13 years is actually nothing. I have a couple of more years on you, but not much, so we are basically at the same level in terms of time. However, when you start to hang around people with 50+ years of training behind them, you do in fact see into a new world, and its a different one that exists now. And even then, most of those people are responsible for the “pure kendo” situation that we are now in. Their teachers were a different breed however.

I still stand by my original point –> to understand kendo in the manner that it was meant to be understood, you probably should not practise it in-and-of itself.

At the end of the day, thats up to you – of course – and I wont and cannot judge you for it. But I am confident that those that do add koryu (at least iaido) to their training will come out at the end of the day with a fundamentally more advanced and deeper understanding of what “kendo” actually is…… as they are following a path that is much closer to those that created and developed kendo….. and that means pretty much everyone up until, and just after WW II.