The first character KO means "ancient", "of olden times", or "senior".
The second character DEN denotes "transmission" or "tradition".
The third character KAN means "school".

The name KODENKAN therefore may be translated in two ways. Each way accurately renders the characters, and each way accurately characterizes the Okazaki Judo and Jujitsu System.

First, KODENKAN may be translated as The School of Ancient Tradition, and if fact the KODENKAN system is a synthesis of the ancient jujitsu schools.

In the second sense, however, KODENKAN may be rendered as The School in which Seniors Transmit the Tradition. This translation describes the KODENKAN method of instruction: Senior students teach junior students in the spirit which Professor Okazaki declared was inherent in the Hawaiian word KOKUA . . .

This page last updated on Wednesday, June 16, 1999
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