Kendo or Kumdo

[jediado]

I was just wondering, how many people in this community are part of a kendo or kumdo dojo.

[dnakase]

I move freely between both communities, why do I have to choose one or the other?

[Newbie]

I move freely between both communities, why do I have to choose one or the other?

I'm not but that's a good point. Maybe it should have had "kendo, kumdo or both".

[lemi]

and 'neither kendo nor kumdo' option ;-)

[John Shin]

FYI - When reffering to Kumdo, it's dojang not dojo.

[Morvran]

Excuse my ignorance...what's kumdo? Is that the Korean version/school?

[Old Warrior]

Excuse my ignorance...what's kumdo? Is that the Korean version/school?
I belong to the Sung Moo Kendo Academy taught by a 7th Dan Korean National. Aside from the prevelence of the Korean language and a few different nuances in ceremony, kumdo is the absolute same art as kendo. Any differences are the style of the the teacher.

[Morvran]

Excellent, thanks for the info. :happy:

[hunnysan]

ok, i've been reading up on diff dojang sites on kumdo to see if there's a diff. but it seems that one is just korean and the other japanese. My curiousity is, a lot of Kumdo sites states it started in korea then spread to japan..so just wondering if it's true. If not, and it is japanese orientated (which i always thought) Why would they change the name of it to Kumdo?? Wouldn't that be like me taking Karate and giving it a diff name just because i speak a diff language? just curious...i hope i don't get flamed on if this is a dumb quest.

[Old Warrior]

ok, i've been reading up on diff dojang sites on kumdo to see if there's a diff. but it seems that one is just korean and the other japanese. My curiousity is, a lot of Kumdo sites states it started in korea then spread to japan..so just wondering if it's true. If not, and it is japanese orientated (which i always thought) Why would they change the name of it to Kumdo?? Wouldn't that be like me taking Karate and giving it a diff name just because i speak a diff language? just curious...i hope i don't get flamed on if this is a dumb quest.

Look up this word "ethnocentricism". Better yet:

eth·no·cen·trism (ĕth'nō-sĕn'trĭz'm)
n.
Belief in the superiority of one's own ethnic group.
Overriding concern with race.

But for the above, the differences would be meaningless.

[bullet08]

ok, i've been reading up on diff dojang sites on kumdo to see if there's a diff. but it seems that one is just korean and the other japanese. My curiousity is, a lot of Kumdo sites states it started in korea then spread to japan..so just wondering if it's true. If not, and it is japanese orientated (which i always thought) Why would they change the name of it to Kumdo?? Wouldn't that be like me taking Karate and giving it a diff name just because i speak a diff language? just curious...i hope i don't get flamed on if this is a dumb quest.

kumdo and kendo are same two chinese characters just pronounced differently. if you can read korean, try http://www.kumdo.org/ which is korean kumdo association which belongs to IKF. it details the reason why koreans still call kendo, kumdo and IKF agreed to koreans calling it kumdo. it has something to do with history of organized kumdo body in korea which has very similar time line as did japanese kendo.

as for the art we practice, it's basically same thing. kumdo-ga wears same armor that was developed in japan sometime ago, and use same techniques.

there are number of different kumdo org in korea as there are number of different kendo org in japan. some of those kumdo org wants to believe that kumdo/kendo is korean thing. some orgs in korean out right indicates that they just don't like japanese domination of kendo around the world (World Kumdo Asso.). by the way, i might be wrong, but the person who founded WKA was vice president of IKF when IKF was found.

the name kumdo by itself doesn't have any specific meaning. it just means way of sword. and by that means, any form of sword art could be called kumdo in korea. and yes. koreans have their own sword form, altho not as well known as japanese.. and i'm not talking about hae dong kumdo. and these are detailed in number of historical documentation in korea.

pete

[hunnysan]

wow pete that answered my question ... thanks..

[Wes Nazo]

Look up this word "ethnocentricism".

I think nationalism would be a more fitting term.

[Old Warrior]

I think nationalism would be a more fitting term.

You could be right, but I know plenty of Koreans who are of Chinese descent, or even Japanese decent. Everybody, thinks their own version is the best - that's just the way it is.

[mistabushido]

ok, i've been reading up on diff dojang sites on kumdo to see if there's a diff. but it seems that one is just korean and the other japanese. My curiousity is, a lot of Kumdo sites states it started in korea then spread to japan..so just wondering if it's true. If not, and it is japanese orientated (which i always thought) Why would they change the name of it to Kumdo?? Wouldn't that be like me taking Karate and giving it a diff name just because i speak a diff language? just curious...i hope i don't get flamed on if this is a dumb quest.

Or more like America taking football and calling it soccer.

[Michiyo Akimoto]

I don't understand the question....

[Wes Nazo]

Or more like America taking football and calling it soccer.

Actually, the word 'soccer' is shortened slang for 'association football' which was coined in the UK to distinguish football from rugby football, american football or any other game that goes by the name 'football.'

[hunnysan]

i never knew that's where soccer came from

I learn something new everyday on here

[mistabushido]

Actually, the word 'soccer' is shortened slang for 'association football' which was coined in the UK to distinguish football from rugby football, american football or any other game that goes by the name 'football.'

Fine, it's like Japan calling baseball Yagyu, or the Koreans calling basketball nong gu.

How did they come up with Soccer from association football?

[andrew_kumdo]

ive heard kumdo is more focused into form and basics. and that if u go to korea u will spend up to 3 months to a year doing basic things like (men strikes)

[mistabushido]

ive heard kumdo is more focused into form and basics. and that if u go to korea u will spend up to 3 months to a year doing basic things like (men strikes)

Isn't three months normal for basic training? I'll tell you, it all depends on the sabomneem. My first master focused a lot on the basics doing big men (i dont know the japanese terminology... sorry) for a big portion of the training. My new master, on the other hand is more focused on fast advanced attacks and techniques.

[Shazzanzzz]

At Virginia Tech, we actually changed the official club name from Kendo Club to Kendo/Kumdo Club. Not that it matters... But it's because a lot of the members are korean.

[Newbie]

Yup. One of the kendo dojos I train at has a guy starting tomorrow who's been doing kumdo for five years. He doesn't care cos at least he gets to train (no kumdo that I know of here) and we don't care, it's another person to train with, plus he seems really nice. :)

[mistabushido]

Yup. One of the kendo dojos I train at has a guy starting tomorrow who's been doing kumdo for five years. He doesn't care cos at least he gets to train (no kumdo that I know of here) and we don't care, it's another person to train with, plus he seems really nice. :)


I don't get why it should ever been an issue. Are we kumdo particioners some sort of inferior beings or something? If a guy who walks in to a kendo dojo after being in a kumdo dojang for x amount of years, why does everyone have to talk about it? Whether it be good or bad. They did kendo in a different language, big deal. Just accept them like Newbie and her dojo.

It's pretty funny how kumdo guys are made fun of, but Korean kumdo comes in second just about every world championships.