Between the original rough style of Gekiken and the refined modern art and sport of Kendo, there are various remnants of “pre-war Kendo.” Before World War II, Kendo was not quite as standardized and included some rougher tactics such as throws. When the Allied Occupation forces banned the practice of Kendo, Japanese swordsmen were able to get permission to practice it again only by making it a little less overtly militaristic. Some of the harsher elements of pre-war Kendo were removed in the process, but a handful of dojos did not go along with the change.

The Haga dojo was one of them, and to this day practitioners of Haga-ha Kendo retain throws and other rough tactics that are no longer seen in the standardized modern Kendo. This is a somewhat controversial topic, as many modern Kendo practitioners cannot appreciate the wilder and more chaotic style of the Haga-ha swordsmen. If you read the comments at the bottom of this youtube video, you'll see people saying things like “this is not Kendo” or that the practitioners have “missed the point” of Kendo or that they look “sloppy.”

This is a telling comment. In Western swordsmanship, classical fencers sometimes say the same thing about historical fencers, for more or less the same reason, and with just as little validity. When you fence under a set of rules that forbids throws, body-checking, chokes, punches or any other rough tactic, you can produce a refined-looking type of swordplay. When you allow any of those tactics, you just can't. The tactics themselves produce a more chaotic and messy-looking bout. It has nothing to do with a difference in ability, and everything with a difference in rule-sets. To each his own!