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

The World Kendo Championship is an international kendo competition contested by the member nations of the International Kendo Federation (FIK). The championships have been conducted every three years since their inception in 1970. The host of the tournament usually rotates in order through the three FIK administrative regions of Asia, the Americas and Europe.

The competition is divided into four divisions: Men's Individual, Women's Individual, Men's Team, Women's Team. Team matches are individual between five 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 nationalities where Japanese people lived or immigrated to before WW2, and countries that began practicing Kendo post-war. 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.

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.

On 4 September 2020, FIK postponed the 18th championships (18WKC), originally scheduled for May 2021, to a later date, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was then cancelled on 20 February 2021[2]

The next edition of World Kendo Championships (19WKC) will be held in Milan, Italy in 2024.[3][4]

Men's

Team

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

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Japan160117
2 South Korea110314
3 United States02810
4 Brazil0257
 Canada0257
6 Chinese Taipei0167
7 Hawaii0022
 Hungary0022
9 Italy0011
 Okinawa0011
Totals (10 entries)17173468

Individual

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

Team

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

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Japan7007
2 South Korea0606
3 Brazil0134
4 Canada0044
5 United States0033
6 Germany0022
7 Australia0011
 Chinese Taipei0011
Totals (8 entries)771428

Individual

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

Hosts

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  Taiwan, Taipei
14th 2009  Brazil, São Paulo
15th 2012  Italy, Novara
16th 2015  Japan, Tokyo
17th 2018  South Korea, Incheon
18th 2021  France, Paris. Cancelled, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
19th 2024  Italy, Milan

See also

References

  1. "World Kendo Championship".
  2. "Cancellation of the 18th World Kendo Championships (18WKC)".
  3. "Italy to host the 19th World Kendo Championships (19WKC) | FIK". International Kendo Federation (FIK). Retrieved 2022-11-21.
  4. cik (2022-06-30). "All'Italia l'organizzazione dei Campionati del Mondo di Kendo del 2024". CIK - Confederazione Italiana Kendo (in Italian). Retrieved 2022-11-21.
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