Kate Sylvester Perspectives

Stockholm Women’s Kendo Camp (November 21-22, 2026)

Led by two highly experienced instructors with national‑team coaching, international seminar teaching, high‑level refereeing, and World Kendo Championship achievements, this camp offers top‑level training in an inclusive setting.

The camp centres women (cis and trans) and non‑binary practitioners—groups often underrepresented in kendo. Participants of all genders are welcome, provided they support the event’s focus on creating an empowering space for self‑identifying women and non‑binary kendoka.

We intentionally foreground women to challenge the historical and ongoing marginalisation of women in sport and martial arts, and to promote a culture where women and gender‑diverse practitioners are recognised as athletes, leaders, coaches, and officials. Join us for a safe, supportive, and inspiring weekend of kendo.

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New Publications

Journal Article

Sylvester, K. (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.

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Book Chapter

Sylvester, K. (2026). Women student-athletes’ perceptions on life skills and careers through higher-education sport in Japan. In H. Pielichaty, P. Velija, C. Phipps, & N. Dickerson (Eds.), Sport, higher education and critical pedagogies (pp. 169–180). Routledge.

This chapter examines how university sport shapes the identities, aspirations, and future opportunities of women student-athletes in Japan. Based on fieldwork and a survey of 240 athletes within 7 clubs (kendo, judo, dance, basketball, handball, softball, and cheerleading) at a leading sport university in Japan, the study shows that women view university club sport as important for developing leadership, teamwork, confidence, social networks, and career-related life skills. However, findings and literature suggests that the ambitions and capabilities women develop through university sport are not always fully supported by the broader social and institutional systems that remain somewhat gendered.

Book

Sylvester, K. (2023). Women and Martial Art in Japan. ASAA Women in Asia Series, Routledge.

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.