[HawksBurnDown]

Of course, I don't have sufficient cultural background for ammo to continue this engaging dialogue. Though I can't say I'm completely ignorant of how many Chinese kenshi feel about the intrinsic cultural clash between their heritage and the values embodied in kendo... during my work in Shanghai and Hong Kong some years ago I was fortunate enough to become quite involved in the local kendo communities, and heard many a WWII story from some of the older members, or at least from their retelling of family stories.

In retrospect, this historical aspect of kendo probably poses the most challenging dichotomy of all, between the set of values running the gamut from bushido to kamikaze, and the process of internalizing these values and somehow adapting them to our own set of beliefs and what not.

But cklin - I definitely agree with the jukendo part - that is perhaps one of the most offensive "sports" or 'arts" I have ever seen. I saw a videotape of a budo demonstration once, and saw the maniac bayonette fellas. Completely ridiculous. That should have been outlawed long ago...or at least get players to use regular sticks and not those wooden rifle-shaped "shinai".