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Aiki-ken
Aiki-ken (Kanji: 合気剣 Hiragana: あいきけん) is the name given specifically to the set of Japanese sword techniques practiced according to the principles of aikido, taught first by Morihei Ueshiba (aikido's founder), then further developed by Morihiro Saito, one of Ueshiba's most prominent students. Currently, Iwama Shin-Shin Aiki Shuren-kai is the main proponent organization. Development Much of the aiki-ken syllabus was developed by Morihei Ueshiba (植芝 盛平 ''Ueshiba Morihei'', 1883–1969) at his dojo in Iwama, Japan, at the same time he developed aikido's staff training (called ''aiki-jō''). It is well documented that Ueshiba studied several different styles of ''kenjutsu'' (Japanese swordsmanship), but the aiki-ken techniques are predominantly based upon the teachings of the Kashima Shintō-ryu. The practice of aiki-ken is not pervasive. Some schools of aikido incorporate weapons training that is unrelated to aiki-ken, and others forego weapons trai ...
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Suburi
is a Japanese word for practice swings used in sports such as baseball, tennis, golf, and in martial arts. Outside Japan, the word is used exclusively for repetitive individual cutting exercises used in Japanese martial arts such as kendo, aikido, iaidō, and kenjutsu. Often a shinai (for kendo), bokken, suburitō, or even tanren bō are used. An iaitō or shinken can also be used, albeit rarely. Some common types (these can vary between styles): ; : holding the weapon with only the left hand (which is supposed to be used as the power hand) ; : rapid suburi where you cut on the forward motion and assume jodan on the return motion, feet should glide on the floor. Sometimes called choyaku-men ; : incorporating a coordinated jumping like movement with the strike ; : strikes with back swings that almost touch ones lower back and forward swings which almost touch the floor ; : alternating diagonal strikes, cutting across the opponent's torso, starting with a cut to the left ; : stri ...
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Bokken
A ''bokken'' (, , 'wood', and ''ken'', '(double-edged) sword') or ''bokutō'' (, , 'wood', and ''tō'', '(single-edged) sword') is a Japanese wooden sword used for training in kenjutsu. It is usually the size and shape of a ''katana'', but is sometimes shaped like other swords, such as the ''wakizashi'' and '' tantō''. Some ornamental ''bokken'' are decorated with mother-of-pearl work and elaborate carvings. Sometimes, it is spelled "boken" in English. ''Bokken'' are traditionally composed of red oak or white oak, although any hardwood can be used. In comparison, practice swords made of flexible, soft wood such as bamboo are referred to as ''shinai''. History It is hard to determine precisely when the first ''bokken'' appeared due to secrecy in ancient martial arts training and loose record-keeping. While various mock weapons were surely used during the earlier periods of Japanese history, usage of ''bokken'' in their modern form first emerged during the Muromachi Period (1 ...
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Aiki-jō
Aiki-jō (Kanji: 合気杖 Hiragana: あいきじょう) is the name given specifically to the set of martial art techniques practiced with a ''jō'' (a wooden staff about four feet long), according to the principles of aikido. Jō techniques were introduced into aikido by Morihei Ueshiba, aikido's founder,Lowry, D. (1987): ''Jo: Art of the Japanese short staff'' (p. 27). Burbank, CA: Ohara. () and further developed by Morihiro Saito, one of Ueshiba's most prominent students. Development of aiki-jō Much of the aiki-jō syllabus was developed by Morihei Ueshiba (植芝 盛平 ''Ueshiba Morihei'', 1883–1969) at his dojo in Iwama, Ibaraki, Iwama, Japan, at the same time he developed aikido's sword training (called ''aiki-ken''). It is well documented that Ueshiba studied several different styles of martial arts, including the art of the spear (''sōjutsu'') and the modern art of the bayonet or "Jūkendō". The aiki-jō techniques taught by Ueshiba were a distillation and modificat ...
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Waki-gamae
, sometimes shortened to ''waki'', is one of the five stances in kendo: ''jōdan-no-kamae, jōdan'', ''chūdan-no-kamae, chūdan'', ''gedan-no-kamae, gedan'', ''hassō-no-kamae, hassō'' and ''waki'', as well as other related and older martial arts involving Japanese sword. ''Waki-gamae'' is a stance involving the swordsman hiding the length of one's own blade behind their body, only exposing the pommel to the opponent. This stance was common when there was no standard length of sword and was often used as a deterrent to any opponents who did not know the range of the sword being hidden and could be used as a sort of bluff technique. It also serves to conceal the orientation of the blade to one's opponent, as to give him no hint about your own intention for the next attack. Other Koryū schools may define "Waki-gamae" differently from its current form in Kendo. ''Waki-gamae'' is also known as the in the Wuxing (Chinese philosophy), five elements classification and the in the Itt ...
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Jōdan-no-kamae
, also known as ''jōdan-gamae'', and frequently shortened simply to ''jōdan'', is a basic ''kenjutsu'' posture. (It is also found in naginatajutsu but is far less used due to the length of the weapon involved.) Jōdan-no-kamae means upper-level posture (lit. 'high/upper degree posture'). Kendo Jōdan-no-kamae is one of the five stances in kendo: ''jōdan'', '' chūdan'', '' gedan'', '' hassō'' and '' waki''. In jōdan-no-kamae, the sword is raised above the head with the tip (''kissaki''; 切先) pointing back and the blade facing up, in readiness to strike. It is the most aggressive stance of the five. There are commonly two types of jōdan-no-kamae, left (''hidari''; 左) and right (''migi''; 右), referring to which foot is out in front. As a more rare case, only one hand is used to hold the sword. Even rarer, the positions of the hands on the hilt of the sword may be reversed. In normal practice or competitions, left (''hidari'') jōdan-gamae is the most common. Its ...
