| Event: | World Kendo Championships |
| Venue: | Forum di Milano |
| Location: | Milan, Italy |
| Dates: | July 4th - 7th 2024 |
| Champions: | Current Individual Champions |
| Men: | Keita Hoshiko |
| Women: | Mihiro Kondo |
The World Kendo Championship is an international kendo competition contested by the member nations of the International Kendo Federation (FIK). The championships have been conducted every three years since the inception in 1970. The host of the tournament usually rotates in order through the three FIK administrative regions of Asia, the Americas and Europe (the canceled 2021 tournament and the 2024 tournament were both in Europe).
The competition is divided into four divisions: Men's Individual, Women's Individual, Men's Team, Women's Team. Team matches are individual matches between five members from each team where each member competes in 1 round.
Until 2006, Japan had never lost a championship in any of the four divisions, when the Japanese men's team lost to the USA in the semi-final, with South Korea winning in the final.[1] Previously other teams had come close, such as South Korea (1997, 2003) and Canada (2000). In the individual divisions, South Koreans are appearing more often in the semi-finals and final.
There is an opinion in Japan that this tournament is not of the same caliber as the All Japan Kendo Championship or the All Japan Police Kendo Championship. The argument being that there is a distinct qualitative difference in the playing level and style of nationalities where Japanese people lived or immigrated to before WW2, and countries that began practicing Kendo post-war. Another opinion is that the level of non-Japanese referees is not of high enough caliber for matches to be judged fairly. In order to offset this, mandatory international referee seminars are organized by the International Kendo Federation with high-ranking Japanese Kendo officials as lecturers.
On 4 September 2020, FIK postponed the 18th championships (18WKC), originally scheduled for May 2021, to a later date, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was then cancelled on 20 February 2021[2]
The 19th World Kendo Championships (19WKC) was held in Milan, Italy from 4-7 July 2024.[3] [4]
The following is a summary of medals acquired by country for the Men's Team Division.
| Year | Final | Third Place | Top Eight | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=12% | Winner | width=12% | Runner-up | |||||
| 1970 | M. Kobayashi, | T. Toda, | T. Yaniguchi, | T. Ota, | ||||
| 1973 | T. Sakuragi, | H. Yano, | T. Fujita, | J.R. Rhee, | ||||
| 1976 | E. Yokoo, | K. Ono, | K. Hosoda, | C. Wu, | Kawase, | Arima, | Sato, | Ito, |
| 1979 | H. Yamada, | K. Furukawa, | H. Aikawa, | K. Terada, | S. Kim, | S. Nakauchi, | S. Suzuki, | K. Koh, |
| 1982 | M. Makita, | T. Kosaka, | W. Okajima, | H. Yasugahira, | J.W. Lee, | R. Kaneshiro, | H.G. Jang, | M. Grivas, |
| 1985 | K. Koda, | H. Ogawa, | J.C. Park, | K.N. Kim, | Johnson, | Komatsu, | Umeyama, | Ujiie, |
| 1988 | I. Okido, | A. Hayashi, | H. Sakata, | K.N. Kim, | J.H. Lee, | M. Ishizuka, | J.K. Kim, | R. Kishikawa, |
| 1991 | S. Muto, | H. Sakata, | M. Yamamoto, | S. Shimizu, | E. Ohara, | C.S. Oh, | W. Huh, | M. Miyazaki, |
