CLASSICAL KENDO IN CONTRAST TO SPORT
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| Donn F. Draeger (historian of martial arts) notes in his book 'The Classical Budo', pp. 123-126: |
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"Because classical budo hides from modern society by choice, the location
of a master teacher becomes no easy matter [...] It is essential to the student's appreciation of the classical budo to try to understand its basic spirit and not to overvalue its byproduct, technical skill. Any student who expects to find a sport application in his study of classical budo must also be advised to direct himself to the modern cognate disciplines designed for that purpose. It is patent that no sport can ever be a true classical dô form; no classical dô form can ever house a sport entity. The primary purpose of a sport form is the establishment of better records or championships, as well as the development of individual stars or champions [...] To become a classical dô a sport entity must drop all notions of competition and record breaking, of immediate results for championships, of garnering group prestige, and concentrate upon the individual's self-perfection as the end point of training." Furthermore you can read in the Ph. D. thesis by Jeffrey Dann (1978): Kendo in Japanese Martial Culture; University of Washington, pp. 220, 260 and in the book 'Rediscovering Budo' by Roald Knutsen, p. 11: "From the perspective of many masters of Japanese budo, all sports aspects particularly the modern emphasis on tournament and match competitions represent 'satsujin-ken' - 'the sword used to destroy', whereas the true aim of budo must be 'katsujin-ken' - 'the sword used to preserve life'". |
THE HISTORY OF LYNGBY KENDO CLUB |
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Lyngby Kendo Club in Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark, was established the 19th July 2003 and was
organized in International Kendo Federation. Lyngby
Kendo Club was based on shin-budo and hereby the Modern kendo - competitive kendo. Instead of practicing the Modern kendo, Lyngby Kendo Club decided the 25th July 2007 to preserve the older Japanese traditions (ko-budo, 古武道). In this matter the philosophy of the classical dô form and the principle of katsujin-ken were accepted. Furthermore the name of Lyngby Kendo Club was changed to Gakuchoukan (楽蝶館). In order to get the knowledge and development of Kendo based on ko-budo it was necessary to establish contact to a Traditional Kendo organization. The 2nd March 2008 Gakuchoukan Kendo Dojo was admitted in Danish Traditional Kendo Federation (in Danish: Dansk Traditionel Kendo Forbund). Today we have the pleasure of offering Traditional Kendo to children from the age of 6 years old. (website in English: www.traditional-kendo.com) We are in close contact with international Kendo groups and Kendo organizations in Japan and Europe, all with interest in preserve the older Japanese traditions through Traditional Kendo (剣道). Gakuchoukan Kendo Dojo represents no opposition to the Modern kendo. Our purpose is a different approach to Kendo than the mainstream kendo.
Gakuchoukan Kendô Dôjô |