Kendo vs. kumdo

As far as my knowledge goes kendo was taught to the koreans during the japanese invasion. so kumdo is kendo but just with the characters said differently. whats the differece in kendo and kumdo? is there any draw backs from taking kumdo instead of kendo? Is there anydifference in gear, philosophy or technique? i have a close kumdo school to my house, i am intrested in japanese swordsmanship and now i am learning from a book and soon i can take classes from one of my taekwondo teachers which has alot of expierence in different martial arts and weapons. I have spent 7 years on tkd, should i drop it and go to the kumdo teaching school? or should i stay at my present school and learn iaido and tkd from there? what do u think?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by yuji1000:
As far as my knowledge goes kendo was taught to the koreans during the japanese invasion. so kumdo is kendo but just with the characters said differently. whats the differece in kendo and kumdo? is there any draw backs from taking kumdo instead of kendo? Is there anydifference in gear, philosophy or technique? i have a close kumdo school to my house, i am intrested in japanese swordsmanship and now i am learning from a book and soon i can take classes from one of my taekwondo teachers which has alot of expierence in different martial arts and weapons. I have spent 7 years on tkd, should i drop it and go to the kumdo teaching school? or should i stay at my present school and learn iaido and tkd from there? what do u think?[/QUOTE]

Since kendo and iaido are not the same thing, it ultimately depends on what you want to learn.

I suspect that kumdo is as much like kendo as tae kwon do is like shotokan karate. Which is to say, mostly, but with widely varying quality of instruction and variance of technique. Some dojos more like kendo some less.

There are quite a few options in your area. I'd suggest popping over to http://www.e-budo.com and http://www.swordforum.com Search the archives for "Los Angelos kendo"

Also give http://www.shinkendo.com



[This message has been edited by Charles Mahan (edited 09-26-2004).]

Comparing Karate to Taekwondo is like comparing an apple to an orange... I believe Taekwondo has its origins from Southern Shaolin Kung Fu... or Wong Fei Hung's Po Chi Lam style..

Most styles of karate find their roots in kung fu, but TKD in particular is founded on Shotokan roots. Or at least so I've read many many times. Hard to say for sure as there is a significant amount of revisionist history floating around online.

There are a lot of good links on the subject at http://www.e-budo.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12932&highlight=Shotokan+Tae+Kwon+Do+TKD

[This message has been edited by Charles Mahan (edited 09-29-2004).]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by yuji1000:
As far as my knowledge goes kendo was taught to the koreans during the japanese invasion. so kumdo is kendo but just with the characters said differently. whats the differece in kendo and kumdo? is there any draw backs from taking kumdo instead of kendo? Is there anydifference in gear, philosophy or technique? i have a close kumdo school to my house, i am intrested in japanese swordsmanship and now i am learning from a book and soon i can take classes from one of my taekwondo teachers which has alot of expierence in different martial arts and weapons.[QUOTE]

Yes, the Japanese brought Kendo to Korea during the occupation. Kendo and Kumdo have the same competition rules. According to my Kumdo instructor, the only real difference is the Koreans where White Hakama and Jacket and the Japanese (and everyone else, including me because I'm not Korean) wear blue. Equipment is the same. I'm sure training techniques vary from school to school as with any other MA.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by yuji1000:
I have spent 7 years on tkd, should i drop it and go to the kumdo teaching school? or should i stay at my present school and learn iaido and tkd from there? what do u think?[QUOTE]

As A_M_P stated above, Iaido and Kendo/Kumdo are very different things. It depends on what you want to practice. Unless it's a financial issue, stay with the TKD and add your preferred sword art. Besides TKD, I practice both Kumdo (armored sparring) and Hae Dong Kumdo (more slicing techniques and forms)and though they're all quit different, don't find any conflict between them.

[This message has been edited by Gemini (edited 12-14-2004).]

[This message has been edited by Gemini (edited 12-14-2004).]

I'd go so far as to say that Kendo and Kumdo are vastly more similar than Tae Kwon Do and Karate (Very general statement, since we're not talking styles here)