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Welcome |
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  Welcome to the home page of the Yokota Air Base Kendo Club. We are located in Fussa City, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan on United States Air Force Base Yokota. We are a sub-unit of Keitenkan Dojo in Akishima City. Our membership is mostly made up of US military members, US civilians, their families, and Japanese staff at the base and their families. We do have, and welcome members from outside the base community as well. The head instructor Yokota and Keitenkan is Kazuto Mirua, kendo 7th-dan kyoshi, iaido 4th-dan. He is chairman of the Akishima City Kendo Federation.
Although we are part of the US base community, we are governed solely by the All Japan Kendo Federation (AJKF). We participate in tournaments and undertake promotion testing just as members of any Japanese club do and our ranks are officially recognized by the AJKF. The kendo we teach is for the most part basic. Our goal is to provide enough training and good memories of kendo that our members will overcome the unique scheduling issues military life presents and actually seek to continue training after completing their assignment at Yokota. This site is always a work in progress. Please regard it as such and bear with us as we strive to make improvements. If you have any questions, please use the links at left to contact us. |
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Brief History Of Kendo |
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Swords first came into common use around 400A.D. in Japan. At this time they were not the complexly constructed, delicately curved blade we associate with Japan today. They were primitive straight blades used for simple cuts and thrusts.
Around the same time is recorded use of the bokken as a weapon. The bokken is made of extremely hard wood and meant to as closely as possible match the size, shape, and weight of a metal sword. We still use the bokken or bokuto in kendo today when we practice the kata.
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Club History |
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Founded on April 4th, 1992 the Yokota Kendo Club is both the longest continuously running martial arts club in the history of Yokota Air Base and the only on-base entity that maintains ongoing community relations with Akishima City. Part of the base property is incorporated into Akishima.
The club is part of the Akishima Kendo Federation, which is in turn part of the Akishima City Sports Federation. The federation is strongly supported by members of the local government and civic leaders. Many of the local government leadership are directly involved both in practicing kendo and managing the federation’s activities. Further, the Yokota Kendo Club is actually a branch of Keitenkan Dojo which is owned by the Ito family and lies within the family estate in Akishima. Mr. Ito has been active in kendo, iai, is an accomplished artist and author as well as the former mayor of Akishima.
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