Founder and First President

I first met Lin Chang-fu, also known as George Lee, in the fall of 2000 at the beginning of my sophomore year at Princeton. I had become interested in Japanese fencing through movies such as Hiroshi Inagaki’s Samurai Trilogy and the Zatoichi movies. In the summer of 2000 I had taken lessons with some local kendo practitioners in my hometown but it was not until I met Mr. Lin that I began the practice of kendo in earnest. When I moved back to Princeton, I was able to locate Mr. Lin through the All United States Kendo Federation (AUSKF) website. His dojo at that time was called Zen Kendokan of Princeton and was affiliated with the Eastern United States Kendo Federation (EUSKF), a division of the AUSKF. The other members of the EUSKF included the Fort Lee Kyudokan where we took promotional exams. The president of the EUSKF at that time was Mozart Ishizuka with whom I had the opportunity to practice kendo at the Fort Lee dojo.

Chang-fu Lin, Kendo 7th Dan Kyoshi

Practices at our dojo took place on Sundays during the hours of the Chinese language school sessions at Stuart Day School. During the summer, practices took place at Mr. Lin’s house. The Stuart Day School practices took place in a gym which we shared with a tai chi class. The practices at Mr. Lin’s house took place in his backyard on gravel and required shoes. The other members in regular attendance at that time included John and Henry Shen, Weichi and Bryant Chen and Michael and Paul Huang. We were later joined by Conor Alexander. All classes were taught by Mr. Lin personally. I remember being particularly impressed by the way in which he easily handled each of the members of our club while sparring sequentially with each of us from the most senior to most junior members. This was despite the fact that he was in his sixties when I first met him. The format of the classes included stretching and warm up exercises, footwork, basic solo drills, kiri-kaeshi, basic technique practices with a partner, sparring between members, and ended with Mr. Lin sparring with each of us individually. Mr. Lin took no fee. The club dues consisted of one hundred dollar per year per member for rental of the practice space.

Kendo Club members in 2002

I had been in attendance at Mr. Lin’s dojo for about a year and a half when I had the idea of starting a kendo club at Princeton University. Mr. Lin and the other members of the dojo enthusiastically approved of this idea. I began the project in the middle of my junior year in the beginning of 2001. I stayed at Princeton that summer in order to work on my thesis so I was able to work on the proposal extensively. I gathered signatures from a variety of persons, including my fraternity brothers in Phi Kappa Sigma, in order to be able to submit a proposal to the club sports office at Princeton. While gathering signatures I was fortunate to meet Anthony Pulido, who was the former treasurer of the Cornell Kendo Club and who was a non-degree candidate working in the University library taking math courses at the time. He was preparing to apply for graduate school in math. Tony and I had the opportunity to practice together on a number of occasions and was also kind enough to invite me to Kataoka Sensei’s New York City Kendo Club at the Jan Hus Church in Manhattan. Tony was invaluable in helping me to gather information from other university kendo clubs regarding their insurance and other aspects of club management. I was also aided at this time by Staci Goddard who attended practices at Stuart Day School with great enthusiasm and who was willing to assist in various matters relating to the proposal. At the beginning of my senior year in the fall of 2001, I was able to get approval from the club sports office for the Princeton University Kendo Club. We held our first practice in early November of 2001. Staci and Tony assisted me in distributing flyers and promoting our club. Our first practice took place in the racketball courts in Dillon Gym and attracted approximately fifty participants as well as curious onlookers. We were able to attract several regular members, including Staci Goddard, Ed Shin, Jade En, Ryan Kiskis, Conor Alexander, and Tony Pulido. Of these members, Staci Goddard and Ed Shin showed the most interest. There were therefore appointed to be vice-president and treasurer of the club, respectively. I served as founding member and president. Practices were taught by Mr. Lin and followed the format described previously.

from left : Sensei David Yang / Staci Goddard, President 02-03 / Jeewoo Lim, Captain 04-05 /Reona Kumagai, Vice President 05-06

In the spring of 2002, the members of the Zen Kendokan of Princeton in cooperation with Dr. H. Tesshin Hamada and Ms. Kim Baylor of Norfolk, Virginia, attended the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai International Martial Arts Exhibition in Kyoto, Japan. This event was also known as the Second World Butoku Sai and the 40th All Japan Butoku Sai. I attended as a representative of the Princeton University Kendo Club and was awarded a Fighting Spirit Award and a Shodan certificate. Mr. Lin received a Seventh Dan certificate and Kyoshi designation.

At the time of my graduation in the spring of 2002, I appointed Staci Goddard as president of the club, and she chose Ed Shin as vice-president.

I am in possession of some documents relating to the founding of the Princeton University Kendo Club including yearbooks from the Zen Kendokan of Princeton and the first Princeton University Kendo Club yearbook, as well as original flyers from our first promotional campaign that I would be happy to share with any interested parties. I have included a number of photos from those documents that illustrate some of the early history of our club.