Noma dojo

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Noma dojo

Noma Dojo (???? Noma Dojo) is a privately owned kendo

Kendo

, meaning ":wiktionary:? of the :wiktionary:?", is a modern Japanese people martial art of sword-fighting based on traditional Japanese swordsmanship, or Kenjutsu....
training hall, or dojo

Dojo

A is a Japanese language term which literally means "place of the Tao". Initially, dojo were adjunct to temples. The term can refer to a formal training place for any of the Japanese do arts but typically it is considered the formal gathering place for students of any Japanese martial arts style to conduct training, examinations and other rela...
, located in Tokyo

Tokyo

, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshu. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the Tokyo City in the eastern part of the prefecture, and total over 8 million people....
's Bunkyo

Bunkyo

Bunkyo is a Japanese language word and has these meanings.#Bunkyo, Tokyo , one of the 23 special wards that constitute the central part of the Tokyo, Japan....
ward close to Gokoku-ji

Gokoku-ji

is a Shingon Buddhism in Tokyo's Bunkyo, Tokyo. It was established by the mother of the Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi.In 1873, Emperor Meiji of Japan declared Gokoku-ji the Imperial mausoleum and several of his children are buried there, as well as Emperor Meiji himself....
. The original Noma Dojo was established in 1925 by Seiji Noma, founder of the Kodansha

Kodansha

is the largest Japanese publisher, headquartered in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines Nakayoshi, Afternoon , Weekly Shonen Magazine, as well as more literary magazines such as Gunzo, Weekly Gendai, and the Japanese dictionary Nihongo Daijiten....
publishing house, but demolished by the company in late 2007 and replaced with a modern training hall in a neighbouring office building.

The original hall had long been one of the most celebrated kendo dojo in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
.

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Noma Dojo (???? Noma Dojo) is a privately owned kendo

Kendo

, meaning ":wiktionary:? of the :wiktionary:?", is a modern Japanese people martial art of sword-fighting based on traditional Japanese swordsmanship, or Kenjutsu....
training hall, or dojo

Dojo

Tokyo

Bunkyo

Bunkyo is a Japanese language word and has these meanings.#Bunkyo, Tokyo , one of the 23 special wards that constitute the central part of the Tokyo, Japan....
ward close to Gokoku-ji

Gokoku-ji

Kodansha

Japan

Edo period

The , or , is a division of History of Japan running from 1603 to 1868. The period marks the governance of the Edo or Tokugawa shogunate, which was officially established in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu....
dojo previously located at a different site. It was the only example of its type to survive into the 21st century and has been described by Japanese media as a "holy place" for kendo enthusiasts.

The hall had a number of unusual design features, including glass-doored walls on two sides that open onto gardens, deep skylights and a specially sprung wooden floor. The long and relatively narrow shape of the hall meant it was ideal for kendo practices involving a single row of paired-off fencers.

In an article in Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun

Nihon Keizai Shimbun

, or , is one of the largest media corporations in Japan. Nikkei specializes in publishing financial, business and industry news. Its main news publications include:...
published on September 15, 2006, former Kodansha chairman Toshiyuki Hattori wrote that the publishing house had decided to demolish Noma Dojo as part of a redevelopment of the company compound. Hattori appealed for the company to reconsider its plans, saying the dojo was a place where the "fragrant, darkly lustrous wood" was "permeated with the blood and sweat of famous fencers". Architects, conservationists and some public figures also called for the hall to be preserved or at least moved to a new site.

However, by October 2007, Kodansha had completed the demolition of a nearby early-20th aristocratic villa and the construction on the site of a new office building with a fifth-floor dojo. Late appeals for the Noma Dojo hall to be preserved by moving it to Seiji Noma's hometown resulted only in agreement to transfer its porch. The rest of the building was razed by early December.

Apart from its architectural value, Noma Dojo has been celebrated for the excellence of its teachers, including the late Moriji Mochida, a holder of the 10th Dan rank

Dan rank

The ranking system is a Japanese mark of level, which is used in traditional Japanese art and martial arts. Originally invented in a Go school in the Edo period, this system was later applied to martial arts by Kano Jigoro, the founder of judo and later introduced to other East Asian countries....
who was known as a "master swordsman of the Showa period

Showa period

The , or Showa era, is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Showa , from December 25, 1926 to January 7, 1989. In his coronation message which was read to the people and to the army, the newly enthroned emperor referenced this Japanese era name or nengo: "I have visited the battlefields of the Great War in...
". As well as being used by the Kodansha kendo club, the hall has for decades held a daily 7 a.m. practice that is open to kendo fencers from any school or association.

Kodansha has said the morning practice will continue in the new dojo, which was designed to reflect some of the features of the old hall, including the use of skylights.

External links

Sources

Daily Yomiuri Online

Noma Dojo homepage

Photo blog by Noma Dojo member recording efforts to save the building and its eventual demolition