due to kanji variants, are 器械、海外、劍道 even words?


I am interested in kanji variants. Please consider these three variant pairs:

(normal kanji) 剣 ---> (variant) 劍  
(normal kanji) 海 ---> (variant) 海  
(normal kanji) 器 ---> (variant) 器

Are「劍道」、「海外」、「器械」even considered words? Or, for native speakers, are kanji
variants a not so important side-note to the language?

If native speakers do pay some attention to kanji variants, then do the
definitions change at all?  
「剣道{けんどう}」の定義{ていぎ} = 「劍道」の定義?  
「海外{かいがい}」の定義 = 「海外」の定義?  
「器械{きかい}」の定義 = 「器械」の定義?

How do you say "kanji variant" in Japanese?  
Are kanji variants tested for on 漢字検定試験？What level?




More precisely, they are older forms ([旧字体]{きゅうじたい}) of kanji, rather than
variants.

Japanese kanji went through an artificial simplification conducted by the
government in 1950s. Now old forms are no longer in use, except occasionally
in proper nouns they could be used for the purpose of kind of characterizing
or "flavoring" the names. Most people can still read them, but no one uses
them in their daily writings or printings. Schools no longer teach them
either.

You can learn details about the simplification here:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjitai>




More precisely, they are older forms ([旧字体]{きゅうじたい}) of kanji, rather than
variants.

Japanese kanji went through an artificial simplification conducted by the
government in 1950s. Now old forms are no longer in use, except occasionally
in proper nouns they could be used for the purpose of kind of characterizing
or "flavoring" the names. Most people can still read them, but no one uses
them in their daily writings or printings. Schools no longer teach them
either.

You can learn details about the simplification here:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjitai>

