Which are stronger, girl practitioners of the naginata martial art or boy practitoners of kendo? A match was held between girls with naginata fixed-blade polearms and boys trained in kendo at a school martial arts event at Kagawa Prefecture-run Kotohira High School, where the arts are actively practiced.
In the competition between two five-member teams, with each team member fighting a member of the opposing team in an individual match, special rules were imposed to avoid disadvantages caused by gaps in their physical capacities and the differences between the rules of each sport. Under the special rules, attacks involving intentional body collisions against the opponent and thrusting at the throat with a bamboo sword, which are allowed in kendo, were prohibited.
The girls had won an inter-high school naginata championship and a national athletic meet, and the boy’s kendo club included many strong players. Kendo club members fought with quick movements and a two-sword strategy against the long-handled naginata-wielding girls.
Finally, the boy’s kendo club won with two wins and three draws. Daichi Inagaki, 18, the captain of the kendo club, said, “It was good to jump to get a strike on the head, while being on guard against an attack on the shin.” (211 words)
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