Masafusa Mochizuki, former Master, Noma Dojo

Our actions in the dojo are a mirror of our true selves; they reveal our personality, our faith and our moral character.

In addition, the practice of kendo requires awareness of religious wisdom or "Chi", bravery or "Yu" and a mind of love or "Jin". Consequently, therefore, I think that all facets of our society are represented in kendo. The philosophy of the Noma Dojo and its outlook on the martial arts is that "kendo reflects all of life." In training we promote the combination of sword skills and the growth of the individual.

The history of the Noma Dojo is a long and full one. Here I can only offer a condensed account of key persons and events. Next to Kodansha's offices in Otowa is a large police station which has a kendo dojo. This was also the case back in the 1920s. Hisashi Noma, the son of Seiji Noma, began serious kendo practice with the police at the age of fifteen in 1923, eventually becoming a member of the Yushinkan. Noma Sr. asked Abe Giichi to teach his son, and that same year he also invited Sinsuke Masuda and Tetsuzo Wasada to join the newly founded Kodansha Kendo Club. A small dojo was constructed in the grounds of the Noma home in the autumn of that year.

At that time, kendo practice was officially held from four to five p.m., mainly for the boy employees [ie, those who joined the company at age fifteen] as a health and fitness activity. However, because Seiji Noma came to the Dojo even when he was very busy, and since he took a great interest in the employees' practice and offered criticism and advice, practice became increasingly serious and the participants increasingly skilled.

　In 1927 Moriji Mochida organised the first national kendo meet . Then in August 1930, in the presence of the Emperor of Japan, he won the Emperor's Cup. At the time, Mochida was teaching kendo at a dojo sponsored by the Governor-General of Korea. After his victory, Seiji Noma invited him to become resident teacher at the Noma Dojo, making him a Kodansha employee in the process. After Mochida arrived at Kodansha, requests to practice and take lessons at the Dojo came from all over the country. To meet this demand, extra evening practice sessions were started. The Dojo was also extended in November that year.

In addition to Mochida, other senior teachers at the morning sessions were Sinsuke Masuda, Sanzaburo Yagi, Tomonori Oono, Fukutaro Kuwata and Goichi Oohata. Moreover, the number of people with the rank of kyoshi [senior licensed teacher] reached fifty-four! In addition, there were non-Kodansha employees, both men and women who practiced regularly, as well as a children's club. Membership soon rose to over one hundred and the Dojo flourished.

In November 1933 the Dojo was extended to its present size. The dimensions of the Dojo are 9 x 28 m. This is very large indeed for a private dojo. In fact, the Noma Dojo had become one of the most splendid in Japan. After asageiko (morning practice), the fencers took a bath, chatted and then went off to their offices around Tokyo feeling refreshed after a breakfast of rice porridge and miso soup from the nearby Kodansha kitchens.

The leading fencers of the day were regular visitors to the Noma Dojo. The standard of kendo was extremely high. With Noma Hisashi as taisho or No. 1, Torao Mori as chuken or No. 2 and Chuji Tsuchida as senpo or No. 3, the Kodansha team tasted its first victory in the Kodo Gikai Tournament in June 1927. This was just four years after the opening of the Dojo. Kodansha went on to win this tournament again in 1933, 1936 and 1939.

One of the Dojo's finest hours came in May 1934. Hisashi Noma, representing Tokyo Prefecture in a two-day national open tournament , won a superb victory in the presence of the Emperor at the Imperial Palace. He was just 26 years old. This success firmly established Kodansha's kendo reputation.

Kodansha enjoyed success in many of the other major competitions of the period, such as the All Japan Government and Business championships of 1937 and 1939. This is a remarkable record by any standard. Alas, the 1939 victories were without Hisashi Noma who had died aged only 30 the year before. His death was a huge blow to the Noma Dojo and to Kodansha. That the Kodansha team were still victorious without him shows the tremendous depth of kendo talent in the Company in those years. The Dojo records corroborate this. Among the Kodansha employees in March 1940, four were qualified at 5th dan, thirty-three at 4th dan, 21 at 3rd dan, thirty-two at 2nd dan and 106 at 1st dan. In addition, nineteen were qualified as renshi [licensed teacher]: Teiji Fueki, Masami Kuroiwa, Tadayoshi Haishi, Toshihiko Kurihara, Masao Abe, Kotaro Suwa, Masao Machida, Senbei Ueda, Ushimatsu Ogawa, Toshiyuki Hattori, Kinsaku Koike, Tomekitchi Kakinuma, Sei Nagaoka, Masafusa Mochizuki, Tokujiro Toi, Hashitatsu Otomo, Takeo Nagai, Makoto Shimizu and Hideo Ote.

Also in 1940, in June, a tournament was held in the presence of the Emperor to celebrate the end of 2600 years of Imperial rule. Sinsuke Masuda, a Noma Dojo teacher, took part as a seeded competitor, and Kodansha employee, Masafusa Mochizuki entered the field as a representative of Tokyo Prefecture. Each won through to the final. The match between master and pupil brought great honour to both competitors and, of course, to the Noma Dojo. Following this triumph, the Dojo was bathed in glory and its status was praised throughout the country! Unfortunately neither Seiji nor Hisashi Noma witnessed this triumph. At the helm of the company that year was Noma Sae, the widow of Seiji Noma, who continued to sponsor kendo practice at the Dojo.

In late 1941, the Pacific War began. It was not long before its effects were felt because many Kodansha employees and members of the Dojo were drafted into Japan's armed forces. Practice became infrequent and then, in 1944, the sounds of shinai were silenced when practice was stopped by then president, Shoichi Noma. With the end of the war came the occupation by Allied Forces. Kendo was banned for some time by order of GHQ. It was not until 1947 that Kodansha employees were able to use the Dojo once again for kendo. (It had in fact been used to house employees whose homes had been destroyed in the war.)

The Tokyo Kendo Federation was established in May 1952. Public interest in kendo gradually returned and a few years later, in the autumn of 1962, Kodansha decided to open the Noma Dojo for morning kendo practice. Soon the sessions were running year-round supervised by Moriji Mochida. Yet again the Noma Dojo flourished.

　Time, however, presses on and now such great teachers and characters as Moriji Mochida-hanshi, Shinsuke Masuda-hanshi, Ukichi Sato-hanshi, Iwao Tsurumi-hanshi, Takashi Ozawa-hanshi, Chutaro Ogawa-hanshi, Sohichiro Ono-hanshi and Yasoji Nakano-hanshi have passed away. Today the Dojo is in the capable hands of Tateo Morishima hanshi (9th dan). Fencers at the Dojo include company workers from Kodansha and elsewhere, students and children. The numbers of kyoshi and renshi are increasing and the atmosphere reminds me in many ways of the pre-war days. Open training sessions are held every morning. The Kodansha Kendo Club practices in the evening three times a week. It is gratifying that the dream of Seiji Noma lives on, three generations later.