[Farson]

Maybe its just me, but I'm noticing a trend of decisions made by the AUSKF, that everyone seems to be in the dark on, until the decision has already been made. The most recent thing I can think of, is the mudansha division at the national tournament.

[spamkillerj]

Stroud sensei and Tango beat me to it. Let's be clear: I don't have a problem with kumdo or anything like that, I do have a problem with the regionless federation concept. I think it perpetuates an "us and them" feeling, and increases the potential for political nonsense.

arent there some KKA dojangs in regional federations under the AUSKF already? I know that some in So Cal are.

[Guaranano]

arent there some KKA dojangs in regional federations under the AUSKF already? I know that some in So Cal are.

I've seen this question been asked before...which of these Southern California dojang(s) are under the AUSKF?

[Goseciwx]

arent there some KKA dojangs in regional federations under the AUSKF already? I know that some in So Cal are.

I honestly don't know, perhaps Marsten sensei does? Come to think of it, I'm not aware of any dojang, KKF or otherwise, north of the Calif. Bay area.

[triardwonvada]

I believe the 'western' term comes from western hemisphere versus west coast/east coast. Like how people say American is the West and Asia is the East. At least that was my first impression of the newly associated Western Kumdo... etc etc. I could be wrong of course...

[sniskelsowwef]

I honestly don't know, perhaps Marsten sensei does? Come to think of it, I'm not aware of any dojang, KKF or otherwise, north of the Calif. Bay area.

KKA (KKF)-wise, there's one in the Bay Area, and 2-3 belonging to USKU.

if you meant past Bay Area, I believe there's one in Seattle, I could be wrong.

[opergolon]

I honestly don't know, perhaps Marsten sensei does? Come to think of it, I'm not aware of any dojang, KKF or otherwise, north of the Calif. Bay area.

To the best of my knowledge on this wonderful action it is a few clubs in Southern California, a few in Northern California and two in the greater Seattle area. I was told that all up they would add several hundred new dues payers to the AUSKF coffers. That in itself should be reason enough to bring them in. I intend to check and see if this membership is actually valid. AS near as I can tell right now it is an invalid action by president Hori. No were in the AUSKF newsletter does it say they voted on this action but rather it was under review.

As to the two in Washington, one of them is half a block from Bellevue Kendo Club. That would prevent them from joining PNKF unless Bellevue said it was OK. The other is located in Lynnwood, WA. between SnoKing and Everett. It would appear that they are in no way able to issue menjo/grades of the same requirements based on their membership. However who is going to check on them. They can put on paper anything they want and turn it in to the AUSKF.

The best part is now they can make a regional team to compete in nationals with people from all over the entire west coast. For all we know it may include people from the east coast too. As one AUSKF director said to me who is totally against this "how do you know the people on the team didn't just step off the airplane from Korea". I don't know that they would do that but certainly there will be a lack of visibility with regard to the membership. As pointed out earlier with the number of Peter Kim's around. We have had as many as 14 Kim's in Bellevue at one time. We have to go by middle initials in order to sort them out for taikai and shinsa.

On the bright side we will not have the actual KKA doing as much business in the US. It has always puzzled me why it is OK for the KKA to have dojang here in the US when we all belong to the FIK. The other is the dojang down the street keeps providing me with new members who want to get more for less $$.
It should prove an interesting discussion amongst the PNKF board as to how we will interact with our new neighbors.

[johnbeller]

Ayeeyah... what a headache.

[Elitiachirl]

i wonder if they are going to do sankyo in their practice now..

pete

[viagra_generic]

i think the whole idea was to bring KKA folks into AUSKF without pissing off whole lot of them. so, give them their own fed, keep the money for AUSKF, and leave them alone. like most of ethnic people in US, koreans like to hang around other koreans. this will do just that. those koreans who didn't care to join KKA/US before will most likely stay that way with AUSKF regional fed.. so i don't see what the big deal is. it's not like whole bunch of old KKA folks will make up the next US team to the world championship.

pete

[xresultsearch]

KKA (KKF)-wise, there's one in the Bay Area, and 2-3 belonging to USKU.

if you meant past Bay Area, I believe there's one in Seattle, I could be wrong.

Thanks...I guess I did vaguely know about the one in Bellevue, I recall it being discussed at a PNKF board meeting recently.

[SallyIsNice5]

Anytime something controversial arises I always ask 2 questions:

1. Cui bono?

2. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

I don't think we have the answer to either of these questions. Maybe it's time for the kenshi at large to take over ownership of the AUSKF from the Federations and become indiviudal members as almost every other sports organization I can think of has. See, US Fencing Association.

[lorrieholdridge]

i think the whole idea was to bring KKA folks into AUSKF without pissing off whole lot of them. so, give them their own fed, keep the money for AUSKF, and leave them alone. like most of ethnic people in US, koreans like to hang around other koreans. this will do just that.

pete

So why bring them in at all? If they are not going to contribute to the area they live in, who needs them? Let them stay right where they are doing what they do. Unless they are US citizens they can't be on the team but they sure can go to nationals with a composite team from all over the country.

Supposedly one of the major purposes of having a US federation was to unite all of us in a common goal. Bringing up all of the kendo in the US not just in certain areas. We already have enough of the separate but equal federations in the east and Southern California. There was a small group of us that worked our butts off to bring this country into one national federation. This is not helpful.

[DoterrFor]

Following the line of reasoning? out further, does this mean that the FIK International Kendo Federation may soon allow rogue nation states to join as member nations? In light of the new regionless/non-geographic US kendo federations ( http://www.auskf.info/newsletter/vol10no2.pdf , Page 4 ) does this mean that given enough kenshi a group of say 20-30 dojo could form as "the Nation of Sillyness", and then apply to the FIK for member status.

