The origin of Kendo...

[suzume]

August issue of Nippon Kendo covers, as could be expected, the soon to come world championship. Still, the perspective lacks anything international.

Instead of providing the Japanese readership with a word view of what Kendo is, we have another Korea vs Japan paper spiced up by a long article by the French Federation Technical Expert, M. Yoshimura about the "Origins of Kendo", in a reaction to the Korean correspondant arguing that Kendo's root are in Korea. As for the "what is to be expected form this year's tournament", it is relegated towards the end of the issue in a short one page paper.

Wherever the roots are (notice the plural here), it seems to me that there is something that goes beyond the roots and that explains the possibility of Kendo practice all over the world.

Kendo is much more that what the local (read Japanese) federations say it is, ie. "kendo ha [...] minzokubunka de ari [...]" or "nipponminzoku dokuji no bunka de aru kendo [...]"

By defining Kendo that way the Japanese federations totally alienate any possibility of "international" kendo. Kendo has to be "Japanese". Ie. a "budo" is not what is translated as martial arts, a "budo" is a _Japanese_ martial art.

By extension, a budo, defined as such is nothing more (or less) than a defined social practice that aims at reproducing a related specific social frame.

Whatever non-Japanese Kendo players do, it will never (or only very exceptionnaly) be considered "budo" because by being non-Japanese they cannot grasp the subtle nuances of Japanese society transmitted through this social practice.

It seems to me that this restricted definition is extremely harmful. Of course, the sheer number of Kendo practitioner in Japan makes it hard to deny the claim that Kendo _is_ mostly Japanese. So what ?

What is the "critical mass" necessary to create a non-japanese high level base of Kendo ? European experiences could teach us a lot about that.

What are the "universal" or common values that are understood as shared by Kendo practitioners around the world ? Not to be confused with the ritual decorum that pervades dojos and Kendo clubs all around the globe.

Since, as a martial art, Kendo is so much related to death, what is the (quasi-) religious experience that comes with it ? Its relation to zen for example ?

Why do we have to mix Kendo with confucean values (maintenance of a specific social order) or shinto values (related to japanese identity and nationalism) ?

Why do the Japanese federations refuse to accept that the difference between a "sport" and a "budo" is only ideological and not at all related to the reality of the practice, and, more importantly, to the interpretation each practitioner has of the practice itself ?

Keeping in mind all the above questions (while sweating a lot ) is necessary to improve one's practice because it is important to refuse the cultural neo-colonialism of budo-ideology to find one's own "path". A "do" is something someone has to experience on one's own. A "do" does not allow for groupal behaviorism, it is mostly a non-ideological individual choice.

[Hyaku]

Without going into a lengthy discussion, I thought the Korean Kendo/Kumdo Renmei Kaicho had been interviewed some time ago. He clearly states that he had set up the Renmei after the war with the assistance of a Japanese Sensei (name slips my mind). It's online somewhere.

I have been told that the name used to generalize and encompass all the sword arts in Korea is Kumdo and not particularly just Kendo. Bruce Sims who can be found posting on Ebudo and Sword Forum is well up on this subject.
He is quite versed with this. He does Korean arts and has long researched the possible roots between the two keeping an open mind.
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susume wrote: Whatever non-Japanese Kendo players do, it will never (or only very exceptionnaly) be considered "budo" because by being non-Japanese they cannot grasp the subtle nuances of Japanese society transmitted through this social practice.
.................

The above statement I find quite laughable. As a Yudansha in Karate, Kendo, Iaido, Battodo - Acting Shihan of the Kageryu and national representative of The Hyoho Niten Ichiryu I would even go as far as saying they dont know what the hell they taking about!

The only reason people of other countries are not so well versed is a simply a matter of distance and the actual time to do these things. Rest assured the gap will close. Already in Sumo we see a certain amount of foreign domination. Other arts such as Karate have seen World champions. My very good friend Vic Charles took first place seven times if I remember rightly. Judo also has a lot of foreign Olympic champions.

Japanese dont win all the medals and until recently did not win "anything" until they started to train abroad. Who wants to watch who came in seventh or in thirtieth place on TV? I want to see which nation won!

