There’s no doubt that George Lucas was heavily influenced by old Japanese Samurai movies when he wrote Star Wars. Jedi Knights were largely based on the Samurai of old. The sport of Kendo has its roots in feudal Japan as well, what better way to merge Samurai and Jedi than having a Kendo match with lightsabers? Check out the video below of two Kendo practitioners going at it with lightsabers. This is so bad ass they should use lightsabers all the time for Kendo matches.
You see a lot of Kendo influence in the first lightsaber fight against Obi wan kenobi and Darth Vader in A New Hope