There are somethings I look for in a ‘real’ dojo. By that I mean the physical space, not the members that go to the dojo (there are things I look for in my dojo mates, sempai, kohai, and sensei too of course!). These chiefly being a good floor, a shomen (with or without kamidana), correct orientation, good ventilation, a taiko, katana-kage (for hanging our bokuto and/or shinai on), and a nafuda-kake (dojo member name plate). Of-course, depending on your situation you may have access to a dojo with only some of these, and others may or may not be possible to acquire.
Living and training in Japan of-course gives you more opportunities to see different kind of dojo, and to choose one that is suitable for what you are after. I routinely attend about 5 dojo and have visited many others over the years, so I have a pretty clear idea about what my ideal dojo looks like.
Even then, a normal budo practitioner has no real control over the physical space, especially if the dojo is not privately owned. Luckily, I teach kendo as part of my work. Although the dojo isn’t ‘mine’ (it belongs to Osaka city!) I do have a certain amount of control over the space.
I’ve already made and stuck some tsuki-pad’s to the walls, acquired a taiko, and generally got the place more ship-shape than before. However, one thing played on my mind for a long time: there was no nafuda-kake (name plate). The dojo celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2009 and I thought how the current set of students had little to connect them to the dojo’s history. A nafuda-kake – where students would leave their name for posterity – could be one way of achieving this. This, of-course, is a long term project!
Armed with this idea, and with the spring break approaching, I got 4 volunteers from the club and put them to work. The picture at the top of this post shows our small nafuda-kake that we made in 3 hours for a total materials cost of 3,500 yen…. almost free!!
Its quite a simple construction, so let me explain briefly what we used and how we did it.
Material
- backboard (size dependent on what you are after);
- wood for the outer rim (to go along top, bottom, and sides of backboard);
- wood for the nameplates (again, depends how long/thick you want it, and how you will write your name);
- pen (we used a calligraphy pen);
- saw, drill, hammer, nails, paint, glue.
Steps
I split them into 2 teams: backboard team and nameplate team.
backboard team:
- nail wood round the outer rim of the backboard;
- paint the backboard (this is up to you of-course);
- calculate the spacing of the nameplates and put a nail in the area you will hang each plate;
- if the nails stick through the backboard you might want to put some tape over the point.
That’s it for the backboard. The construction is very simple and took no time at all to make. Note that we painted the backboard a different colour from the nameplates so that the names stood out and were easily readable.
Nameplate team:
The wood we used for the plates was found in a local D.I.Y. shop. It was long, very cheap, and quite thin.
- calculate the length of single nameplate;
- on the nameplate wood measure and mark where to cut ;
- saw the individual plates to size (file down if there are sharp edges);
- draw a circle using a pencil in the top of each plate;
- drill through the circle (this is how you hang the nails on the backboard);
- write the names.
Finishing
The only thing left to do is hang the completed nafuda-kake on the wall and add the names in. Since our construction was small and lightweight, we simply stuck it to the wall using glue along the edges and used 4 longer nails in the corners to secure it.
Click on the picture on the right to see the completed nafuda-kake in its position of glory.
Please note that this is a very simple construction. To buy an already-made nafude-kake in Japan is prohibitively expensive. I looked at many different types of these (not only in dojo, but temples often have them as well) before deciding to construct one rather than buy one. Its not the best quality item in the world, but my students worked together to make it, and having your name in the dojo that you practise in (and potentially to have it there for the foreseeable future) gives them (and me!) a sense of satisfaction.
I’ve never seen a nafuda-kake in a kendo/iaido/jodo dojo outside of Japan, so please add a comment with a link to yours if you have one…. I especially want to see hand made ones!
There’s one at Kenshikan in Melbourne. I unfortunately don’t have pics… Maybe next time I’m there I’ll take a snap with my phone (or better yet, my camera)
Cool. Thats a purpose built kendo-jo right? You don’t see many of them around outside of Japan.
There are actually two at this one place I’ve been to with the Georgia Kendo Association in Roswell, Georgia USA. If I remember correctly, it’s only for either Karate or Aikido though. I didn’t take any direct pictures, but you can see both of them in this picture from their website on the wall on the left side of the picture.
http://roswellbudokan.com/Pictures/Pages/Budokan_Fest_2008.html#11
Thanks for this very interesting article.
In my dojo (France, south Paris) my sensei made a Nafudakake but on his computer. It still looks awsome to see you name on it but hasn’t the a majesty of a wood one !
I really wonder how yours works, and i miss the explanations :
- how do you order it ? in my dojo it’s from right to left and ip down in order of ranks (dan/kyu). But there is a name plate with the rank to separate each one of them…
- don’t you mean to put the actual student and not all who ever took foot in the doja ? because otherwise i suppose you will shortly need a bigger one !
greetings from France.
Vincent
@Dark Kendoka: cheers. They look nice/big. I guess these things are easier to make in these for-profit dojo.
@Vincent: ours is right to left, and at the moment its ordered on, um, sensei, then kids based on their school year. We may leave them for the future, in that case we would list them by the year they joined. Grade is unimportant.
Hey Sensei George!
The nafudakake at Kenshikan is ordered on grade, as is the one at Kobukan in Tokyo. Nice idea to have it as a historical list and not just one of current members. I can see a lot of value in that for your kids and mine as well. Because kendo at Brunswick is a bit marginalised, I’m always looking for these sort of ‘promotional’ ideas. I made a simple paper one once but it was for current students only and didn’t really work. I think I should make a more permanent one that shows the names of all those who have done the classroom subject, and also those who are the real “bukatsu” members. This year alone I’ll teach kendo to 150 students, so I’ll need a big wall! b
I’m pretty sure those at Roswell Budokan costed a pretty penny since they’re so big, but I wouldn’t think a smaller one wouldn’t be that prohibitively expensive unless you were getting something like oak or whatever the expensive wood would be.
They do seem like a pretty nice idea, though tough in most cases that doesn’t have dedicated Kendo space.
I’ve seen smallish ones here selling for well over 1000 USD… pricey considering you can make them for less!! Those one at Roswell look like standard affairs, and probably expensive (if bought here).
Ben –> dojo usually have them in one of two formats as you know: current members organised on rank (usually with a joining date on the nafuda itself) and the every member thats ever been type. Schools tend to have the latter (assuming a permanent kendojo), but I’ve seen the former as well. Good luck!
There’s a rather large one at the dojo in Pasadena, California. Although, I can’t remember whether it’s for kendo or one of the other martial arts practiced there. It looks very nicely aged with a lovely patina, though.
Ihave built one for my little dojo, and try to get all people who practice there to contribute , and I have managed to aquire a taiko , cheaply and recently made a new stand for it , all these things make my dojo feel more like home and help to build a good atmosphere ,
Finally took a photo, as promised: http://twitpic.com/2a71he