With 2014 being Kendo’s 50th Anniversary year, there is another 50th Anniversary being celebrated – that of the last Olympic Games in Tokyo. As Japan looks forward to hosting the 2020 Olympics, the anniversary of their last Olympics has brought the event to the foreground of awareness, and their significance to Kendo has also been eloquently re-visited in a new article in the Japanese media.

Our good friend in Tokyo, Chris Gould, has written an excellent article about how Yogensha was originally destined for the Tokyo Olympics to represent Great Britain in judo, but, of course, destiny intervened, preventing that, but bringing us the great Kendo Nagasaki instead through the immensely-skilled Yogensha. Chris’s article in the Japan Today online English newspaper re-visits both Kendo’s career in general, and specifically his relationship with Japan.

We were very pleased that Chris was able to come to Kendo’s July Event at The Retreat and soak up some of the Nagasaki atmosphere first-hand, and his experience is clearly reflected in his well-informed and insightful article. Head over to Japan Today to see what’s being said about Kendo in Japan during this important multi-anniversary year.