ABSTRACT
Martial arts were the first forms of native physical activity to become sports in Japan. The creation of swordsmanship as a cultural art in the seventeenth century established a precedent for teachers of other combat skills to transform their technical know-how into professionalized and commercialized art forms. The dominant narrative regarding the development of swordsmanship from the late sixteenth century to the end of the Tokugawa period and commoner's involvement in swordsmanship. Martial arts and swordsmanship styles, practised differently by different warrior status groups, had an inverse relationship between cultural capital value and combat efficacy. The development of fencing, especially competitive fencing among different swordsmanship styles represented a watershed moment in the relationship among people of different statuses. The commoner swordsmanship boom began with decrees in 1721 and 1733 that allowed landed samurai' to use surnames and carry swords which led to a dramatic rise in the number of landed samurai wanting to learn swordsmanship.
