| I recently had a couple of students in my | | | | wear rigid practice armor (called a bogu in |
| Wing Chun class ask for training in | | | | kendo and a hogu in kumdo.) The two arts |
| swordsmanship. Now, Kung Fu has a lot of | | | | have been diverging slowly since 1945, though |
| weapons forms, but they tend to be stylized, | | | | the basic forms are nearly identical from |
| rather than sparring formats. I originally | | | | what I've been looking up. The Korean |
| thought of teaching them Kendo, on the | | | | protective gear is a bit more modern and |
| Japanese forms, but having just taken some | | | | practical in design, being a bit less tied to |
| Tae Kwon Do classes of my own, I decided to | | | | tradition than the kendo gear. It is kind of |
| look a little further afield. I found the | | | | nice to be able to use kendo gear for it, or |
| Korean cognate of Kendo, called kumdo. While | | | | mix and match. (We have some gear left over |
| there are a lot of practitioners of kumdo who | | | | from when a prior instructor at the school |
| claim that their techniques are passed down | | | | tried to teach Kendo. It didn't go over |
| over the centuries in secret rituals, a | | | | well, but the gear is still here at the |
| little bit of digging showed that it's | | | | school.) Kumdo and Kendo are close enough in |
| incredibly unlikely that this is the case. | | | | form that Kumdo teams participate in the |
| When the Imperial Army of Japan occupied | | | | World Kendo Championships. While there are |
| Chosun (now Korea) in the early 20th century, | | | | some differences (Kumdo focuses a bit more on |
| they brought kendo with them. Prior to that, | | | | point strikes than power and speed), the |
| because of the Confucian influences from | | | | kumdo teams do respectably. Overall, it |
| China, and a Korean superstition about sharp | | | | looks like a good fit with what my students |
| objects, the art of the sword in Korea had | | | | are asking for, which is more an overview of |
| been withering on the vine for going on three | | | | swordsmanship techniques, and as there's a |
| hundred years. The Koreans, like any culture | | | | strong Korean community in Las Vegas, I may |
| that adopts guns, had relegated the sword to | | | | be able to set up classes with a wider |
| a secondary, and eventually tertiary weapon | | | | audience. Kumdo is the second most popular |
| for military training, and Confucianism put a | | | | sport in Korea, so it may have some traction |
| stronger emphasis on scholarship than martial | | | | here. |
| arts. So, kumdo sort of grew from Kendo, and | | | | |
| it has a lot of obvious similarities. You | | | | Yoshi I Kundagawa is a freelance journalist. |
| use a split bamboo practice sword (called a | | | | He covers the mixed martial arts industry. |
| shinai in Kendo, and a jukdo in kumdo), and | | | | For a free report on kumdo visit his blog. |