This photo essay documents Tokyo’s remarkable youth kendo dojos

When Bristolian photographer Theo Cottle first travelled to Japan in late 2022, he went in search of the yakuza. Scouting for subjects, he travelled the length of the country shooting the ageing gangsters in all their heavily tattooed, menacing glory. Seven weeks later, he’d collected enough shots for a photo essay: 893 Yakuza: The Setting Sun.

But Theo wasn’t done. After he wrapped up that project, he went in search of its second chapter, one that felt diametrically opposed to the last. He settled on youth kendo, a Japanese martial art derived from samurai swordsmanship training that places great emphasis on ritual and discipline.

Going from dojo to dojo in and around Tokyo, Theo watched kids as young as four carry out time-worn rituals and fighting routines with bamboo swords, taken aback by their restraint and stillness. ​“I was gripped by it,” he says, calling from his home in London. ​“A lot of sports are based on aggression, but in kendo, you learn to act with intention, not impulse. It’s about harnessing an energy, not letting those emotions spill over.”

Kendo plays a large role in the lives of Japanese children. Often, they sign up for it as an extracurricular activity or it’s taught in school as part of a PE programme. It’s also a part of Japan’s police training programme, alongside judo and arresting techniques. ​“The first project I shot was all about chaos and disorder. This felt very order-led,” Theo says.

He gained access to kendo dojos gradually – it’s a protected world and many dojos simply said no. But in moments where they let him in, Theo was privy to the power of the sport. ​“You’d meet these very shy four-year-olds, then in training you’d see a completely different part of them come out,” he says, ​“it was like they’d erupt.”

Many of the portraits Theo took happened after practice, in more restful moments where the kids’ personalities came out. He was looking for ​“those little moments when they were pushing each other around and playing, things they wouldn’t necessarily do around their sensei.”

What’s these kids’ kendo secret, then? ​“There’s a strict formula to the sessions, they’d walk in, bow to the sensei, do a warm-up, train and after the sessions, all the kids would grab rags and wipe the floor to get it ready for the next group,” he says, smiling at the memory. ​“Everything was like clockwork. But I did get the feeling that it was a real outlet for them as well. In a society that’s not very loud or outspoken, this is a space where they can let out a battle cry.”

If you’re trying to work on a sense of inner discipline yourself, Theo’s new book, Kendo Kodomo: The Way of the Sword is out now