Noma Dōjō (野間道場) is a privately owned
kendo
is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords ( shinai) as well as protective armor ( bōgu). It began as samurai warriors' customary swordsmanship ex ...
training hall, or ''
dōjō
A is a hall or place for immersive learning, experiential learning, or meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts. The term literally means "place of the Way" in Japanese.
History
The word ''dōjō'' originates fro ...
'', located in
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
's
Bunkyo ward close to
Gokoku-ji. The original Noma Dojo was established in 1925 by Seiji Noma, founder of the
Kodansha
is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...
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 dōjō in
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
. Core elements of the building dated from an
Edo period
The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...
dōjō 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
''The Nikkei'', also known as , is the flagship publication of Nikkei, Inc. (based in Tokyo) and the world's largest financial newspaper, with a daily circulation exceeding 1.73 million copies. The Nikkei 225, a stock market index for the Tokyo ...
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 dōjō 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 dōjō. 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 Dōjō has been celebrated for the excellence of its teachers, including the late Moriji Mochida, a holder of the 10th
Dan rank
The ranking system is used by many Japanese, Okinawan, Korean, and other martial arts organizations to indicate the level of a person's ability within a given system. Used as a ranking system to quantify skill level in a specific domain, it w ...
who was known as a "master swordsman of the
Shōwa period
Shōwa most commonly refers to:
* Hirohito (1901–1989), the 124th Emperor of Japan, known posthumously as Emperor Shōwa
** Shōwa era (昭和), the era of Hirohito from 1926 to 1989
* Showa Corporation, a Japanese suspension and shock manufactu ...
". 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 dōjō, which was designed to reflect some of the features of the old hall, including the use of skylights.
References
External links
"'Sacred' kendo dojo tries to parry dismantling plans" Daily Yomiuri Online
A Short History of The Noma Dojo by Masafusa Mochizuki
Account of visit to Noma Dojo
{{coord, 35, 43, 05, N, 139, 43, 36, E, display=title, region:JP-13_type:landmark_source:dewiki
Kodansha
Buildings and structures in Bunkyō
Kendo
Dōjō