Atarashii Naginata (Modern Naginata)
なぎなたModern sport naginata developed after the war by the All Japan Naginata Federation. Bouts are fought in protective armor, and besides kendo targets the shins are also struck.
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Training
Organisation & Competition
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About Atarashii Naginata (Modern Naginata)
Atarashii naginata is the modern sport form of Japanese combat with the naginata. The English-language website of the All Japan Naginata Federation states that after the postwar ban on martial arts was lifted, the new modern sport martial art atarashii naginata arose, drawing on the long tradition of the naginata. The federation itself and the Nipponica encyclopedia date its founding to 1955, the Heibonsha encyclopedia and Britannica to 1954.
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Ellis Amdur writes in the encyclopedia Martial Arts of the World (2001) that during the war some naginata teachers, notably Sakakida Yaeko, created with the Ministry of Education a set of kata adopted in 1943. According to him, after the first tournament of the All Japan Kendo Federation in 1953, Sakakida and the leading teachers of Tendo-ryu and Jikishin Kage-ryu agreed to found a federation and adopted the ministry's set as the standard with only minor changes. Competition has two disciplines. In shiai, the bout in armor, the federation says the targets are the head, wrist, trunk, shins and, with a thrust, the throat. In engi, the demonstration, a pair without armor performs set forms and five judges evaluate it. According to Nipponica, the practice naginata has a bamboo blade and oak shaft and measures 2.1 to 2.25 m. According to Britannica, the naginata has been part of girls' physical education since 1936. After the war, according to the federation's chronicle, it returned to schools as an after-school club. Today it is a discipline of the national sports games and high school games, and world championships have been held since 1995.
History
The Heibonsha encyclopedia states that Dai Nippon Butokukai established a naginata department in 1904 and that instruction at schools peaked in the years 1935 to 1944. According to Britannica, the naginata has been part of girls' physical education since 1936. Nipponica writes that in 1940 Dai Nippon Butokukai, on the basis of the Jikishin Kage-ryu and Tendo-ryu schools, set the basic movements, and the Ministry of Education then introduced a uniform naginata for girls' secondary schools and elementary schools. After the war, school instruction was banned entirely.
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Ellis Amdur writes in the encyclopedia Martial Arts of the World (2001) that during the war some naginata teachers, above all Sakakida Yaeko, created together with the Ministry of Education the set Mombusho seitei kata, adopted in 1943, in which the naginata faces the naginata. According to him, after the first tournament of the All Japan Kendo Federation in 1953, Sakakida and the leading teachers of Tendo-ryu and Jikishin Kage-ryu agreed to found a federation and adopted the ministry's set as the standard with only minor changes. In its own chronicle the federation states that in 1953 a committee for the revival of the naginata, banned by the occupation administration, was formed, in April 1954 a committee for teaching materials, which worked on restoring the school naginata as a sport, and that in May 1955 the federation became independent of the All Japan Kendo Federation and was constituted. Its first chair was a former marchioness. Nipponica gives Kyoto as the place of founding. Heibonsha and Britannica give the year 1954. The first Japan championship was held in April 1956 and until the third edition in 1958 it was organized by the kendo federation. In 1968 the federation became a foundation. The Ministry of Education approved naginata clubs for girls at lower and upper secondary schools as suitable by a circular in December 1959.
How it differs
According to the Heibonsha encyclopedia, naginata differs from kendo mainly in adding the shins to the strikes to the head, wrist and trunk and to the thrust. Ellis Amdur writes in the encyclopedia Martial Arts of the World that the competition weapon with a split bamboo blade similar to the kendo shinai is light and flexible and allows movements impossible with a real naginata, and that competition techniques began to differ from the techniques of the old schools. What one trains against has changed too. The Japanese Wikipedia, referring to an article in a specialist budo journal from 1976, states that before the Second World War naginata was practised against the sword, whereas today it is naginata against naginata. Of the old schools, according to Heibonsha, the main ones today are Tendo-ryu and Jikishin Kage-ryu. Amdur states that many teachers of the old schools joined the modern federation and taught both, but few students wanted to practise the old kata, leading to the decline of most old traditions.
Technique
According to the Heibonsha encyclopedia, the naginata is typified by rapid alternation of left and right grip. Techniques include cutting, swinging, upward swinging, thrusting, thrusting with the butt end ishizuki, striking and parrying. Changing grip, according to the same article, freely changes the distance from the opponent. The federation states that good distance and timing decide whether a hit succeeds. A valid hit must, according to it, land with the front part of the blade monouchi, about 15 cm from the tip, with correct posture, at a suitable moment, with spirit and zanshin. Ellis Amdur in the encyclopedia Martial Arts of the World describes atarashii naginata as a combination of two elements, kata and shiai bouts, and critically likens the bouts to imitating kendo competitions, where heavily protected opponents score on set targets.
