On 27 September 2021, the "Rivonia Kendo Club" officially changed its name to the "RKC DOJO" or "RKC". This subtle change in the name was because of the opening of a new RKC Dojo branch in the eastern suburbs of Johannesburg. The RKC Dojo in Observatory opened its door for Kendo training on Tuesday, 5 October 2021.
However, some found it strange to just have an acronym for a name!
What had happened in the background is that research was being conducted into how the acronym, "RKC", could be repurposed into another dojo name.
After a vigorous investigation process, countless debates and consultations with some senseis, it was finally decided that the "RKC" would now stand for "Ryū Ken Chi" (written in Japanese kanji as 龍 剣 知 ), and translates to, "Dragon Sword Wisdom".
Some modifications to our logo. As with all logos, they come with some symbolism to represent certain things:
The mitsudomoe is a Japanese symbol that has represented Japanese families in the past. It is also associated with the Shinto religion and specifically, Hachiman, the god of war and archery. Lastly, some see the mitsudomoe as a representation of the threefold division of Man, Earth, and Sky.
However, we choose to free the mitsudomo of its family-legacy and religious connotations and use this symbol to represent the 3 foundation principles of our dojo, namely to
1. FOCUS on our dedicated practise of Kendo, Iaido and Jodo;
2. Cultivate a culture of FAMILY amongst our RKC members; and finally
3. To have immense FUN both in and out the dojo!
Furthermore, since the RKC Dojo now practices all 3 of the martial arts under the "All Japan Kendo Federation" umbrella (Kendo, Iaido & Jodo), it would also be fitting to associate each "swirl" of the mitsudomoe to each of the disciplines, representing a balance and harmony amongst the 3 disciplines.
The Dragon. Japanese mythology makes use of Shinto, Buddhist, and folklore beliefs for its creation story and succeeding legends. Within this mythology, Japanese dragons have become an emblem for numerous concepts including strength, wisdom, prosperity, longevity, and luck.
Some common variations of the dragon include the "Ouroboros", which symbolizes the cycle of life.
Refer to this article, "The Japanese Dragon - Myths, Legends, and Symbolisms" for more details: http://yabai.com/p/2516 .
Finally, one last request to the designers of the new logo, was to incorporate the "ENZO" symbol into the logo somewhere.
In Zen Buddhism, an enzō (円,相“circle”?) is a circle that is hand-drawn in one or two uninhibited brushstrokes to express a moment when the mind is free to let the body create. The enzō symbolizes absolute enlightenment, strength, elegance, the universe, and mu (the void).
The final result is what you now see in our new logo!
It has been a fascinating journey of both renaming our dojo to "Ryū Ken Chi" and creating this new logo for our dojo, and will be a representation of our training and conduct in the future!
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The Ryū Ken Chi Dojo (RKC Dojo) train the traditional Japanese martial arts of Kendo and Iaido (sword-based martial arts), as well as Jodo(the art of the short staff/stick), that encourages the cultivation of the human character.
The RKC DOJO has 2 venues in Johannesburg where in-dojo training takes place - Rivonia and Observatory. Online training is also available.
Please follow us on our various social media platforms:
Website: www.rkcdojo.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RKCDojo
Instagram: @rkc_dojo
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/RivoniaKendoClub
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