Are the majority of Japanese Kendoka practicing Kendo with Zen/death precepts and Confucian values? What nuances? This is news to me! One could apply a few Christian or Hindu values and get more results. Does Kendo teach us that Dad should only spend a few minutes with the kids every week. That abortions are a very profitable system.

I thank you for translating these facts and points and making other people aware of such things.

I have known about this attitude for quite some time but find it far too embarrased to state the facts so clearly.

It brings to question the fact that if this is the attitude held by such people, do we want to do Kendo anyway? If it was not for such people like Gordon Warner who fought to get Kendo reinstated after WW2 based on its educational merits no one would be even doing it now.

I should also add that such stagnant attitudes prevail throughout a lot of things in Japanese Society. Japanese should be aware that a lot of foreigners do not stay here for long because of such narrow mindedness.

I for one will stick it out for some time as some things here in Japan do have a very good side. Some of the people are nice but human values suck.

I can see within my life time a society that wont even be able to sit in seiza anymore let alone want to enter a Dojo.

Obviously a bit more kakari geiko is required and a bit more keiko to knock some sense into people!

To sums it up: "Just as the Japanese thought he got it right some gaijin smacks him over the head and gives him good reason for a rethink! We dont have Junyusho in other countries

Hyaku

[samurai999]

Technically speaking, didn't all Asian sword arts originate from China? I thought that Kendo itself was Japanese.

And Hyaku, most of the part of "won't even be able to sit in seiza anymore let alone want to enter a Dojo" are attributed to the younger "kin-patsu"/"cha-hatsu" generation. They are Japan's version of Gen-X. They are more into baseball and soccer. Some of my relatives quit kendo and went to soccer/baseball because of the superstars on the teams abroad. (ie Nakata, Ichiro, Matsui, Sasaki)
They think kendo is too traditional and boring and nobody is really forcing them to do it so they quit. As a person living in america and sick of the high-stakes glitz and glamor or bball stars and baseball stars making too much money, I wanted to get back to my roots and take up kendo after years of basketball.

Tim

[aru-ma]

Originally posted by samurai999
Technically speaking, didn't all Asian sword arts originate from China? I thought that Kendo itself was Japanese...

Some of my relatives quit kendo and went to soccer/baseball because of the superstars on the teams abroad

I dont think its just sword arts, I'm willing to bet most if not all Asian martial arts can somehow be roted back to china and maybe India (just because its not popular doesnt mean it doesnt exist).

I find it a very common phenomena with the second part. Seeing from an asian point of view, I often see today's youth abandoning their local cultural heritage for other cultures. In terms of martial arts I find upper class youth seems to know more about japanese martial arts rather than their local ones.

[mingshi]

No one point this out yet, but this was a hot / stupid topic for all Kendo/Kumdo folks a while ago:-

Kendo originated from Korea?!?!

[Hyaku]

Originally posted by samurai999
And Hyaku, most of the part of "won't even be able to sit in seiza anymore let alone want to enter a Dojo" are attributed to the younger "kin-patsu"/"cha-hatsu" generation.

Tim

But you just mentioned a good 99% of them. The only kids I know that have black hair are those that are forced to through school regulations.

I think its great that at last we may see a little more imaginative out going type of Japanese. Its about time they caught up. This will go a long way towards making more of an international melting pot.

But does not leave much of a future for Kendo and other things does it.

Hyaku

[iwatekenshi]

Yes I think it's great as well, where everybody copies each other. Very imaginative! Dantaishugi does wonders for Japanese pop culture.

[aru-ma]

be imaginative, be an individual, be different! dye your hair to be different like everyone else, wear pre-ripped jeans so you'd stand out, like everyone else, go against the tradition LIKE EVERYONE ELSE

[iwatekenshi]

Sorry I shouldn't have put that up!!!
This has nothing to do with the origins of kendo. The origins of kendo argument just bothers me though. Revisionist history and one angled views of it suck and takes the pure enjoyment out of it. Ok I'm off to practice to meet with friends and have a good time doing something that we just like doing. That's what it's all about...add a beer in there as well .

