This platform centres the voices and visibility of women (both trans and cis) and non‑binary practitioners within martial arts and combat sports (MACS). Contributions celebrate those featured while also challenging the dominant norms and mythmaking that sustain inequality and compromise practitioner physical and psychological safety in MACS. The site advocates for more just, inclusive, and accountable MACS communities.
Kate Sylvester
Author | Researcher | Coach | Kendoka
New Publications
Journal Article
Kate Sylvester (2023) Resilience Building Pedagogies and Women’s University Club Sport in Japan, Asian Journal of Sport History & Culture, 2:3, 296-317.
Abstract: Anglophone studies on school club sport (undō bukatsudō 運動部活動) in Japan commonly consider sport as cultural fields that reproduce hegemonic masculinity and ‘traditional’ notions of femininity. This study suggests that school club sport for women in Japan is more diverse and complex than what the dominant symbolic level gender ideological frameworks imply. This article is based on a broader embodied ethnographic project that examines how university club kendo contributes to the construction of women’s identity via member relationships and sport’s cultural learning.
Book
Women and Martial Art in Japan
Kate Sylvester (2023)
This book, based on extensive original research, examines the practice by women in a university sport setting of kendo, the Japanese martial art. The book illustrates an unexplored example of identity construction in Japan, one which legitimises women’s sport experiences within a male-centric physical culture, unpacks the notion of “tradition” in kendo.
Latest Posts
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“From Korea to the Global Stage: A Brief Overview of Women and Kumdo in Korea” by Kate Sylvester
From Korea to the Global Stage: A Brief Overview of Women and Kumdo in Korea by Kate Sylvester. Published in Fine Ladies Kendo Worldwide magazine (Volume 8, 2026). Behind Korea’s fierce international rivalry with Japan and the remarkable success of its women’s national team lies a vibrant community of women and girls practicing kumdo in…
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Guest Essay: “Relics” by Rosie Ogle (she/her) Wales.
We found ourselves in a cramped room, the air heavy with frankincense. The relics of St. Basil were shrouded, oiled, and watched over by an Orthodox monk who took one look at me and my husband and knew we were out of place. ‘You speak Serbian?’ he asked sternly. ‘No,’ I said, with the usual…
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The 34th European Kendo Championships with Viktorie Eichlerová (Czech Republic).
Foreword by Kate Sylvester. Chiming into the current status of the world, where democracy is under pressure and political and social issues continue to shape our societies, the European Kendo Championships (EKC) also reflects how world politics can impact kendo. Kendo practitioners are citizens of the world, and while we share the same practice, we…
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Kate Sylvester Perspectives 