The Most Important Swordsmen of Early 20th Century Japan, Takano, Sasaburō Foundational Work Kendo Instruction Manuals Kendō Kyōhon, 1931

Takano Sasaburo. Kendō Kyōhon

First Edition

Takano, Sasaburō. Kendō Kyōhon (Kendo Manual). Tokyo: Sanshodo, 1931. One volume. First edition. Text in Japanese. Illustrated with instructional halftone photographs and plates demonstrating formal kata, stances, sword handling, and Itto-ryū lineage forms. Original tan paper wrappers with yellow and black printed ornamentation. 122 pages. 8vo. A foundational Kendo manual by Sasaburō Takano, one of the most important swordsmen of the early 20th century and remembered in Japan as a “Sword-Saint” (Kensei) of the Shōwa period. Takano, born at the end of the Edo period, entered Ono-ha Ittō-ryū training at the age of three and, according to traditional accounts, could perform all fifty-six kata by age five. His elite identity as both a hereditary swordsman and a leading pedagogue of national martial culture made him central to the modernization of Kendo. In 1911, he served as one of the five senior masters who codified the modern national Kata, anchoring prewar Kendo in recognizable, standardized forms still used in Japan today. This book documents his Itto-ryū lineage as well as his role bridging samurai kenjutsu and state-sponsored Kendo curriculum during the militarizing interwar period.

This manual offers a dense, highly technical training sequence across nearly 100 pages of Japanese text. Interspersed halftone photographs show Takano’s formal postures and two-person kata sets, including paired demonstrations of shomen-uchi, kote, thrusts, and advanced cutting trajectories.The manual covers footwork, targeting, guard transitions, grip, breathing, etiquette, and Ittō-ryū tactical principles, serving both as technical reference and ideological text for a generation of practitioners who trained during Japan’s rapidly intensifying militarism. For scholars of Japanese martial culture, weapon arts transmission, and early 20th-century state pedagogy, the set represents a rare primary-source teaching document by one of the most influential figures in modern Kendo. Some wear and staining to covers; occasional minor foxing to a few pages; pages mostly clean. Internally sound, with photographic plates clean and bold. Overall good condition. An exceptionally scarce two-volume first edition by one of modern Kendo’s key architects, documenting the transition from classical Edo-period sword traditions into standardized national martial practice.

Item #22889

Price: $470.00