The new corona virus infections (COVID-19) is raging around the world.

This disease is transmitted mainly through droplets and physical contact.
This means that, when an infected person coughs or sneezes, droplets containing the virus are expelled from his/her airways; if a third party person inhales them or touches the contaminated area with their hands, the disease is transmitted.

If you however keep a distance of 1.5 to 2 meters from each other, the risk of infection is greatly reduced, since droplets hardly reach to the other person. In addition, with adequate ventilation, the risk of droplet transmission is further reduced.

Therefore, please make every effort to prevent infection by;
– avoiding three C’s (closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings),
– keeping a distance of 1.5 to 2 meters from each other at all times,
– ensuring adequate ventilation,
– washing your hands thoroughly with soap,

In this regard, we introduce you an interesting study by a Dutch-Belgian group, entitled “Why in times of COVID-19 you should not walk/run/bike close behind each other”. It provides a useful information related to Kendo training.

This study examined to what extent the social distance of 1.5 meter is enough or not for two people walking, running, cycling in each other’s vicinity.

They found that a considerable amount of droplets exhaled by a moving person are carried in the slipstream behind this person. To prevent this cloud of droplets, this study advises that, for walking (about 4 km/h), the distance of people moving in the same direction in one line should be at least 5 meters, and for running (about 14.4 km/h), at least 10 meters. The risk of droplet exposure is much reduced, if the two persons are moving side-by-side or in a staggered formation.

In Kendo, practitioners frequently move back and forth and also to the left and right, and shout for Kiai. This will undoubtedly lead to a spreading of a large amount of droplets around him/her. Taking this into the account, we think that the standard social distance of 2 meters is likely insufficient for Kendo, and that this would be particularly so, when multiple people perform Hitori-geiko (solo training) in a confined area.

We would therefore like to point out that there is a considerable risk of infection when multiple members get together for the personal training. We thus advise you to stick to “Hitori-geiko” (solo training) in the meantime. Please be reminded that we should not create a cluster of infections in Kendo. Now, it is the time for patience!

All Japan Kendo Federation
Nobuyuki Miyasaka (Medical Science Committee Chair)
Masayuki Miyasaka (Anti-Doping Committee Chair)

*Belgian-Dutch Study: Why in times of COVID-19 you should not walk/run/bike close to each other.

＊ The image quoted from the above website.