I want to study classical budo, but the options in my area are limited. There is one dojo nearby where the school being practiced carries the name of a koryu tradition, but the dojo has no connection to the Japanese lineage. Based on videos, the kata appear to be the same as those seen in embu demonstrations of the Japanese line, but the group poses in photos as if they just want to look cool, and in the training videos they do many things that wouldn’t be done in a koryu. In addition, a large number of belt ranks have been added. To top it all off, there are patches attached to the training uniforms.Should I go and give it a try anyway? Around here, the McDojo culture is not looked upon favorably by practitioners of other martial arts.
