FIK member federation?

**enkorat** · 25th April 2012, 01:33 AM

Well, I did hapkido for 5 years. I'll just leave it at that.

For many reasons, in my personal experience its a no-win situation. If you say something, you end up sounding like a pompous ass. If you don't say anything, people less senior to that person get confused.

My personal strategy is to get as many of my kohai and practice partners exposed to different kinds of kendo relatively early, for example by encouraging them to go to AUSKF affiliated events as often as possible, so they can match their techniques against people they don't know, and so they can experience what they're taught against someone else. Even at an AUSKF affiliated event, one tends to see wide variation in styles, manners, and lots of differences. Then when they come home they have a better idea of what their own kendo is, and whether or not its "valid" or "good", and they (and also their parents in some cases) can make their own evaluation as to whether their instruction is "good" (I hope that they decide that it is). Then in the dojo you end up getting some experience across all levels even with the mudansha, and no one in particular is "isolated" (i.e. solely dependent on what I or another person tells them is "kendo"), so if you end up getting a visitor or someone who does something very different, the dojo members can draw on their own experiences and make their own evaluation. So I can, in the end, say very little.

Its a very delicate situation though, particularly since how a instructor develops the instructor-student relationship can lead to not so good things, especially if money or livelihoods are involved. I just hope that in those cases when someone like that shows up at the dojo, my kendo itself is strong enough and I know enough that my kendo itself can speak for itself, without having to use words.

**tango** · 25th April 2012, 04:53 AM

I'll just share this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-230Pylqps

This is the kind of thing that CAN happen when you get a TKD school that professes to "teach kumdo/kendo" and the instructors themselves have not had any real, legit kendo/kumdo training...

The video makes it patently clear.

I mean, not only does the video demonstrate "legit stick fighting" but to use the "kendo" term in the title is beyond wrong... How many ways it is wrong? Ignore the actual "fighting techniques" used and look to this one example, at the very least: the 'referee' of the match gives a warning to the one guy (who actually appears to be a black belt? video is poor, so hard to tell) for "hitting the elbow" (a warning given not once, but twice....)

Where in the whole realm of kendo/kumdo, regardless of how BAD it is, does there exist the notion of 'warning for hitting the elbow'??? Gimme a break.

Obviously, that TKD school is in Nashville...
It's not like there hasn't been a legit AUSKF-affiliated kendo club in Nashville for many years..
The video above was downloaded in 2008... I presume it was shot in 2008.
In 2008, the Nashville Kendo Club was being led by Yazaki-sensei (7.dan) and Imai-sensei (I think he was 4.dan then, but is now 5.dan)... and a few others in that 2.dan to 4.dan range.

No excuses. NONE.

**enkorat** · 25th April 2012, 05:32 AM

Yea, the video is pretty bad.

Once when I was staying in line for the Phantom Menace (all day...), a news crew came by to film the cultural event, and the group in front of me in line was dressed in Star Wars costumes and had plastic lightsabers (in addition to a inflatable Darth Maul arm chair). So the news crew asked the costumed (cosplayers?) to do some lightsaber fighting, and the nice people obliged with a European fencing fight with plastic lightsabers. Sad thing I suppose is, they did a better fight than what's shown in the youtube video. But I've seen my fair share of really questionable fights on Youtube.

But really, what can one say? There are actually a number of Youtube matches of me (for example) now online, from my old dojo, and maybe my new one, and I'm not a great player but anyone who had any sort of interest in doing kendo could find it on google. Any additional research could also easily find the "high end" online, like All Japan's or US Nationals. I think for the most part someone who did their research before walking through the door could make at least an educated guess that one dojo or the other is good or not so good. Maybe I'm too optimistic?

I'm thinking that the people you tend to see in some of these questionable dojos are already "lost". I bet they started doing something "else", and then started kendo or whatever its called within the establishment they were already practicing at as something "new". And since they already had a pre-existing relationship with their instructor, they felt comfortable there and didn't really care about the authenticity or expertise of the instructor in question, or didn't have a good comparison. If they decide to venture to a new school or to a completely different federation, and they see something completely different, then it means they either have to reject the "new" thing they see, or break with their old sensei. That's not easy.

I should also suggest, perhaps unpopularly, that there is also no iron-clad guarantee that an AUSKF dojo's instruction is competent either, if you think about it.

**Neil Gendzwill** · 25th April 2012, 05:54 AM

All depends on your perspective. You can show videos from the all-Japan championships to some HEMA guys, and they will pick them apart for not being what they expect out of swordsmanship. The guy from your video might show up at a kendo club, get clipped on the elbow or the armpit and get a terse "sorry" or maybe nothing at all, and leave all ticked off at how out of control and rude the kendo people were.

**enkorat** · 25th April 2012, 06:18 AM

That's true.

I suppose I'd have a harder time with people misrepresenting Kendo than Kumdo. In my personal experience there seems to be a much larger degrees of freedom when it comes to the interpretation of what Kumdo is versus what FIK Kendo is.

But practice every day brings its own challenges, as I never really know who is going to walk through that door, so I've decided not to worry about "big picture" items anymore, and just deal with what can be dealt with. If I can practice, demonstrate, and maybe teach people good correct kendo on days I'm running practice, and everyone leaves tired, satisfied, a little more skilled, and without injury, its been a good enough day.

**Toshiro Mifune** · 25th April 2012, 06:19 AM

I'm not going on a witch hunt and going to his dojo to challenge them but I do warn people if they want to learn real kendo/kumdo to check out the AUSKF website or dojos/clubs that I know that have people from real kendo/kumdo backgrounds. Especially if the people offer private kendo/kumdo lessons which is not the norm. Some of the Kumdo dojangs that own their facility could possibly do it but someone offering private lessons at your home is strange.

I had a beginner last year and she was very disappointed she paid good money for private lessons at her home. In addition the instructor was not very friendly but she had no previous experience in martial arts and relied on google. The problem is some people have no martial arts experience and unlike me who looked in Kendo: The Defenitive Guide and Kendousa.org for a dojo they rely on google. Unfortunately the McDojos can pay to get better search results the AUSKF homepage. If you have no experience in martial arts, don't know what to look for, questions to ask, etc and your excited to start somewhere. Then you could possibly end up in a McDojo.

Perhaps the AUSKF or local federations could pay a fee to google to get more/better hits but most likely it is expensive. Maybe an article on what to look for when selecting a dojo might help. Most of us aren't paid instructors and don't really run dojos/clubs like businesses so we focus on sustainment and mainly on instruction. As opposed to McDojos because it is their lively hood they make sure they have high visibility to recruit members.

Unfortunately I don't think most of the areas besides CA devote much effort on promoting their dojos. You regularly see something online or even the WKC promotional DVD the AUSKF was circulating to news stations to try and promote kendo. Not that it would stop McDojos but some more effort with marketing and using the media would give legitimate dojos more visibility. Honestly if you watch the local or even daytime local news kendo/kumdo/iaido,etc is more newsworthy or has more entertainment value then some of the stories they have to fill time. You can see some of the reporters hoping something more newsworthy or bad will happen.

**rfoxmich** · 20th May 2012, 08:11 AM

Bylaws and policy & procedures are definitely missing but http://www.auskf.info/docs/index.htm has quite a bit of promotion information/regulations.

Originally Posted by R Stroud

Sounds like a good idea. But what I was really thinking about is having the AUSKF put the policies and procedures, bylaws, testing regulations, etc up on the website so that US kenshi could get information as needed.

**Daniel Sullivan** · 28th May 2012, 11:15 AM