Tigers and Cranes

kendo grew out of need to train japanese men in the art of sword fighting without, you know, practioners losing their eyes or limbs. in its present form, the art of kendo is practiced with a bamboo sword called “shinai” and the kendoka(the kendo dudes) wears armor called “bogu” as well as a mask called “men” so that when one is whacked(it is the purpose of kendo, after all), it don’t hurt so much.

it’s a sublime thing to watch at times, as the strikes come in a microsecond, and the reflex needed as well as coordination and training that is required is pretty damn arduous. i used to think that it’s all about swinging that bamboo sword around and whacking people, but in reality, it will take someone a good year or more to properly land a strike. consistently.

korea has kendo too, and as far as i know, it was first brought by the japanese colonialist in the 1910 or so. koreans took to kendo with fervor, as understandably there must’ve been some pent up anger and frustration.

after the japanese left post world war 2 defeat, koreans kept at it, and eventually the art as we know it, is rechristened “gumdo” or “kumdo”. essentially it’s the same, but asking someone who has practiced both kendo and gumdo, he tells me that in gumdo, there is much more movement, less concentration on form and mental aspects. gumdo also does away with some of the rituals of kendo, such as squatting in front of your opponent before the match and so forth.

this much is certain. as the birthplace of kendo, japan has been dominant in the world of kendo championship, just as koreans dominate tae kwon do world championships. in fact, japan has never lost a world kendo championship, but it has happened this year in taipei, taiwan, where japanese national men’s team was defeated in the semifinal round at the hands of american team. the american team consists mostly of second and third generatiopn japanese, many hailing from the los angeles area. congratualtions, team u.s.a.

perennial runner up korean team defeated team u.s.a to win its first ever kendo world championship. which is as shocking as japan winning world tae kwon do championship. these things just do not happen, but it finally did.

A riotous crowd cheered as South Korea defeated Team USA in the men’s team kendo competition in the final round of the 13th World Kendo Championship in Taipei on Sunday.

It was a historic moment, as Japan, the spiritual home of kendo, failed to take top honors for the first time in the tournament’s 36-year history. South Korea, on the other hand, finally escaped second place, where it had languished for the past six tournaments.

here is a video of that championship match, which a korean kendoka (in funky white)lands a decisive blow on the head of an american (traditional dark)to win its first ever champioship.

from taipei times

This entry was posted on Friday, December 15th, 2006 at 4:00 pm and is filed under korea, japan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.