World Kendo Championship

The World Kendo Championship are an international kendo competition contested by the member nations of the International Kendo Federation (FIK). FIK is the international federation of national and regional kendo associations and the world governing body for members of FIK. The championships have been conducted every three years since their inception in 1970.

World Kendo Championships
VenueNamdong Gymnasium
LocationIncheon Korea
DatesSeptember 14th - 16th 2018
Teams52
Medalists
 JPN   Japan
 KOR   South Korea
 USA   United States
 TPE   Chinese Taipei
Champions
Current Champions
MenSho Ando  Japan (JPN)
WomenMizuki Matsumoto  Japan (JPN)

The hosting of the World Kendo Championships usually rotates in order through the three FIK administrative regions of Asia, the Americas and Europe. The competition is divided into 4 divisions: Men's Team, Women's Team, Men's Individual, Women's Individual. Team matches are individual between 5 members from each team which change sequentially at the end of each round.

There is an opinion in Japan that this tournament is not of the same caliber as the All Japan Kendo Championship or the All Japan Police Kendo Championship, the argument being that there is a distinct qualitative difference in the playing level and style of countries where Japanese live, immigrated, or reigned before WW2, and countries that began the practice of Kendo post-war. This is changing rapidly however.

Until 2006[1], Japan had never lost a championship in any of the four divisions, when the Men's Team suffered a narrow loss against USA in the semi-final, with South Korea claiming victory in the final. This was Japan's first official defeat despite other teams coming close, such as South Korea and Canada in 1997 and 2000 respectively. In the individual division, more and more South Koreans are appearing in the semi-finals and final.

Another opinion is that the level of non-Japanese referees is not of high enough caliber for matches to be judged fairly. In order to offset this, mandatory international referee seminars are organized by the International Kendo Federation with high ranking Japanese Kendo officials as lecturers.

Men's Division

Men's Team

The following is a summary of medals acquired by country for the Men's Team Division.

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Japan (JPN)160117
2 South Korea (KOR)110314
3 United States (USA)02810
4 Brazil (BRA)0257
 Canada (CAN)0257
6 Chinese Taipei (TPE)0167
7 Hawaii0022
 Hungary (HUN)0022
9 Italy (ITA)0011
 Okinawa0011
Totals (10 nations)17173468

Individual Champions (Men)
Year Final Third Place Top Eight
Winner Runner-up
1970 M. Kobayashi,  Japan T. Toda,  Japan T. Yaniguchi,  Japan T. Ota,  Japan
1973 T. Sakuragi,  Japan H. Yano,  Japan T. Fujita,  Japan J.R. Rhee,  Korea
1976 E. Yokoo,  Japan K. Ono,  Japan K. Hosoda,  Japan C. Wu,  Taiwan Kawase,  Japan Arima,  Japan Sato,  Japan Ito,  Japan
1979 H. Yamada,  Japan K. Furukawa,  Japan H. Aikawa,  Japan K. Terada,  Japan S. Kim,  Korea S. Nakauchi,  USA S. Suzuki,  Japan K. Koh,  Korea
1982 M. Makita,  Japan T. Kosaka,  Japan W. Okajima,  Japan H. Yasugahira,  Japan J.W. Lee,  Korea R. Kaneshiro,  USA H.G. Jang,  Korea M. Grivas,  USA
1985 K. Koda,  Japan H. Ogawa,  Japan J.C. Park,  Korea K.N. Kim,  Korea Johnson,  Canada Komatsu,  Japan Umeyama,  Japan Ujiie,  Japan
1988 I. Okido,  Japan A. Hayashi,  Japan H. Sakata,  Japan K.N. Kim,  Korea J.H. Lee,  Korea M. Ishizuka,  Japan J.K. Kim,  Korea R. Kishikawa,  Brazil
1991 S. Muto,  Japan H. Sakata,  Japan M. Yamamoto,  Japan S. Shimizu,  Japan E. Ohara,  Canada C.S. Oh,  Korea W. Huh,  Korea M. Miyazaki,  Japan
1994 H. Takahashi,  Japan K. Takei,  Japan S. Hirano,  Japan N. Eiga,  Japan Y.C. Park,  Korea T. Davidson,  Canada Y. Okamoto,  Japan T. Nabeyama,  Japan
1997 M. Miyazaki,  Japan F. Miyazaki,  Japan T. Ishida,  Japan S.S. Park,  Korea J.S. Yang,  Korea Y.Y. Liu,  Taiwan T. Terachi,  Japan J.P. Labru,  France
2000 N. Eiga,  Japan K. Takenaka,  Japan T. Someya,  Japan S.S. Hong,  Korea S. Asaoka,  Canada C. Yang,  USA H. Hirata,  Japan C.Y. Kim,  Korea
2003 H. Sato,  Japan H. Iwasa,  Japan M. Sato,  Japan K. Lim,  Korea M. Salonen,  Finland K. Ando,  Japan C. Yang,  USA S.S. Park,  Korea
2006 M. Hojo,  Japan T. Tanaka,  Japan S. Kang,  Korea G. Oh,  Korea S. Kamata,  Canada C. Cheng,  Taiwan S. Harada,  Japan G. Sicart,  France
2009 S. Teramoto,  Japan B. Park,  Korea K. Lee,  Korea C. Choi,  Korea K. Smith,  Australia D. Wako,  Japan T. Furusawa,  Japan J. Brown,  USA
2012 S. Takanabe,  Japan W. Kim,  Korea T. Kim,  Korea K. Furukawa,  Japan J. Bertout,  France T.A. Hoang,  Canada K. Hatakenaka,  Japan C. Tange,  Belgium
2015 T. Amishiro,  Japan Y. Takenouchi,  Japan M. Jang,  Korea H. Nishimura,  Japan J. Bertout,  France K. Bosak,  Poland R. Murase,  Japan J. Jo,  Korea
2018 S. Ando,  Japan J. Jo,  Korea B. Park,  Korea Y. Takenouchi,  Japan Y. Katsumi,  Japan C. Takayama,  Brazil J. Hatakeyama,  USA M. Jang,  Korea

