Is Kumdo Like Kendo?

[XAdamX]

There is a place to learn Kumdo near me but no place to lean kendo are they anything alike please answer this post i have been looking for a place to leanr kendo in mt area for a long time and i found this place and i looked it up on the we and it said it is the way of the sword so is it anything like kendo?

[gendzwil]

It really depends on which kumdo. The most common kind of kumdo is pretty much the same as kendo - the uniforms are different, they use korean terms, they change the etiquette a bit but fundamentally it's the same.

However with the recent popularity of swords there seems to be a rash of TaeKwonDo dojang who suddenly start to teach "kumdo". This is usually not the real deal.

Another thing to watch out for is haedong kumdo, which is mostly performance-oriented stage-y crap with no real martial content.

Ask your local kumdo dojang if they participate in any kendo tournaments. If they do, then probably they are OK. If they isolate themselves from the kendo community then there may be a problem.

[XAdamX]

ok thannk you for your help

[Chidokan]

do you have to pay for a belt from yellow through to black like the other taekwondo spinoffs is another question....kendo usually just grades at one below 1st dan and then up from there. Be careful its not all about the cash and not about the practise... :rolleyes:

[Andrew S]

is it anything like kendo?
Essentially it is a copy of Kendo, but for various political reasons it is presented as a traditional Korean martial art.

[XAdamX]

i did call them and ask and they said the did go into kendo tornuments is ther any more questions i should ask to mkae sure they are "Legit"
Adam

[glad2bhere]

Dear Adam:

Easily 80% of the Kumdo schools will be essentially Kendo schools that can trace their origins back to the 1950-s and the KKF which was pretty much the Korean branch of the IKF. About another 10 to 15% are part of the relatively new group known as HAEDONG KUMDO which has its roots in a melding of SHIMKUMDO and GI CHEON beginning about 1963.
There is also a tiny percentage (say about 5%) which are related to such groups as the KYONG DANG and SHIP PAL GI traditions in Korea as well as one or two splinter groups thought this last percentage would rather be known as KUM BOP (lit: "sword method") than Kumdo with its competitive aspect.

If the group that you are looking at has a larger affiliation then you will probably be alright. For instance HAEDONG KUMDO has a couple of large organizations and US HWARANG KUMDO is a very well-organized Kumdo group here in the States as well as the World Kumdo Association. These last two have regular competitions with Kendo and other Kumdo groups. I would avoid unaffiliated schools as it has become very popular to represent to the public that a KMA school teaches Kum Bup after the instructor has messed around with Japanese Ken-jutsu for a while. FWIW.

Best Wishes,

Bruce