Bamboo Blade (Japanese: バンブーブレード, Hepburn: Banbū Burēdo) is a Japanese manga series written by Masahiro Totsuka and illustrated by Aguri Igarashi. It was serialized in Square Enix's Young Gangan magazine from December 3, 2004 to September 3, 2010. The series tells the story of Toraji Ishida, a luckless high school Kendo instructor, who is challenged by his former upperclassman, also a kendo instructor, to a competition between their female students. The bet inspires Toraji to gather and train a team of five girls, where he meets Tamaki Kawazoe, a gifted young female kendo practitioner.

An anime adaptation by AIC A.S.T.A was broadcast in Japan between October 2, 2007 and April 2, 2008 on TV Tokyo. The Bamboo Blade manga has been licensed for distribution in North America by Yen Press. The anime has been licensed for distribution in North America by Funimation and began airing on their Funimation Channel on October 25, 2010.

Characters

Some of the character's names are based on real professional kendo practitioners. Ishida Toraji is based on the famous kendoka, Ishida Toshiya. Miyazaki Miyako is based on Miyazaki Masahiro, Eiga Danjuro based on Eiga Naoki, Chiba Kirino based on Chiba Masashi etc., even though there aren't any relations between the Bamboo Blade characters in regards to the real kendoka. Eiga Dan is the only exception, as he seems to be designed to represent Eiga Naoki, who also isn't very tall just like Eiga Danjuro.