Training
According to the Nipponica encyclopedia, the practice and competition naginata has a bamboo blade and an oak shaft and measures 2.1 to 2.25 m. Japanese Wikipedia gives a minimum weight of 650 g and a blade of two bamboo strips fastened to the shaft with white tape. The equipment resembles that of kendo, but the federation describes the differences. The kote gloves are divided into three parts so that regripping is easy. The sune-ate shin guards protect the knee, shin and ankle and are worn over the hakama. The helmet differs from that in kendo because in the stance only the head turns, its flap is shorter and the materials lighter, since according to the federation it is used mostly by women. In 1975 the federation presented five forms of kata of its own and in 1977 seven were completed. Since 2002 they have been called Zen Nihon naginata no kata. Nipponica states that the federation set a uniform set of seven forms derived from old schools.
Ranks and progression
The tasks of the All Japan Naginata Federation include awarding titles and dan grades and training and qualifying instructors. The federation's chronicle says a committee for awarding titles was formed in 1957. In 1962 a change of rules introduced grades up to tenth dan, and in 1973 grades from sixth dan up were abolished. The chronicle mentions the titles kyoshi and renshi and states that from 2001 training in the federation kata extended from holders of these titles to holders of fourth and fifth dan as well. We have not yet been able to trace the current examination rules with intervals between grades.
Competition
Per the federation, competition has two disciplines. In shiai in armour, set targets are hit: the head from the front and sides, both wrists, both sides of the trunk, the outer and inner sides of both shins, and the throat by a thrust. Bouts are fought on a 12 by 12 m area to three points, the first to score two wins, and a bout lasts three minutes with one two-minute extension, for categories over 60 the bout lasts two minutes and the extension one minute. Three referees with a red and a white flag decide, and a point counts when at least two agree. Stepping over the boundary with the whole foot or dropping the naginata is a foul, and two fouls give the opponent a point.
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In engi demonstration, a pair without armour performs set forms. Five referees judge it by flags and majority vote, watching among other things posture, clothing, conduct, voice, accuracy and spirit of the strikes, and the impression on spectators. According to the chronicle, the first engi competition was held in July 1971. The Japanese Wikipedia says that the pair performs three of eight forms and the selection changes every year. According to the federation, naginata has been an official discipline of the national sports games since 1983 and of the high school games since 1997. The International Naginata Federation was founded in December 1990 and the first world championship was held in July 1995 in Tokyo. According to the chronicle, later ones were held in Paris, San José, Brussels, Himeji, Montreal and Wiesbaden, and it is held every four years.
Today
The All Japan Naginata Federation is based in Itami in Hyogo Prefecture and has been a public interest foundation since April 2013. It states that naginata has been introduced into clubs at lower secondary schools and at upper secondary schools and that it takes part in the national sports games and the high school games. The 2017 curriculum for lower secondary school lists naginata among the budo that may be taught, as earlier editions already did. The federation organises, among others, the Japan championship, the Japan men's championship, the prefectural competition, the students' championship and the nationwide competition of lower secondary pupils. The first Japan men's championship was held in December 2001 and since 2019 men also compete in the prefectural team competition. The federation states naginata is popular among men abroad. The world championship is organised by the International Naginata Federation once every four years. The chronicle of the All Japan Naginata Federation gives Wiesbaden in 2019 as the seventh edition. According to the chronicle, the Japanese team won the overall ranking in 1999, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019, and in 2003 did not compete due to the SARS epidemic.
Did you know
Sources disagree on where the name naginata first appears. The All Japan Naginata Federation on its English website cites the chronicle Kojiki of 712 and, as the first account of combat use, Oshu Gosannenki of 1086. The Heibonsha encyclopedia regards as the first attestation of the word a mention in the chronicle Honcho seiki for 1146. They also disagree on why the name is written in the syllabic script hiragana instead of characters. Ellis Amdur states that the federation wanted to express a break with the past. The federation's chronicle states that the Ministry of Education recommended hiragana to it in October 1958 when approving school teaching material. In 1995 the Japan naginata championship received the Empress's Cup.
Frequently asked questions
How does the naginata differ from kendo?
Bouts are fought with a naginata 2.1 to 2.25 m long, and to the hits on the head, wrist and trunk and the thrust to the throat the shins are added. The equipment includes shin guards.
When did the modern naginata arise?
According to its own chronicle, the All Japan Naginata Federation was constituted in May 1955, while Heibonsha and Britannica give the year 1954. Ellis Amdur states that the federation adopted the set of kata that the Ministry of Education adopted in 1943.
How does competition in naginata work?
In two disciplines. In the armored bout shiai, the winner is whoever first scores two points out of three, in the engi demonstration five judges evaluate a pair without armor.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.