Electric Bogu

[DCPan]

Hmm...what do you guys think?

[CEB]

Useless.

[Charlie Kondek]

Remember how upset everyone was when Bob Dylan "went electric?"

Yeah, this is nothing like that at all. Electric bogu = bad idea.

[cxt]

Worse than "useless"



Chris Thomas

[CEB]

Then again things like Ki Ken Tai were always difficult for me. If we go electric we can ditch all of that and do some serious hackage.

[CEB]

That is a joke.

[Earl Hartman]

It was inevitable, I suppose. Anyway, that's kumdo, not kendo, right? I doubt (or I would like to doubt) that Japan would go for something like this.

[DCPan]

Hi Earl,

I don't know anything about it really as I can't read the Korean on the page.

I got the link from this thread:

http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5135

Rumor has it that this maybe the prototype of the kind of bogu that will be used should Kendo become an Olympic Event.

Currently, that kind of Bogu is used for Hae Dong Kumdo.

[ulvulv]

Pull the plug, pull the plug!!

[R A Sosnowski]

Originally posted by DCPan
Hmm...what do you guys think?

Ask the Classical Fencers what is wrong with modern Olympic Fencing. It degenerates into a game of tag -- whoever can turn the light on first.

Just say NO.

[renfield_kuroda]

I actually remember a tae kwon do tournament we had at UC Berkeley back in 1993, at which time similar bogu was demo'd. An electrical engineering prof. was also an instructor, so he made them. The chest protector only registered a hit when a solid, straight on kick was landed, etc.
Seemed to work ok, but when I was disucssing with one of the other instructors he said simply "I would not use it, because if I didn't see the kick or punch land, I will not score the point."

It's more severe in kendo: the strike could be perfect, but if your kiai was weak, or for whatever reason the judges feel that you did not exude the requisite presence of mind, the flags stay down.

Regards,
r e n

[Sapporo Ichiban]

I always liked the Olympic TKD system that no point was granted unless it was a clean solid hit. After all, you're not going to hurt anyone with a tap unless it's one of those freak shots that lands 'just so.' Besides, even if a point isn't awarded you still reap the residual benefits. Your opponent might still feel pain or, at the least, feel the weight of your kicks and become hesitant.

But I'm neutral about that system with kendo. I can see the motivation to only award skilled attacks but doesn't that 'attack' emphasis reduce the role of defense too much? With a cutting-type blade instead of a shinai, a touch might well be enough. So even though the attack might not be well coordinated, executed crisply, etc.--if it was still good enough to get through to me, should I be complaining that a point was awarded?

Even the way it is, I still find kendo very, very attractive. But it's like the limited target areas . . . arguably might be making kendo more 'sportish' than desirable? Dunno.

[YagyuJubei]

I think we should make kendo closer to reality not further from it. More Budo and less sport. I am not sure but I think this e-bogu will only make kendo worse.

[spliffmaniac]

What's to stop tsuki to the doh? The light would turn on and you wouldn't have to fret about the old left hand..?

[Matt Molloy]

Originally posted by ulvulv
Pull the plug, pull the plug!!

I agree, it's horrible.

Get the hammer out!

Cheers,

Matt.