studying kumdo AND kendo

[hwarangdo]

has anyone tried studying both? i practice kumdo, but i'm interested in trying kendo (for variety/change of scenery). i'd like to keep my kumdo school as my "base," and travel school to school for more instruction/sparring opportunities.

anyone with this type of experience? btw, this forum is excellent.

[sminki]

Okay. Tired of people who think that kumdo and kendo are different. Sorry Hwarangdo. Don't mean to attack you personally, but kumdo=kendo. Little differences do exist (like no sonkyo (crouching thing before matches), etc.) but same martial art which exist under one international umbrella organization of International Kendo Federation employing the same rules, basic and advanced techniques, same kata/forms, etc. (I assume you do kumdo belonging to Korean Kumdo Association, not Haedong Kumdo or anything like that).

I have once belonged to a Korean kumdo dojang/school and now belong to a Japanese dojo/school. It is the SAME thing except for minor differences of etiquette/custom.

While I agree that visiting different dojos/dojangs to gain more exposure and experiences with different kenshi is a good idea and it is something that I try to do myself, I'd like to make a point of kendo=kumdo.

[Old Warrior]

For whatever its worth, I train with Master Seong, 7th Dan, in Kumdo. The name of his school is Sung Moo Kendo Academy. His position is that he is not a historian and has no interest in whose culture is the genesis of Kendo. As Sminki says, our kata are the same, with the exception of a very few matters, the rules and techniques are the same. Everyone who shows up with respect and tolerance is welcome.

[smith]

Kendo and kumdo are the same art, with the same techniques, but they do have different "flavours". I can usually tell (up to a certain level) when my opponent has trained in a kumdo dojang.

[roc_kendo]

I did Kumdo, and I am doing Kendo...

There are few differences between Kumdo and Kendo.
First of all, pronunciation of chinese character(Kanji).. :-)
Second, Shon-Kyu... Kendo dose but Kumdo dosen't. Some of Kumdo Dojangs in the USA, they do the Shon-kyu.
Third, terminologies ..Mu-Ri Vs. Men, Son-mook Vs. Kote...etc.
Fourth, Kumdo has different Kata styles such as Chosun-Seo-Bup.
Five, Kumdo likes power and Kendo likes one clean shot <<-- I may wrong...

For me, Kumdo=Kendo ^^

[TheBraveFencer]

To me, while kendo and kumdo are the same thing overall just like everyone else has said, those that practice kumdo seem to have a much more aggressive strategy and are constantly attacking, while those practicing kendo tend to "lie in wait" I guess you could say, attacking when they see an opening in the opponent. I'm not saying everyone practicing kumdo is ultra aggressive and everyone practicing kendo just waits, but I guess its the trend overall for both.

[kendomushi]

A good kendoka doesn't just lie in wait. He may use a less obvious form of aggression though. When you reach yon-dan, its expected that you don't waste time and energy attacking, you only launch attack when there is a genuine chance to hit. The kendoka creates this with strong use of seme, putting pressure on the opponent to force him to commit to a move or make a mistake.
We teach that there are 3 chances to get a strike in, these are when the opponnent has just committed his body to an action, just completed an action, and when his body is at rest or stops for an instant. I can see how this might seem less aggressive than kumdo, but its just a different style of aggressiveness I think.