History

      When World War II ended, Kendo in schools were banned and the Nihon Butokukai was disbanded. However, there were some Kendo-practitioners who refused to let the flame of Kendo be put out, and continued their practice. One of them was the founder of our dojo, Haga Junichi. He was a top disciple of Nakayama Hakudo in Yushinkan and trained in Shindo Munen Ryu. Even though he had a great name in the world of Kendo before the war, it was very tough to carry on the practice of Kendo after the war with all the chaos and lack of food supply.

On October Showa 27th-Year, the All Japan Kendo Federation was inaugurated, and the training was resumed at a specialized dojo in the National Stadium (now a University). This was the place where Shibata Mansaku, Watanabe Toshio, Yuno Masanori and other historically prominent Kendo practitioners gathered. Training was done in the mornings. At some point in time, the people around Haga Junichi started to use the name "Haga-Dojo".

The National Stadium was owned by the Ministry of Education and used as a modern gymnasium in Showa 12th-Year (1937), and later used as the training grounds for the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. During that time, Politician Sonoda Sunao received top training. Even in the world of Baseball, Ou Sadaharu, Hirooka Tatsuro, Enomoto Kihachi, Sudo Toyo, and other baseball players learnt how to use a Katana and cut Makiwara. In the film industry, Itami Ichizou (later known as Juzou), also came to learn swordsmanship for his work in "55 Days in Peking". Actor Takakura Ken came to learn as well, in order to play the role of Sasaki Kojiro. Deputy Minister of Defense, Kyuma Fumio, was diligent in his training during his days at Tokyo University.

In 1969 December, the ownership of the National Stadium was transfered to the Kyoritsu Female School. Around this time, Haga Junichi was attacked by illness, and passed away on 11th-December 1966. He was 58 years old. An era of Haga Dojo came to an end. After the death of Haga Junichi, one of his top disciples, Sonoda Sunao (former Foreign Minister), gathered all the dsciples to carry on the training, and served as the President of the club. The training grounds shifted to the Nihon Budokan's 2nd Small Dojo, where the swordsmanship of Haga Junichi is practiced diligently and still preserved today. After the Sonoda Sunao passed away, Zhang Dong Lü (Taiwanese) served as the President.
Today, the current President is Uki Terukuni, tasked to preserve the tradition.


Objective

      In the 50-odd years after the end of WWII, Japan has seen great changes both physically and spiritually. Even though there was a change in people's mentality, it is surprisingly considered to be a good thing. The Kendo and Iaido that we practice for spirituality are martial arts that creates the heart of the Japanese people. During the peak of the Edo period, more than 400 styles were in existent, and they served as an enrichment to the Japanese people's spirits and philosophy.

During the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa periods of cultural enlightenment, the number of styles began to decrease. Vigorous and free-style Kendo also started to become lesser and lesser. After World War II, this trend continued further. The diverse and free-style swordsmanship that we used to see, were lost in the big waves of standardization (that later gave birth to modern Kendo). This is necessary for people living in modern times, because evidently people still pursue the truth in things, whether in the past or modern times.

Today, the way of thought of people living in modern society has diversified rapidly, and formalism has started to show signs of coming apart. There is now a strong trend in developing individual capabilities and freedom of thoughts. We have reached an era of change in way of thought. Even in the world of modern Kendo, there are many voices calling for the revival of traditional Iaido and Kendo as a means of life-enrichment and self-development, and not as sports that's only concerned about winning or losing. Humans are given life to live like humans, create goals, and make our own choices freely.

We have gathered the disciples of a remarkable swordsman during the Showa period, Haga Junichi, after his passing away, so as to preserve his teachings. We strive to preserve and continue the cultural heritage left behind by our predecessors in its entirety without any compromise.

No matter which era we live in, this saying is always true:
      "To develop capable men, who will stand and serve in times of need."

This is the goal of Ikkenkai, Haga-Dojo.