CIK - CONFEDERAZIONE ITALIANA KENDO

OUR STORY, OUR WAY
KENDO IN ITALY

The Italian Kendo Confederation (CIK) is responsible for promoting the disciplines of Kendo, Iaido, and Jodo in our territory, as a permanent member and Italian representative to the International Kendo Federation (FIK – SportAccord member) and the European Kendo Federation (EKF).

The Honorary President of the Italian Kendo Confederation, Dr. Gianfranco Moretti, is a permanent member of the Board of Directors of the International Kendo Federation.

Kendo in Italy took its first steps in the early 1970s with the birth of groups of practitioners mainly coming from other martial arts disciplines.

The first organization to be structured in the national territory was the AIK, founded in 1973, which obtained recognition from the European Federation in the same year. Other federations were born thereafter following a gradual increase in the number of practitioners.

In March 1988, FeNIKe also established itself as a major federation regarding presence on the territory and number of Kendo practitioners.

In the same year, the CIK (Italian Kendo Confederation) was founded as the result of an agreement and collaboration between FeNIKe (Italian National Kendo Federation) and AIK (Italian Kendo Association). This new organization was initially founded as a confederation, with the explicit aim of uniting the different Italian practitioners under a single flag and organization.

On May 25, 1988, at the EKF Assembly held in Seoul on the occasion of the World Championships, the CIK was officially recognized as the representative and Italian referent for the disciplines of Kendo, Iaido, and Jodo.

From 1988 to the present day, the CIK has grown significantly. For several years, it has maintained the original structure with two autonomous organizations that carried out their own activities and planned their respective calendars. Increasingly sharing activities, the continuous exchange of experiences  and the desire to practice together for the development of the discipline have led to a gradual uniformity of behaviors, views, and objectives.

Therefore, the Confederation has slowly but progressively become a single organization. Given this new situation, the management groups of AIK and FeNIKe eventually decided to create a new organization that would maintain the name of the origins but have a new legal form and represent the unified reality that Italian Kendo had now assumed. On February 3, 2003, with a Constituent Assembly, the CIK ceased to perform its original function and transformed itself into the Federation that it still is today.

At the international level, despite the initial internal divisions and the delayed development compared to leading nations (France, Germany, and Great Britain), the CIK today is considered one of the pillars of the European Kendo Federation, displaying an example of organizational aptitude as repeatedly demonstrated in the organization of numerous international events (seminars, European championships of Kendo, Iaido and Jodo, and World Kendo Championships).

As proof of all this, the CIK is preparing to repeat its prestigious commitment by hosting the 19th World Kendo Championships in 2024, at the Mediolanum Forum in Assago, Milan, after having excellently organized the 15th World Championships in Novara in 2012.

ITALIAN PALMARES