[kendomushi]

Conversations I've had with several sensei on the internationalization of kendo seem to indicate a fear that kendo will cease to be kendo if interpretations of it are relaxed. That is to say, as with karate in the US, there are lots of people teaching crap and who are not qualified to teach in the first place. Unfortunately this kind of teaching is what people usually hear about. Kendo is not just about using the shinai, the self discipline, rules, Confucian, Zen, Shinto, and other values have helped shape kendo into what all of us posting here seem to enjoy. I believe most people are unaware of these elements and just continue doing what they are taught, but to eliminate these things......... would we have kendo, or just another sport in funny gear?
And as for Japanese becomming more imaginative and catching up with the rest of the world....... why is tradition thought such to be a negative thing? If catching up is such a good thing, why is there more and more crime? Why are the young disrespectful, lazy, even violent in many more cases than they were a generation or two ago? Japan has been a part of my life for nearly 20 years now. In that time, the modernization of thought I have seen seems to have brought more negatives than positives.
Everyone and everything has to evolve, grow, or die. That is natural, but finding a balance that preserves the good things in kendo or a culture or anything else....... that is where we run into trouble and risk losing everything.

[Hyaku]

I would have hoped with a bit more imaginativeness and creativeness people might become a little bit more self supporting and feel a need to be a bit more responsible.

I have met quite and few out there particularly those that have ventured outside Japan that give me hope.

Maybe I am just dreaming and hoping as all these people walking about looking like dead coconuts or a circus clowns is one of my pet hates. Withoubt a doubt if you want to be different now natural hair and a will to learn Japanese culture would be quite a unique thing for Japanese people.

At the moment its something like 2% that do M.A. Two percent also like peanut butter but not the same ones I think.

Hyaku

[Simon]

These are common complaints about the young though (I recall being told of a 12th century samurai writing about how crap all the contempory samurai were).

When you were young the older people complained about the same things. Point in the matter is that people (myself anyway don't tend to remember things that are normal, it is the things that piss you off that you remember.... possibly the people who are playing kendo by choice now are the people that will keep it alive in the same way that the majority of people that were forced to play kendo didn't actually contribute to it's growth and simply did it as something they were forced to do...

So you have the idea that you probably only remember seeing the people you disagree with and the old Quantity vs Quality argument.

Rhetorical questions about why tradition is thought to be negative etc are fairly pointless outside of a speech.

People tend to do stuff that other people don't approve of.

Don't focus on the ones that are throwing away what you consider is important. Too much damn work. Focus on the ones that are at least close to your own ideals and try to build them up.

Martial Arts (IMHO) are full of too many dissenting opinions that don't realise it is a small difference and we dilute the power of our convictions with in fighting.

[kendomushi]

Heading further down this path I have to ask, why is it that young Japanese seem to desperately be anything but Japanese?

I agree with Hyaku that some of those who have broadened their view beyond Japan do seem to bring a ray of hope. The problem is that these people are often seen by the rest of society here as being a problem, being no longer real Japanese. What a wonder it would be to see some of these people rise to prominence for what they have learned outside Japan and at the same time hold up some of the best parts of being who they are, Japanese.

Simon is right, there isn't much we can do except be true to ourselves and try to support those who have compatible points of view.

[samurai999]

Japanese kids are heavily influenced by western culture. They watch movies and sports and copy famous people. So what happens? Traditional Japanese culture goes out the window because it is bland, too restrictive, strict and boring.

Its basically the typical "monkey see monkey do" thing. If a popular person dyes his or her hair green, then you'll see about 10-20 people at the persons school the next day with green hair. But that's all good if they know where their roots are and keep up with their heritage. Like I said before, this is Japan' version of Gen-X and this is how they do things.

Watch Great Teacher Onizuka. Its a drama and fictitious of course but some parts of these are derived from true events.

Tim

[kendomushi]

I think its much more serious than a Gen-X thing. Society here has certain expectations of its members but there seems to have been a complete disconnect in teaching those expectations to the young.
I've always said that one of the biggest mistakes in the Japanese education system was the elimination of a requirement to study some form of budo. My reason for this is that there are things about Japanese society, culture, history, and mind set that are not taught in the home and not taught in any text books. But they can be learned or at least understood often times by training in budo. Now while the requirement to study was dropped, the values, benefits, and learning it imparted are still expectations of society as a whole, but no effort has been made to teach them.

I've watched Great Teacher Onizuka. Sadly yes, some of the events used in the story are derived from real life. Unfortunately its ususally the tragic, disheartening, demoralizing, and saddening ones.