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Thread: Kendo, the 18th-Century Way?

  1. #31
    Don Cunningham Guest

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    Sorry Bruce, but I have no idea if there is any documentation about any link between the Dai Nihon Butokukai and Korean Kumdo. I really don't know much about the DNB other than what little I've read. I was mainly trying to clarify that the linage chart is explained, although not very well, and it is not something the author of the book created, but rather something of more historical value.

    I do know that kendo is quite popular in Korea. A good friend of mine who lived in Korea during the Japanese occupation often talks about how he learned kendo from the soldiers stationed in his hometown. As for official links, information sharing, etc., I guess we'll have to see if anyone else has something more on that subject.

  2. #32
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    Default Combat principles enclosed in kata

    You know, Earl, this is something I'm only just now starting to really "get." I mean, I'd always been told that and suspected that, but I'm only now getting, I dunno, fast enough or comfortable enough that I'm starting to see some of these principles.

    For example, the first kendo kata: two principles come to mind immediately. One, when your opponent is attacking you and you intend to dodge their blow, you have to wait until they're fully commited to the attack to do so (a principle echoed in the 2nd kata). Two, when you dodge (in this kata a kind of rock-step), it has to be a big step, and then a big return. In principle.

    Those are abstract ideas that I've taken away from that particular kata. I'm sure there are more, and will reveal themselves to me in time. And there are general principles about intensity and "reading" an opponent and other things that thread through the entire set. My initial foray into iaido (the setei gata) has helped open my eyes to this a little. Any more thoughts on this?

  3. #33
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    Charlie:

    I, also, am only beginning to "get" this. I think it is a combination of age and maturity (I hope) and my exposure to koryu, which, I hasten to add, is still quite limited. So, I cannot comment much further on actual principles of specific kata.

    This became clear to me when I started practicing Shinto Muso Ryu jo and Yagyu Shinkage Ryu Hyoho. Again, with the caveat that I am still very green at both arts, and fully realizing that I may be immediately corrected by people more knowledgeable in these arts than I, one thing became very clear from the outset: instruction is very different from what I experienced in kendo. Perhaps this is just due to the nature of the particular teachers whom I have studued under, but in kendo the emphasis was on doing and asking few if any questions. In the koryu, the "riai", or the inner meaning of the kata and the significance of what one is being taught, is explained right away so that one can immediately understand, at least intellectually, the meaning behind the movements one is practicing. Of course, this understanding will deepen and mature the more one practices, but it is much different than the "shut up and do it" approach so common to modern kendo. When I practiced kata in the US, no one ever explained what the kata were trying to teach. The kata were only practiced when it was time to take a rank test.
    Earl Hartman

  4. #34
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    Greetings,

    Don - I stand corrected ... I'll check it out. In fact, the next time I see the author I'll ask him! As for my "English" ...... ask Earl, or Meik....

    Earl - I have this feeling that if your achilles was ok youd kick my ass hard. Especially all this riot police stuff! Id have to rely on the old 'rocket-kote'.. but even then youd probably rip my Men of and choke me with my Do! Unless you are planning a trip to Scotland anytime soon the best chance to meet will probably be at Nakano dojo again.... if i can sort myself out japan-wise (sigh).

    Kendo no Kata - Doesnt shidachi compel uchidachi to attack, thus controlling the timing/action and winning.. rather than react to it? This maybe a bit simplistic (or general) of-course.

    Actually, I am meant to be working... got 2 go.

    Cheers,

    George McCall
    Seishinkan Kendo Club, Edinburgh, Scotland
    http://www.edinburghkendo.co.uk/
    Last edited by Daigoro; 31st August 2001 at 14:23.

  5. #35
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    I'm curious when the the practice of ki ken tai ichi striking ( the stamping of the front foot, the extended outstretched arms ...) first appear in Kendo. Was it 1940's or was it earlier? It seems like that Kendo could be very sport like while still maintain the mechanics of proper kenjutsu stricking.

    C. E. Boyd

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