Kendo came to UCSD in the mid 90`s, thanks to Henry and Kaori Kikunaga, two undergraduate students at the time.

They started the club as a recreations class led by Dr. John Yamamoto, DDS, a local San Diego dentist who is the head sensei (teacher) of San Diego Kendo Bu.

In 2001, The UCSD Kendo Club was founded by undergraduates Mark and Matthew Schultzel, as an official university-affiliated club, for the purposes of promoting kendo amongst the University students.

In 2004, they started the UCSD Kendo Team, which competed with other collegiate kendo teams in tournaments.

Since then, the UCSD Kendo Club has grown to over 150 members, with students and sensei joining from various UCSD academic departments, from visiting scholars, and from the San Diego community-at-large.

The team has also gained the interest of the UCSD Chancellor, Dr. Marye Ann Fox, who meets with the students annually to show support for their program.