Kumdo
 

I have been practsing Kumdo now for about 1 month and a half. I have been lookign at forums about Kumdo here and alot i have seen are negitavie is this because it is not a Japanase form of sword fighting what? to me it seems that alot of people do not like it just becase it is koren. SO I guess my question here is why is there so much negitave towards Kumdo?

We have a 'negative attitude' towards people who don't sign each post with their name.

I am sorry i did not sing my name but you could have at least answerd the question along with remiding me to sign my name your answer was rather rude.

Adam Woolger

You may have seen some negative attitudes directed towards Kumado, becuase what many teachers call Kumado is IMO nothing more than japanese sword arts (ususally kendo, MJER or MSR based) with a made up Korean history behind them.

I will say that there is some legit Kumado out there with a legitimate history behind it. Though it seems few and far between. Like most other korean MA's (kumado, yudo, hapkido, tae kwon do), they are renamed, slightly changed forms of Japanese arts that were taught to Korean's during the Japanese occupation of Korea. The Korean's resented the Japanese so much, they created there own histories behind these martial arts to erase / hide and influence from Japan.

Kumado = kendo & iaido
Yudo = judo
hapkido = aikido with kicking
tae kwon do = karate


Several years ago, a kumado teacher stopped by the dojo were I train iaido and invited a bunch of us to come by and train with him at his dojang sometime. Just a casual training session with a bbq afterwards. I thought it was a cool idea and accepted his offer. He had also invited other people from other sword arts. All in all it was a good time. Though....while at his school, before we began training I was reading the history of his style of kumado that was in a flier in the school. It said somehting to the effect that this style of swordsmanship was over 500 years old, bla bla bla..created by ancient Korean warriors..Right off the bat he offered to demonstrate his art to all of us visiting. He then proceeded to do the Shoden & Chuden sets from MSR/MJER. Though according to him this was traditional Korean swordsmanship. I don't think he was lying, he just didn't know any better. He did look very perplexed when one of the other visitors (a MJER guy) and I (an MSR guy) both did all the same techniques he had just demonstrated as traditional Korean Kumado.

Sorry for not answering your question as I cannot answer for everyone else on here.

As for being rude, may I humbly suggest a spellchecker and some punctuation before you click 'post'...? If English is not your 1st language then I humbly apologise. :)

Tim thank you for your help the school where i am learning Kumdo has not said anything about the history in the way that it is 500 years old only that it is a Koren type of sword fighting and once again I thank your for actullay answering my question.

"they created there own histories behind these martial arts to erase / hide and influence from Japan."

I am sorry if this sounds like a stupid question but from what i have read here it seems that the Koren and the Japanese do not get along to well?

So are Kumdo dojo's thought of as worse than Kendo because of this?(becasue they have changed the names and such)

I have been delegated a few times as the foreign rep when the Korean team has come over to Kyushu to practice.

No it's not the name. It stems from political situation that goes back generations. I spend time with the Korean University teachers that say to me "Why do you want to live with these people? I have Japanese Kendo teachers that tell me, "When you go to Korea teach these people some manners". That's partly because they don't do sonkyo before a practice.

A Japanese ZNKR delegation comes home after a day when Koreans refuse to turn up and do kihon. Korean's say they they will never win the worlds because Japanese are judging. The list is endless

Thing is Kendo/Kumdo whatever is supposed to bring us together. So from reading of the above incidents it's in the interest of both to try and keep a low key on this matter. Lets practice!

one thing I reckon I could bet on is that you will be graded from yellow belt right up to first black... and this will cost you money. I am basing this on the fact that every single taekwondo club I have come across does this and I have seen the schedule for kumdo posted up at the local dojang. For kendoka, it is likely you would only do a single pre black test then on to first black. Not all but most kendo dojo run on a no profit basis as amateur clubs with instructors taking no monies, just enough to keep the hall fees paid. Hopefully for your wallet your local kumdo dojang runs like the kendo clubs...

I agree, I have always found it boring to see people jump in to tell people to sign up with full names in a negative tone, like it is a crime not to know proper procedure as a new member of the forums. A pm would be sufficient. Jumping at peoples sppeling in the next comment is excellent. A fountain of goodwill indeed. :)

I don't know why people get negative about it. A friendly reminder is usually all it takes.

That said, he's still not signing his name on every post as is required. It is required on every post. There is a really easy solution that will not only fix every post automatically, but will retroactively fix older unsigned posts. Put your name in your signature.

Click on the User CP link at the top of the page. Click on Edit Signature in the left hand nav bar. Enter your real name in the signature, and save the changes. That will add your name at the bottom of every post. That's the way pretty much everybody solves the problem of forgetting to sign their names.

there should be a polite standard message, so triggerhappy keyboard curmudgeons with a secret wish of being a moderator would have to find other ways to make their working hours meaningful. ;)

Hehe, I spend most of my working hours here - not bad really, getting paid while perusing various fora... :D

Maybe seeing a new member post something that is potentially flammable sings of trolling? Ah, who cares... bring em all on I say... :)

well my thanks to al that actully gave help and answered the question at hand. I think that the Kumdo and Kendo clubs should just get along :) dont u agree?

There IS one if you read the E-Budo Rule section. Next to it is the number 1.
I see no point in putting up a sticky of something that can be read just a click away.

I think we have reached the happy conclusion that Kendo/Kumdo should get on and perhaps so should a few posters here :) :beer:

Thread closed