I bet that if several dojo from many countries banded together and applied to the FIK for member status they would be politely told to join their respective national kendo organization. Why is the US going down this path?

Maybe a better solution would have been to offer the KKA a grace period while they merge with the existing kendo federations. Something like 2-3 years as independents and then deadline to fold their dojo/dojang into the existing regional federations. Similarly the existing overlapping California and Colorado, etc federations should have been created (during the BKR/KFUSA merge) with a timeline to become single federations instead of allowed to continue "as is" with no end in sight.

Apropos Stroud Sensei's remarks above I actually went to the AUSKF newsletter and here is the pertinent portion:


M. Korean Kumdo Association,U.S.A.:
Proposal To Join AUSKF.
Atsushi Hori reported that there have
been preliminary meetings held by the
AUSKF officers: Atsushi Hori and
Norman K. Otani with KKA- U.S.A.
officials: Peter Kim [KKA, U.S.A.
President] and Bruce Partlow.
After negotiations between the AUSKF
and KKA-U.S.A regarding the AUSKF
policies in regards to promotion
examinations and other AUSKF policies
and procedures; it appears there is now
agreement that will result in the KKAU.
S.A. submitting an application to be
considered as a New Member
Association of the AUSKF.
Ichiro Murakami read a letter to the
AUSKF board of directors that was
received regarding the KKA-U.S.A.
A discussion followed regarding the
current geographical areas covered by the
dojos affiliated with the KKA-U.S.A
Atsushi Hori reported that the dojos
affiliated with the KKA-U.S.A. currently
are located in Seattle, Washington and in
Northern California, Southern California.
Takeshi Yamaguchi noted that based on
the current broad and diverse
geographical distribution of dojos that
makeup the current AUSKF member
federations; and, similarly, the proposed
New Member Association being
considered [KKA-U.S.A.] raises an
important point as to the use of the term
“regional” as it refers to the AUSKF
member federations in the AUSKF bylaws
and other AUSKF documents.
After further discussion, it was agreed to
review the suggestion made by Takeshi
Yamaguchi described above at the next
November, 2007 AUSKF board of
directors meeting.
------------------------


It's not November 2007. What happened?

[Elisabetxxx]

Maybe not disturbing but should be cause for concern by the AUSKF membership because this new group will be a regionless regional federation. All KKA dojang will make up this new AUSKF member federation.

So it strengthens the AUSKF's move toward non-geographic based regions for member federations. Any group with dojo(s) located in any state can form a federation and join the AUSKF. A string of affliated dojo are now possible.

No longer are regions forced to be based upon US geography. You simply put together enough people from anywhere in the US and that is a federation.

In my opinion, this move further fractionates (is that a real word?) the AUSKF instead forcing people to work together. We now have multiple federations in California, in Colorada, on the East Coast that overlap geographically which does not help strengthen the US kendo skill pool.

It seems to me that if the AUSKF forced people to join a single federation and insist that they work out their political differences and cooperate that would strengthen kendo in the US more than adding federations on top of federations.

What motivation is there for this new group to simply join in and become a part of the existing kendo federations in each of their respective states? If you want to strengthen US kendo the federation should be building larger regional groups that are expanding and supporting kendo in their geographic region, this will give member kenshi more opportunity to practice. How do you practice when others in your same town are in a different federations and holding different events, etc?

The term Western in Western Kendo Federation refers to the western united states or no overlap with the east, there is an eastern KKA that may or may not join depending on its membership votes and much like the other AUSKF federations. I cannot commit on the regional arguments, but from my read of the AUSKF bylaws, that was never intended to occur but was an effect that occured due to the requirements of at least 10 dojo's and 100 members, (see SOCAL which has two "regional groups". With regards to memberships and "how to tell" if they are or are not a member, AUSKF bylaws require a membership number, so in theory, one could represent themselves as someone else, just as it could occur with any dojo in AUSKF, but to participate in bi-regional tournaments and the national championships, one must present your AUSKF card with your number. My understanding is AUSKF wishes to form the strongest national team, regardless of nationality or other such constraints, look at the last team which had US Citizens and non-citizens on it.

This new federation should be looked upon by all AUSKF member as a good thing as the reality, if the requirement was to join one of the other federations, it just would not of happened. A large number of their students are first generation and have difficulty with english and or japanese, giving them a place to collect and practice with like minded and language compatible groups seems like a good idea to me. Over time and generations the issue of national origin fad away, we can see this demonstrated as 2nd, 3rd and more generations take the leadership positions across the country.

I say lets welcome them and focus on good practice, leave the politics and such to the old men who can't practice anymore. Lets focus on taking the WKC next time and in the mean time, practice the diversity that makes this country so great.

[Slonopotam845]

Sorry, but I can't support it. If this is true, then I believe the AUSKF has acted outside their own bylaws, and not in the best interests of the membership at large. Kendo is not and never should be about "pennant fever", and bending the rules to acheive a desirable but short-term result.

[JAMES PIETERSE]

Who were the "non-citizens" on the WKC team?

[Chooriwrocaey]

So what's new? Isn't the AUSKF already "fractionalized"? Is it critical to the promotion of kendo that we not be? Isn't this country the "Great Melting Pot" - E Pluribus Unum - where we can be one and yet retain our diversity? Doesn't the purpose of kendo transcend obsession with political or geographic solidarity?

I tend to over-indulge in rhetorical inquiry. Back to practice.

[Dapnoinaacale]

Membership card? I don't have one. What have I been missing?

[Ndptbudd]

Membership card? I don't have one. What have I been missing?

Well, they've been working on it for two years, as I recall. It's early yet.