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Katana
A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge facing upward. Since the Muromachi period, many old ''tachi'' were cut from the root and shortened, and the blade at the root was crushed and converted into a ''katana''. The specific term for ''katana'' in Japan is and the term ''katana'' (刀) often refers to single-edged swords from around the world. Etymology and loanwords The word ''katana'' first appears in Japanese in the ''Nihon Shoki'' of 720. The term is a compound of ''kata'' ("one side, one-sided") + ''na'' ("blade"),1995, (''w:Daijisen, Daijisen'') (in Japanese), w:Tōkyō, Tōkyō: w:Shogakukan, Shogakukan, , entry available onlinhere/span> in contrast to the double-sided ''Tsurugi (sword), tsurugi''. The ''katana'' belongs to the ''nihontō'' family of swords, and is ...
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Kashima Shinto-ryu
Kashima (鹿島) may refer to: Places in Japan *Kashima District, Ibaraki, a district in Ibaraki Prefecture **Kashima, Ibaraki, a city in Ibaraki Prefecture ***Kashima Soccer Stadium **** Kashima Soccer Stadium Station, railway station *** Kashima Power Station *** Kashimajingū Station, railway station ***Kashima-Ōno Station, railway station ***Kashima Shrine, a Shinto shrine *Kashima, Saga, a city in Saga Prefecture ** Hizen-Kashima Station, railway station ** Kashima Gatalympics, an annual sporting event * Kashima, Kumamoto, a town in Kumamoto Prefecture *Kashima, Shimane, a town in Shimane Prefecture * Kashima, Fukushima, a former town in Fukushima Prefecture (now part of Minamisōma, Fukushima) ** Kashima Station (Fukushima), railway station * Kashima District, Ishikawa, a district in Ishikawa Prefecture ** Kashima, Ishikawa, a former town in Ishikawa Prefecture (now part of Nakanoto, Ishikawa) *Kashima, Kagoshima, a former village in Kagoshima Prefecture (now part of Satsuma ...
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Kenjutsu
is an umbrella term for all ('' ko-budō'') schools of Japanese swordsmanship, in particular those that predate the Meiji Restoration. Some modern styles of kendo and iaido that were established in the 20th century also included modern forms of kenjutsu in their curriculum. Kenjutsu, which originated with the samurai class of feudal Japan, means "methods, techniques, and the art of the Japanese sword". This is opposed to kendo, which means "the way of the sword" and uses a bamboo sword ( shinai) and protective armour ( bōgu). The exact activities and conventions undertaken when practicing ''kenjutsu'' vary from school to school, where the word school here refers to the practice, methods, ethics, and metaphysics of a given tradition, yet commonly include practice of battlefield techniques without an opponent and techniques whereby two practitioners perform ''kata'' (featuring full contact strikes to the body in some styles and no body contact strikes permitted in others). Co ...
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Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands—Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu—and List of islands of Japan, thousands of smaller islands, covering . Japan has a population of over 123 million as of 2025, making it the List of countries and dependencies by population, eleventh-most populous country. The capital of Japan and List of cities in Japan, its largest city is Tokyo; the Greater Tokyo Area is the List of largest cities, largest metropolitan area in the world, with more than 37 million inhabitants as of 2024. Japan is divided into 47 Prefectures of Japan, administrative prefectures and List of regions of Japan, eight traditional regions. About three-quarters of Geography of Japan, the countr ...
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Kanji
are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequently-derived Syllabary, syllabic scripts of and . The characters have Japanese pronunciations; most have two, with one based on the Chinese sound. A few characters were invented in Japan by constructing character components derived from other Chinese characters. After the Meiji Restoration, Japan made its own efforts to simplify the characters, now known as , by a process similar to China's simplified Chinese characters, simplification efforts, with the intention to increase literacy among the general public. Since the 1920s, the Japanese government has published character lists periodically to help direct the education of its citizenry through the myriad Chinese characters that exist. There are nearly 3 ...
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Iwama, Ibaraki
was a small town located in Nishiibaraki District, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. On March 19, 2006, Iwama, along with the town of Tomobe (also from Nishiibaraki District), was merged into the expanded city of Kasama. Geography The former town of Iwama is located about 100 km northeast of Tokyo and near the city of Mito. Iwama is at the base of Mt. Atago (愛宕山 Atago-San). Mt. Atago is part of a larger Prefectural Park that extends up towards Kasama. On top of Mt. Atago is a kids' play area with a giant slide (about 150m in length) as well as the Atago shrine (愛宕神社 "Atago Jinja"). Demographics As of 2003, the town had an estimated population of 16,588 and a density of 332.23 persons per km2. The total area was 49.93 km2. Notable residents Iwama is known for having been the residence of Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido, from 1942 until his death. It was during this period that the term "Aikido" came into use. The world's only shrine to Aikido was built h ...
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