, the close relationship between modern competitive kendo

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FILLING THE GAP BETWEEN TRADITIONAL MARTIAL ARTS AND MODERN SPORTS
and ancient kenjutsu, traditional archery and modern competitive archery can be seen easily.
Although a lot of differences in particular techniques have already emerged because of the
specific history and technology gap, the similarities in philosophy, equipment, and muscle
control cannot be overlooked. After that, the conclusion can be drawn that whoever want to get
access to those traditional martial arts, I suggest that participating in the related sports which
have more systematic training techniques can be a good start. To whom wants to be successful in
particular sports, they can trace back to the history and find out more details about what their
ancestors have done to reach the goal. Both of these two kinds of people can benefit from this
research. Then, the gap between traditional martial arts and modern sports can be filled to some
extent.
Key words: kendo, kenjutsu, traditional bow, traditional archery, traditional martial arts

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References
Chaffins, R.(2014). Kendo and Kenjutsu, Kendo-guide. Retrieved from
http://www.kendo-guide.com/-kendo-and-kenjutsu-.html

David, R.(2009). What is kendo, Bestkendo. Retrieved from

http://www.bestkendo.com/Kendo-History.html
Gao, Y.(1637). Martial Arts: The Proper Use of a Bow(translated by Wei, Z)
Gao, Y.(1637). Figure 3: Traditional Chinese shooting style, Martial arts: The proper use of a

bow
Nieminen, T.A.(2010). The Asian war bow. 19th Australian Institute of Physics Congress.
Retrieved from
http://arxiv.org/abs/1101.1677
Sachers, J.(2014). The First York. Retrieved from
http://www.bow-international.com/features/traditional/the-first-york/
Sachers, J.(2014). Figure 2: An archer shooting in a archery tournament in 1908. Retrieved from
http://www.bow-international.com/features/traditional/the-first-york/
Figure 1, Kendo before the Second World War is a combination of kenjutsu and modern kendo.
Retrieved from

http://tieba.baidu.com/p/3327381195

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