Women's Division

Women's Team

The following is a summary of medals acquired by country for the Women's Team Division. (5-person team)

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Japan (JPN)7007
2 South Korea (KOR)0606
3 Brazil (BRA)0134
4 Canada (CAN)0044
5 United States (USA)0033
6 Germany (GER)0022
7 Australia (AUS)0011
 Chinese Taipei (TPE)0011
Totals (8 nations)771428

Individual Champions (Women)
Year Final Third Place Top Eight
Winner Runner-up
1997 M. Kimura,  Japan S. Mogi,  Japan W. Nakano,  Canada H.J. Cho,  Korea S. Konishi,  Brazil I. Benkman,  Germany P. Sato,  Brazil S. Kondo,  Japan
2000 T. Kawano,  Japan K. Baba,  Japan H. Yano,  Japan S. Asahina,  Japan S. Konishi,  Brazil E.H. Kwon,  Korea M. Korogi,  Japan H.H. Cho,  Korea
2003 K. Baba,  Japan Y. Tsubota,  Japan S. Asahina,  Japan K. Okada,  Japan N. Soulas,  France M. Onaka,  Brazil Y.J. Park,  Korea C. Shinzato,  Japan
2006 S. Sugimoto,  Japan K. Komuro,  Japan E. Inagaki,  Japan M. Shimokawa,  Japan M. Hayashi,  Canada A. Byeon,  Korea A. Sipos,  Hungary Y. Park,  Korea
2009 Y. Takami,  Japan S. Shojima,  Japan C. Shinzato,  Japan E. Takashina,  Brazil M. Livolsi,  Italy Y. Lee,  Korea M. Hamanaka,  Canada M. Raitanen,  Finland
2012 S. Sakuma,  Japan K. Kurokawa,  Japan S. Shodai,  Japan K. Kawagoe,  Japan S. Park,  Korea S. Tamura,  USA K. Jeon,  Korea H. Yu,  Korea
2015 M. Matsumoto,  Japan Y.Y. Hu,  Korea B.K. Won,  Korea Y. Takami,  Japan S. Woude,  Netherlands M. Kawagoe,  Japan F. Smout,  Netherlands H. Yamada,  Canada
2018 M. Matsumoto,  Japan M. Yamamoto,  Japan M. Senoo,  Japan M. Fujimoto,  Japan A. Akyla,  Greece H. Lee,  Korea N. Chun,  Hawaii S. Woude,  Netherlands

WKC Host Countries

The following is a list of the host countries of the World Kendo Championships.

Number Year Location
1st 1970  Japan, Tokyo
2nd 1973  United States, Los Angeles
3rd 1976  United Kingdom,  England, Milton Keynes
4th 1979  Japan, Sapporo
5th 1982  Brazil, São Paulo
6th 1985  France, Paris
7th 1988  South Korea, Seoul
8th 1991  Canada, Toronto
9th 1994  France, Paris
10th 1997  Japan, Kyoto
11th 2000  United States, Santa Clara
12th 2003  United Kingdom,  Scotland, Glasgow
13th 2006  Chinese Taipei, Taipei
14th 2009  Brazil, São Paulo
15th 2012  Italy, Novara
16th 2015  Japan, Tokyo
17th 2018  South Korea, Incheon
18th 2021  France, Paris

See also

References
  1. "World Kendo Championship".
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