The martial art of iaidō has been hit by its own corruption scandal, with the All Japan Kendo Federation saying Friday that people taking promotional exams often paid money to their examiners in order to win their approval.
The federation said it discovered a case of a person paying a total of ¥1 million to seven examiners of iaido, based on the drawing of a sword, and another case in which someone paid ¥2 million to examiners through an instructor in 2016. Neither of them passed the exams.
The revelation comes after a man recently filed a complaint with a committee of the Cabinet Office, alleging he was asked by multiple examiners to pay a total of ¥6.5 million ($59,000) in cash when he was taking an exam in 2012, a source said. The federation said it was unable to obtain evidence supporting the man's claim through its own probe.