Dr. Gordon Warner

[R Stroud]

The audio file of Dr. Warner's interview from the '80s has been posted here. Thank you to EJMAS for putting it up.
http://ejmas.com/tin/2010tin/warner/...Kendo_Life.mp3

Sad to hear about Haga sensei, he was so wonderful all of the times he visited us in the Pacific Northwest. I had the honor of hosting him in my home when he came to Portland for iaido seminars. He was a very open and engaging sensei, once sitting in a hot-tub with him and several PNKF people, he told the story about how when he was a young man he had won a bet in a bar that his forearm was bigger around than some young lady's neck... He told it with a fond smile on his face. He was one of the reasons I have never quit practicing kendo and iaido.

[Gessho]

Really enjoyed that interview, thank you very much for posting it. I found the discussion on the value of manners and ritual and how its' value can be ignored by those in the West (as well as by some in Japan) to be quite relevant today. Interesting also that he saw the possibility of kendo becoming an Olympic sport.

[Charlie]

Awesome! Can't wait to listen to that.

[TomoeCooper]

Robert-san
Thank you so much for letting us listen to my father's interview. It brought tears to my eyes.

For anyone interested, we will be burying Dr. Gordon Warner, my father's ashes at Arlington National Cemetery on May 25th at 1 pm. He will be given full honors as a Navy Cross recipient. All kendoists are welcomed to attend the service.

[Hyaku]

I would like to mention a few things about Warner Sensei after seeing a few replies about having read his book.

Thing is its not the book that we owe him a debt of gratitude for. It's the fact that it was with his efforts everyone is still able to actually practice Kendo today. He was on General McArthur's staff that decided to reintroduce Kendo after WW2 based upon the educational merits it held. Gordon showed me a copy of the letter sent to Prime Minister Yoshida by McArthur banning all martial arts to be possibly re introduced at a later date based on the merits of each individual art.

A great loss.

[Hyaku]

My apologies. Maybe not on the staff. But he told me he had attended meetings concerned with the re-establishment of Kendo. He had gone to the Pentagon to get a copy of that letter knowing that they destroy old records. And that letter was nearing its end as an archive.

[Charlie]

^amazing! Thanks for sharing that!

[Curtis]

You can find another interesting article about the reinstatement of kendo on the AUSKF web site by Dr. Benjamin Hazard, kendo 7 dan. The article is at the end of the newsletter.

http://www.auskf.info/newsletter/vol5no1.pdf

http://www.auskf.info/newsletter/vol5no2.pdf

[Theodore]

There is an interesting connection between kendo and fencing in the post WWII era. Dr. Hazard had fenced for UCLA before the war and he and Dr Warner were able to persuade Maestro Arthur Lane (a student of M. Aldo Nadi's) who was the then coach at Cal Berkley to sponsor the start of kendo at Cal. Plus, there is the who Mori Torao sensei connection with fencing in So Cal both before and after the War.

[rfoxmich]

A video of Dr. Warner sensei's burial with full military honors has been posted by his daughter. Somehow it's appropriate that today, Memorial Day in the U.S. was when I came across it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj71Juc6qXY

[Big One]

Thank You for the video, very moving. The honorary burial was a little tribute to what a great man he was and all of the achievement through out his life.