Editing Kenjutsu (section)

===Decline===
Beginning in 1868, the Meiji Restoration led to the breakup of the military class and the modernization of Japan along the lines of western industrial nations. As the ''[[samurai]]'' class was officially dissolved at this time, ''kenjutsu'' fell into decline, an unpopular reminder of the past.<ref name='Ozawa97'/>{{rp|XIII, XIV}} This decline continued for approximately 20 years, until rising national confidence led to an increase of the uptake of traditional sword arts again, particularly in the military and the police.

In 1886 the [[Japanese Police]] gathered together ''kata'' from a variety of ''kenjutsu'' schools into a standardised set for training purposes.<ref name='Budden2000'>
{{cite book
|last= Budden
|first= Paul
|title= Looking at a Far Mountain
|orig-year= 2000
|year= 2000
|publisher= Tuttle Publishing
|location= United States of America
|isbn= 0-8048-3245-5
}}
</ref>{{rp|11}} This process of standardization of martial training continued when, in 1895, a body for martial arts in Japan, the [[Dai Nippon Butoku Kai]], was established. Work on standardizing ''kenjutsu'' ''kata'' continued for years, with several groups involved<ref name='Budden2000'/>{{rp|11,12}} until in 1912 an edict was released by the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai. This edict highlighted a lack of unity in teaching and introduced a standard core teaching curriculum to which the individual ''kenjutsu'' schools would add their distinctive techniques. This core curriculum, and its ten ''kata'' evolved into the modern martial art of ''kendo''.<ref name='Budden2000'/>{{rp|11,14}} This point could be regarded as the end of the development of Kendo. Kata was provided for the unification of many schools to enable them to pass on the techniques and spirit of the Japanese sword.<ref>{{cite web| title =The History of Kendo| publisher =All Japan Kendo Federation| url =http://www.kendo-fik.org/english-page/english-page2/brief-history-of-kendo.htm| access-date =19 February 2012| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20120206071600/http://www.kendo-fik.org/english-page/english-page2/brief-history-of-kendo.htm| archive-date =6 February 2012| url-status =dead}}</ref>