Our History

The Harvard-Radcliffe Kendo Club was founded in 1990 by a group of Harvard students with a shared interest in the kendo manga, Orewa Teppei, by Tetsuya Chiba. Thanks to the efforts of the club's lifetime director, Masaru Mori, the club forged many connections with universities and sensei in Japan. The club continues to have a strong relationship with our sensei in Japan with annual visits - both in Cambridge and in Tokyo - and a summer gasshuku (bootcamp) in Japan each summer. The club also enjoys close ties with its alumni association, founded in 2000, with alumni around the world coming twice a year to support the students for alumni weekend and Shoryuhai. Shoryuhai is the largest intercollegiate kendo tournament in the US, hosted annually by the club, featuring competitors from all around the US and Canada, and at times even the UK and Germany.