The first Kendo motion picture

Wow, they even had newaza in kendo. I've never seen kendo like that.

JudoSensei wrote:Wow, they even had newaza in kendo. I've never seen kendo like that.

Very well was not a strait Kendo school or a Kendo school at all. I think some of the other Bu Jutsu systems used Kendo equipment for their own ends.

And some Kendoka guys also practiced Koryu.

And we know that some Kendoka play Judo.

I think that was real cool to see.

I do Arnis and I love when you get in and integrate other things into it.

A Medeivl German swordmaster was qouted as saying something to the effect of "Never put a sword in a man's hand who can not first dance and wrestle."

Makes sense because the less rules you apply to weapons training, it highlights just how much of the weapon is you and really shows you how Ju Jutsu and similar Western fighting techniques came about.

I am a big beleiver in the theory that much of the evolution of Ju Jutsu/TaiJutsu/Yawara ect was a blend of Sumo skills and sword. It at lest feels that way after 16 years of JJ and 11 of Arnis crosstraining and some small training in sword.

I've seen this posted several places now and so far haven't seen anyone note what struck me immediately - the guy in the white, who gets wrestled to the ground, is using a kusarigama fundo - a sickle with a weight on a line or light chain. Having practiced this, it is a vicious little weapon if handled correctly. Seeing that twirled about in what seems to be a crowded dojo is pretty interesting.

And there was grappling in old kendo - a match point could be awarded if you could take someone down and remove their men (mask).

NBK

NBK wrote:I've seen this posted several places now and so far haven't seen anyone note what struck me immediately - the guy in the white, who gets wrestled to the ground, is using a kusarigama fundo - a sickle with a weight on a line or light chain.  Having practiced this, it is a vicious little weapon if handled correctly.  Seeing that twirled about in what seems to be a crowded dojo is pretty interesting.

And there was grappling in old kendo - a match point could be awarded if you could take someone down and remove their men (mask).

NBK

Heck ... there was grappling in kendo in the US at least through internment. Our dojo founder used to really piss people off that way ... as I hear it from his son.

BillC wrote:

NBK wrote:I've seen this posted several places now and so far haven't seen anyone note what struck me immediately - the guy in the white, who gets wrestled to the ground, is using a kusarigama fundo - a sickle with a weight on a line or light chain.  Having practiced this, it is a vicious little weapon if handled correctly.  Seeing that twirled about in what seems to be a crowded dojo is pretty interesting.

And there was grappling in old kendo - a match point could be awarded if you could take someone down and remove their men (mask).

NBK

Heck ... there was grappling in kendo in the US at least through internment.  Our dojo founder used to really piss people off that way ... as I hear it from his son.

That was a result of the old Butokukai influence on kendo - and the Yubukai, sort of a subset of the Butokukai that encompassed all main kendoka. The postwar kendo distanced itself from all that, so modern kendoka wouldn't know it.

NBK wrote:That was a result of the old Butokukai influence on kendo - and the Yubukai, sort of a subset of the Butokukai that encompassed all main kendoka.  The postwar kendo distanced itself from all that, so modern kendoka wouldn't know it.  

As I heard it, Sachio-sensei's family was from Wakayama-ken. If I got it right, he was born in the US but returned to Japan for school, certainly he came back to the US before the war and was interned. All of that fit with Butotukai kendo ... and judo?

Absolutely - in fact, as a high school kid taking kendo in grade school from the mid 1930's, he'd most likely be taking it from a military reservist under the command of an active duty military officer assigned to the school to oversee physical education. This is why the occupation forces, Supreme Command Allied Powers (SCAP) outlawed school budo - it essentially became military preparatory training.