Will Kendo ever be an Olympic sport?
I don’t know the answer, but my Japanese sensei said that in Japan they don’t want kendo to be an olympic sport because kendo is not a sport, it is a martial art. Judo, after entering olympics, lost its traditional roots and became diluted. They don’t want this to happen with kendo. Kendo contains traditional rituals and requires the continuous cultivation of a martial state of mind which seperates it from a regular sports activity. It takes many years for non-Japanese to even begin to understand what kendo is even if they are instructed by Japanese people. If it is made an Olympic sport, competition will be given more importance than the true aim of kendo. It will surely degenerate.
