Your opinion on my situation

[dennis]

I also live on Long Island, I live in Hicksville i was thinking about checking out the Kogokan dojo in port washington as well, if you go there can you tell me how it went? The Problem im having though is since im only 15 I need to get driven there and that makes the Ken-Zen Long Island out of the question sice it would be about 1 1/2 hours each way and my parents would freak about that, i was thinking about that one in flushing as well but now that ive heard what you say that is probably out of the question.

[taiwnezboi]

there is a SungMooKwan in New York also.. I think it's on Long Island.. they're really good too

[dennis]

do you know if the SungMooKwan place has a website? or do you know of any way to contact it? b/c i did a search on google and it turned up nothing

[taiwnezboi]

do you know if the SungMooKwan place has a website? or do you know of any way to contact it? b/c i did a search on google and it turned up nothing

just had to put some spaces

http://kumdo.co.kr/kendoacademy/

[taiwnezboi]

hmmm I'm looking at the website and it doesn't have the New York dojang.. but I'm pretty sure they have one because my dojang went to a tournament there this weekend

[dennis]

ok thanks anyway...right now im thinking the dojo in port washington is a betters choice b/c since the one in flushing is $130 a month it would be cheaper for me to take the $20 round trip train to new york city and going to the main branch of the ken zen institute since they only charge a $75 membership and $50 a month...i still need to find out info on the one in port washington ive heard good things but id like to speak to the sensai and take a trip to the dojo (sorry for the lack of punctuation in this pst but i am lazy)

[dennis]

do you know if the Sung Moo place has an email address i can contact...i couldnt find it on the website and was hoping maybe you had it, b/c i could always contact the sensai and ask him if there is a dojang on long island

[Snobody]

I think Kongokan dojo in Port Washington no longer exists...
I went to look for it and couldn't find it anywhere (under multiple listed locations online). Also, the updated AUSKF page doesn't list the Kongokan dojo anymore.

[Kaoru]

Hi everybody,

I found the Kongokan dojo listed on the Kendo America site here:

http://www.kendo-usa.org/statedojolist.htm#NY

And, here is the dojo and contact info.

KongoKan Dojo
735 Port Washington Rd.
Port Washington, NY
M F 8:30-10pm Sa 9am-11am
Contact: Kazuo Kato (631)669-8635
E-mail: sabreminc@earthlink.net

I also just did a search to see if this dojo has a webpage, and it does not. So, you'll just have to try to call Kato-sensei to ask if this dojo still exists.

I hope this helps!

Kaoru

[taiwnezboi]

do you know if the Sung Moo place has an email address i can contact...i couldnt find it on the website and was hoping maybe you had it, b/c i could always contact the sensai and ask him if there is a dojang on long island

sorry I just knew the website.. but OldWarrior is from Sung Moo Kwan so maybe he could tell you...

[Old Warrior]

sorry I just knew the website.. but OldWarrior is from Sung Moo Kwan so maybe he could tell you...

Sung Moo Kwan in NJ has their own website http://kendoacademy.com/kendoacademy/index.html

I am not aware that any Sung Moo in NY is a school owned or run by Grandmaster Seong.

BTW - I went to the LI competition and watched all the Hwa Rang warriors. I went down in the first round 1-0. I was sure I scored 2 points (and so was, at least, 1 referee, each time) but, I still enjoyed the experience. Being lumped in the same group with 25 years olds, who are grades above me, makes it unlikely that I could have great success. Nevertheless, for me, showing up and giving a good accounting for myself is what the whole Kumdo journey is about. The only small satisfaction I have is that the chap who beat me - won the division.

[sminki]

hmmm I'm looking at the website and it doesn't have the New York dojang.. but I'm pretty sure they have one because my dojang went to a tournament there this weekend

There are two different Sung Moo Kwan. Same sound, different Chinese characters, different teachers. There are two in NJ by master Seong (7 dan kyoshi, www.kendoacademy.com) and one in Long Island, NY by master Kim (5 dan, no website). Two different schools.

[Snobody]

Kaoru I'd stick to the AUSKF listing. Kongokan used to be listed there until their most recent update, when it was taken off. 735 Port Washington Blvd (Port Washington road doesn't even exist) is the location of some insurance company or something...I think that address is wayy outdated. I also did other searches and came up with another Port Washington address that turned out to be a community center type of place, but they didn't know about any kendo classes (or what it was, for that matter).
The phone number is also dead, I think.

Searches for Kazuo Kato and kendo together only led me to some Hawaiian Iaido things, because he did some seminars in Hawaii. I looked long and hard for that dojo, because if it existed it would be 10 minutes from my house. It's a shame it seems to have disappeared.

[Masahiro]

Wada shiwa Nihonjin desu. I am not very fond of the Koreans or their version of kendo. But I would like to point out Koreans kumdo players almost always come in 2nd in the past WKCs and over all regional tournaments in the U.S. So to say the least, I have a lot respect for them despite my dislikes in their version of kendo. And although not many will tell you to pick the korean dojan over a Japanese dojo. I say pick whichever one that fits your taste the best afteryou've gone to observe their classes. I have seen some very impressive Korean kumdo fencers! Thus, I don't think it is a matter of which one you choose to do as oppose to how you do it. good luck with your journey,

[kendokamax]

When I came back from Japan I saw kumdo dojo perform in a tournament in Canada. Their kumdo seemed really similar to Japanese kendo. There wasnt any big difference in my opinion.

I had some friends from korea in my Japanese University and you could really see the difference of their kendo and the japanese's kendo.

Its non stop attacking!!

So I thought in North America, it is pretty much the same.