新有段者 - Nanseikan's first yudansha

-

Congratulations to Geoffrey who today passed his 1st dan exam, making him the first Nanseikan yudansha, or dan-grade holder! It is a great achievement for Geoffrey and the result of years of dedicated training on his part. It's also a great milestone for our club as Geoffrey started kendo with Nanseikan.

Dan grades in kendo

Kendo as most of you know does not have belts to signify rank. However 1st dan, or more correctly sho-dan, is roughly equivalent to 1st degree black belt in other Japanese (or Japanese-derived) martial arts.

It is known as sho-dan (初段) which means "starting level" or the level at which you start the serious practice of kendo. It is not a level that gives the holder the right to be lord and master over those ranked below, as in some other martial arts. On the other hand, unlike some other martial arts there are no "junior" black belt rankings. No matter their age, each kendoka is being judged on the same criteria.

The test for sho-dan is not some kind of physical ordeal. It is the same format as every kendoka will face in their grading from that point on: 1) two separate jitsugi (matches against someone of similar level), 2) kata, and 3) a written test or paper on an aspect of kendo theory. The only difference between a 1st-dan test and a 7th-dan test is that, in the latter, the grading panel is looking for candidates to show "7th dan kendo". Exactly what that is, most people in Australia don't really know until they get to 6th dan!

Lastly, it is an interesting fact to consider that to attain sho-dan takes more years of training in Australia than it does in Japan.

Geoffrey has expressed a desire to specialise now in fighting from jodan no kamae. With the achievement of his sho-dan, Geoffrey has shown that he is ready to start on this new path, and that he has the discipline to do so with success.

Comments

  1. Caleb9:23 pm

    Congratulations, Geoffrey and Nanseikan.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alvin4:35 pm

    Congratulations Geoffrey. Told you you didn't need luck.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Richard6:11 pm

    Congrats Geoffrey. Best of luck with jodan.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nishimura sensei's Kendo HIIT routine

-
Image
Former All Japan champion, and star of his own NHK documentary , Nishimura Hidehisa produced this workout routine for the All Japan Kendo Federation last year during the early stages of lockdown. It's an excellent HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) routine, sometimes called Tabata Training after the coach who invented the idea. Basically it has been theorised that you get better results in terms of fitness and overall body strength from short, intense and focused workouts, than you do from extended workouts. Some say it is also beneficial for improving endurance and longevity . There is even some evidence to support that it kickstarts mitochondrial function , that you're exercising at a cellular level. That's pretty amazing. Whatever the research says, it is very easy to feel the positive effects of interval training and it has several other benefits: PROS It doesn't take long, so you can fit it into a busy schedule   You can do it by yourself   You can do it almos
Read more

Results and pics - 2008 VJKC

-
Image
Another great Victorian Junior Kendo Championships today. The standard gets better every year. This year we had two divisions, 14 & under and 16 & under. Unfortunately only three Victorian dojo were represented, Nanseikan (of course!), Fudoshin and Ballarat. Firstly thanks to the shinpan who came along today: Gary Oliver, Khay-Lin Teoh sensei, Richard Ward, Jason Widdy and Andrew Lam. Thanks also to all the parents for bringing their boys (and they were all boys this year, more girl-kendoka needed!) as well as supporting their kendo throughout the year. Last but not least, thanks to Tony of UMKC, who took all the fantastic photos below. All pics are (c) Tony Shearer. Straight off the 14 & under matches were high quality. Newcomer Yuichiro Sato of Fudoshin won his first match in his first ever taikai against Thomas Goh, also of Fudoshin. Sato (red) scoring men against Thomas Goh. Poor Thomas didn't fare any better in his next match against our own Mr Weber. Geoffrey won
Read more

Koryu that are not like Kendo at all

-
Image
In the previous post I listed the various branches of Itto Ryu and asked you to consider the similarities between their use of the sword and Kendo. Sometimes when one becomes used to a certain way of doing things, one can fall into the trap of thinking that is the only, or maybe the best, way of doing things. In learning iai kata of Tatsumi Ryu, we are trying to break out of that thinking by exposing ourselves to a system devised long before even the Itto Ryu was founded. This means that there are some fundamental differences in how the sword is used.  In these posts I am mostly interested in the differences in how to swing the sword. In Kendo, and indeed in most of the styles of iaido practiced today, the fundamental cutting action is a straight up-and-down action often referred to as kirioroshi , cutting through or cutting down. In Tatsumi Ryu, the characteristic action where the sword first goes through a circular backswing before cutting downwards is called kowauchi , or 'power
Read more