| 1994 | H. Takahashi, | K. Takei, | S. Hirano, | N. Eiga, | Y.C. Park, | T. Davidson, | Y. Okamoto, | T. Nabeyama, |
| 1997 | M. Miyazaki, | F. Miyazaki, | T. Ishida, | S.S. Park, | J.S. Yang, | Y.Y. Liu, | T. Terachi, | J.P. Labru, |
| 2000 | N. Eiga, | K. Takenaka, | T. Someya, | S.S. Hong, | S. Asaoka, | C. Yang, | H. Hirata, | C.Y. Kim, |
| 2003 | H. Sato, | H. Iwasa, | M. Sato, | K. Lim, | M. Salonen, | K. Ando, | C. Yang, | S.S. Park, |
| 2006 | M. Hojo, | T. Tanaka, | S. Kang, | G. Oh, | S. Kamata, | C. Cheng, | S. Harada, | G. Sicart, |
| 2009 | S. Teramoto, | B. Park, | K. Lee, | C. Choi, | K. Smith, | D. Wako, | T. Furusawa, | J. Brown, |
| 2012 | S. Takanabe, | W. Kim, | T. Kim, | K. Furukawa, | J. Bertout, | T.A. Hoang, | K. Hatakenaka, | C. Tange, |
| 2015 | T. Amishiro, | Y. Takenouchi, | M. Jang, | H. Nishimura, | J. Bertout, | K. Bosak, | R. Murase, | J. Jo, |
| 2018 | S. Ando, | J. Jo, | B. Park, | Y. Takenouchi, | Y. Katsumi, | C. Takayama, | J. Hatakeyama, | M. Jang, |
| 2024 | K. Hoshiko, | K. Matsuzaki, | S. Ohira, | K. Kimura, | A. Kishikawa, | K. Rukas, | J. Wright, | J. Williams, |
The following is a summary of medals acquired by country for the Women's Team Division. (5-person team)
| Year | Final | Third Place | Top Eight | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=13% | Winner | width=13% | Runner-up | |||||
| 1997 | M. Kimura, | S. Mogi, | W. Nakano, | H.J. Cho, | S. Konishi, | I. Benkman, | P. Sato, | S. Kondo, |
| 2000 | T. Kawano, | K. Baba, | H. Yano, | S. Asahina, | S. Konishi, | E.H. Kwon, | M. Korogi, | H.H. Cho, |
| 2003 | K. Baba, | Y. Tsubota, | S. Asahina, | K. Okada, | N. Soulas, | M. Onaka, | Y.J. Park, | C. Shinzato, |
| 2006 | S. Sugimoto, | K. Komuro, | E. Inagaki, | M. Shimokawa, | M. Hayashi, | A. Byeon, | A. Sipos, | Y. Park, |
| 2009 | Y. Takami, | S. Shojima, | C. Shinzato, | E. Takashina, | M. Livolsi, | Y. Lee, | M. Hamanaka, | M. Raitanen, |
| 2012 | S. Sakuma, | K. Kurokawa, | S. Shodai, | K. Kawagoe, | S. Park, | S. Tamura, | K. Jeon, | H. Yu, |
| 2015 | M. Matsumoto, | Y.Y. Hu, | B.K. Won, | Y. Takami, | S. Woude, | M. Kawagoe, | F. Smout, | H. Yamada, |
| 2018 | M. Matsumoto, | M. Yamamoto, | M. Senoo, | M. Fujimoto, | A. Akyla, | H. Lee, | N. Chun, | S. Woude, |
| 2024 | M. Kondo, | M. Suenaga, | M. Sato, | M. Senoo, | K. Kishikawa, | B. Park, | M. Fisher | K. Tada, |
The following is a list of the host countries of the World Kendo Championships.
| Number | Year | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1970 |  Japan, Tokyo | |
| 2nd | 1973 |  United States, Los Angeles | |
| 3rd | 1976 |  United Kingdom,, Milton Keynes | |
| 4th | 1979 | Japan, Sapporo | |
| 5th | 1982 |  Brazil, São Paulo | |
| 6th | 1985 |  France, Paris | |
| 7th | 1988 | , Seoul | |
| 8th | 1991 |  Canada, Toronto | |
| 9th | 1994 | France, Paris | |
| 10th | 1997 | Japan, Kyoto | |
| 11th | 2000 | United States, Santa Clara | |
| 12th | 2003 | United Kingdom,, Glasgow | |
| 13th | 2006 | , Taipei | |
| 14th | 2009 | Brazil, São Paulo | |
| 15th | 2012 |  Italy, Novara | |
| 16th | 2015 | Japan, Tokyo | |
| 17th | 2018 | , Incheon | |
| 18th | 2021 | France, Paris. Cancelled, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. | |
| 19th | 2024 | Italy, Milan | |
| 20th | 2027 | Japan, Tokyo |
See main article: world championships.