Kodansha begins demolition of Noma Dojo

[R Stroud]

My understanding is that only the Main Entrance "Shomen Genkan" was saved by volunteers for preservation. I believe it will be used/reconstructed somehow in Kiryou city, in Guma Prefecture. (Not sure if I have the city correctly romanized).

The main hall etc was was mostly leveled this week. You can see on the website provided earlier by Mure Dickie.
http://mykit.jp/pc/sukenojyo/index.php3#1108

The only good news in all of this is that the new Noma Dojo is a very spectacular kendo dojo and is greatly appreciated by those who have left the old dojo. It was described to me as a "wonderful modern training facility". Guess I will have to go next year to take a look.

[Inner_Silence]

its sad... it reminded me that last year I said "one day im gonna train in the noma dojo, at least once"... there goes plan A...

[Anime12478]

While I can't practice at the old dojo, I guess I could try practicing at the new one. Does anyone know who I could get in contact with to possibly train there when I go to Japan next month? I will be staying in a hotel in Shinjuku, but I'll be there around the days of Christmas (22-25) so I don't know if they will be practicing in the days leading up to Christmas.

[Kenshi]

nothing closes here for xmas.

get in touch with paul martin here on these forums.

[Kagerou]

for those of you who are interested I found a video of the demolition process on youtube. It's a bit hard to watch.

[Chaby]

It hurts to watch that video to the end...

[Paul Martin]

As many of you may remember, I posted here some time ago a request for signatures for the petition to save Noma dojo in Tokyo. As you all were probably expecting we lost and the old dojo is no more. A new modern (very nice, but not the same) dojo has been opened close by and some remnants from the old dojo have been installed into it (Shinzen, Late sensei’s photographs, taiko etc).

To commemorate the old the passing of the old dojo, during the tearing down of the old dojo we collected all of the Taisho (and possibly Edo-Meiji) hand made nails and structure bolts. I then sent them to the Komiya smiths in Omuta, Fukuoka Kyushu and asked them to make a katana from them. The sword recently came back in kaji-togi. It will next be passed onto a polisher, then be fitted for koshirae. It has a wonderful inscription of ‘Oto no arashi’ (Oto storm). Oto is the area where Noma dojo is/was situated and the storm refers to the sound of the many shinai (bamboo swords) clashing and kiai(s) of morning practice. The rest of the inscription reads: Motte Noma Dojo Kugi Miike Ju Yasumitsu Kore (wo) Saku. Below is a link to a Japanese site that records the last days of the old dojo and the opening of the new one. The site also has some pictures of the sword.

http://mykit.jp/pc/sukenojyo/index.php3#1108

The Komiya smiths lineage goes back to the Bakamatsu period with the smith Shinano no Kami Muto Hisahiro who was retained by the Yanagawa clan. From whom Hisahiro learned is a bit unclear. According to the Komiya school, he was part of the Suishinshi Masahide ichimon, as they found two of the three books given by Masahide to all of his students amongst the belongings of Hisahiro. Fujishiro states that he was a student of the 8th Generation Tadayoshi, whilst another source claims that he was possibly part of the Ichinohira school. Hisahiro’s (great?) grandson, Shiro Kunimitsu (I) was to become one of the top smiths of the Showa period (Saijo saku) and strongly connected to Kurihara Hikosaburo (Akihide). Shiro Kunimitsu is also famous for making the Tenjin Tsukihoshi Maru. During a long drought, in order to request the rains from the gods, this blade was made as an offering. This request was answered thoroughly as it began raining on the first day of forging and then rained again on its completion. It whereabouts is currently unknown.

Kunmitsu I’s students were his two sons Kuniyasu and Kuniharu. Kuniyasu died at an early age. Kuniharu went on to have three sons: Kunitada, Yasumitsu and Kunimitsu II. Yasumitsu also had one son (Kokuten) who although grew up at the forge with his family, went away to complete his apprenticeship under Mukansa smith Kawachi Kunihira. Other recognised students of Kunimitsu I include smiths So Masamitsu and Mukansa So Tsutomu.

Incidentally, Modern tosho (www.moderntosho.com) currently have three swords by the Komiya ichimon. One is a Kiyomaro utsushi-mono by Yasumitsu. Another is a katana in kaji-togi by last years Rookie award winner Kokuten, and last but not least is another blade in kaji-togi by Kunimitsu II. Both the kaji-togi blades are in choji-midare. Well worth a look just to see blades in this pre-polished condition.

[ShinKenshi]

Glad to see that you you were able to collect all the nails to make the katana. It looks stunning. My brother and I are talking about making a trip to Japan in June and I'm hoping to be able to bring my gear and take in a practice at the new Noma dojo. Paul, is there a website for the dojo that I could get some more info, such as practice times, the address and if possible the email of someone I could contact requesting permission to visit?

[Paul Martin]

Hi David,

I sent you an email.

Best

[NZ Kumdo player]

Apologies for resurrecting a old thread, but I just watched that youtube video, I was almost in tears towards the end. I hate to see such historic buildings fall to the bulldozer. Here, we lost a lot of older buildings in the 1970s and 1980's, decisions that are now regretted by local councils that allowed it to happen.
At least it looked like a lot got salvaged for re-use before the demolition, like the interior, roof tiles and structural timber. That building could have been moved to another site assuming access was available.

[dillon]

I'm currently studying drawings of the original Noma Dojo and plan to write about its architecture in my blog (link in my signature). I never had the chance to visit it but the documentation I got my hands on is pretty good. Keep an eye out for it.