Need to contact Okinawa Kendo Federation!

[Don Gwinn]

Rather than TTTing the other thread, I'd like to come at this a different way. Can anyone here put me in contact with the Okinawa Kendo Federation?

See, about two years ago, E-Budo encountered the good folks over at "Comba-Tai." Now, the issue of Comba-Tai has come up again at !!!!!!ido. Back when the E-Budo confrontation was happening, a Kendo instructor posted at the Comba-Tai boards. She started out demanding that they "show her something" before she would "bow to them." Then, in the course of three or four more posts in the same thread, she reversed herself and declared herself astounded at the vision of Comba-Tai. I found that more than a little odd, especially since the last person to describe such a revelation at E-Budo turned out to have the same IP address as Dr. Soke Mylemu Jones, the founder of Comba-Tai. (That would be "Michael Bell" in the "Budo Originated From Africa?" thread in the archives of Baffling Budo.)

Anyway, she signed her posts "Karen Oyama Sensei, Okinawa Kendo Federation." Thing is, I can't find evidence that such a person ever existed. Admittedly, my search so far is confined to the internet, so it's a long way from conclusive. Although Karen Oyama apparently isn't a member of E-Budo, I hoped someone here might, at a minimum, have heard of the Okinawa Kendo Federation. I can't find any evidence that it exists, either, which sounds crazy to me--there has to be an Okinawan group of some kind for Kendo, right? I can find competition results for Okinawan Kendoka left and right, but nothing for an Okinawa Kendo Federation. The nomenclature even sounds right, because almost everywhere else it looks like anyone affiliated with the international federation follows that same "Place Kendo Federation" convention.

I dunno. Can anyone help?

[gendzwil]

Okinawa is part of Japan these days, and mainstream kendo would fall under the Zen Nippon Kendo Renmei (All-Japan Kendo Federation), which is the FIK (International Kendo Federation) affiliate. You can see all the Asian FIK affiliates here (http://www.kendo-fik.org/english-page/english-page2/IKF-affiliates/asia.html). There's a couple of other non-FIK Japanese federations, but no Okinawan one that I'm aware of.

Probably your best place to ask is at the Kendo World forums, there's a number of kendoka there living in Japan who might have a more definitive answer.

[Alex Dale]

Anyway, she signed her posts "Karen Oyama Sensei, Okinawa Kendo Federation."


BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP RED FLAG ALERT!

Sorry, couldn't resist.


Regards,

[Don Gwinn]

Sorry, I do BJJ and am not totally familiar with Budo etiquette--what's the red flag there?

That she refers to herself as Sensei? I've heard you're not supposed to use such titles in reference to yourself. . . . anyway, thanks for the tip on Kendo World. I'll try there next.

I've been digging through Google and it's astonishing how rarely Okinawa and Kendo are mentioned on the same page--you'd think the practice of Kendo on Okinawa, even if there's no official federation, would be enough to pile up search engine results all over the place. Besides, I thought there might be an "Okinawa Kendo Federation" attached to the Japanese org. It doesn't look like that's the case.

[Enfield]

Put "okinawa kendo renmei" into Google in Japanese and you get:

http://okikenren.jp/

There's an e-mail address at the bottom of the page.

Every prefecture in Japan has a kendo federation. And so do big cities. And little cities. And groups of schools. And professional organizations. And so on. They're (almost) all under the AJKF.

It's somewhat similar to the regional federations back in the States.

[DDATFUS]

That she refers to herself as Sensei? I've heard you're not supposed to use such titles in reference to yourself. . . .

Exactly. It's extremely hard to imagine someone studying in Japan/Okinawa long enough to become a teacher in their own right without learning that little bit of etiquette. According to my Japanese teacher, even if you work as a high school teacher or as a professor, you would never introduce yourself as a "sensei," even though that is the term that you would ordinarily use to describe that type of job. Calling yourself "sensei" sounds wrong in Japanese, just like it would sound wrong to introduce yourself as "Master Bob" in the US.

Okay, well, it should sound wrong to introduce yourself that way in the US.... there are a few "Master Bobs" out there who haven't gotten the memo yet....

Anyway, there are at least a few people on e-budo who are very highly ranked-- some have legitimate claim to the title "shihan." Take a browse and see how many of them are signing themselves as "shihan" or "sensei" in their sig lines.

[hyaku]

To add a little Kendo Renmei under the auspices of ZNKR are split into Shi (City) and Gun (Country) For example: Saga Shi kendo Renmei, Saga Gun Kendo Renmei. Shia and Taikai are organized by respective leaders according to age eg. Junior High Kendo, Senior High, Uni etc. Adults fall under private and police with the City renmei.

Anyone calling nthemselves a sensei could also be a doctor, dentist, vet etc.
Its not a term one uses refering to oneself.