After the Meiji reconstruction started in 1867, Japan’s government abolished the social and economic privileges of samurai and tried to make the society westernized. Many of the swordplay dojo had to be closed. To promote martial arts, some swordsmen such as Kenichi Sakakibara played swordplay as the show on the street. The show was very popular and was held across Japan. One of the swordplayers, Raifu Hibino, played a sword performance to a background song. It was the start of Samurai Kembu.
As Japan was becoming a military power, the government encouraged samurai kembu across the country. Lots of poems were written to increase national prestige and were used as the background songs of samurai kembu. When WW2 ended, GHQ occupied Japan and prohibited any kinds of martial arts, including samurai kembu. After Japan was returned and became a pacifist nation, samurai Kembu ®estarted as one of the traditional Japanese performing arts.