Many traditional martial arts of eastern Asia have spread outside of that region and become very popular. But one martial art that has not gained much traction outside of Japan is jukendo, the art of bayonet fighting.
The bayonet has fallen out of priority in recent years. But its use was once viewed as an essential skill for an infantryman. In the 1840s, inspired by watching Dutch soldiers drilling, Japanese soldiers began training in it. During the Meiji Era, the Japanese armed forces required formal instruction for soldiers. It grew into a martial art called jukendo or juken-jutsu, which means “the way of the bayonet.”
As the Japanese Empire expanded during the early Twentieth Century, so did the prominence of jukendo. During World War II, the Japanese government systemized the mass training of the students in jukendo.
The Allied occupiers banned jukendo after 1945, but the ban was lifted in 1950. Perhaps 40,000 people in Japan practice jukendo under the governance of the All Japan Jukendo Federation. Most are members or veterans of the Japanese Self Defense Forces. Jukendo still carries an association with Japan’s militarism of a past era, making it controversial in modern times.
In the above video, you can watch a demonstration of this unique martial art with training implements that are shaped to resemble rifles with fixed bayonets.
Sources:
Bennett, Alexander C.. Kendo : Culture of the Sword, University of California Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central.
“Children Learn Ancient Art of the Bayonet.” Dominion Post, 15 Apr. 2017, p. B3. EBSCOhost.
“Roundup: Japan’s New Education Guidelines Condemned for Adding Wartime Military Training Item.” Philippines News Agency, 3 Apr. 2017. EBSCOhost.
-via reddit
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