Of all the martial arts in Japan, the earliest one to have gone towards “sportification” was kyūju…
Three Great Lineages of Kenjutsu
In early modern times (1600‒1868), the predominant martial art was kenjutsu. There were three main lineages, e…
Formation of Ryūha (martial traditions or schools)
With the appearance of extraordinarily skilled men in the martial arts, other warriors inevitably wanted to le…
Three Forms of Mounted-Archery
Medieval Japanese warfare was centred on mounted warriors, and so the principal martial techniques involved re…
The Emergence of the Japanese Sword
The emergence of the nihontō, or “Japanese sword” is a particularly noteworthy event in the histor…