Shochugeiko and other news

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Shochugeiko will take place on Saturday 16 December from 9am to 5pm. Cost is $10 for Nanseikan members, $20 for VKR/AKR members. Snacks provided but BYO lunch.
This year we will have a special guest Ekai Korematsu osho. Ekai osho is a Soto Zen priest and Abbot of Jikishoan Zen Buddhist Community in Melbourne www.jikishoan.org.au. He is very familiar with Kendo having been involved in teaching Zen to some Hanshi 8-dans when he lived in Kumamoto. If you have a meditation cushion (like a zafu) or stool, please bring it. Otherwise a firm cushion is fine. Ekai-osho's mini-workshop will start at 9.30am, after zokin and rei.
WKC t-shirts and tenugui have arrived!The fund-raising tshirts and tenugui for the the Aussie team going to the WKCs next year have arrived, so we'll hand them out tomorrow to all those who ordered them. They look really good.
Arpad Maksay sensei Kendo 6 dan
Congratulations to Maksay sensei for passing his 6th dan exam on the first attempt! There were 1728 people attempted and only 357 passed, a pass rate of 20%. Maksay sensei was one of only two foreigners who passed. http://kendo.or.jp/examination/kendo-6dan/20171125-tokyo/result/


Fujiwara sensei's questionnaire
Fujiwara sensei, who visited us this year, has released the questionnaire he mentioned when he visited. I will cut-and-paste his instructions below. Please read them carefully and set aside some time to do the questionnaire. It is probably the most carefully designed and considered survey about Kendo ever to be devised in English and I strongly advise everyone to participate. Also, please feel free to forward to friends who might be interested.









https://www.kyotopsy.org/questionnaire?group_id=597823b9-957c-45a6-b4ed-4bbeb75aee37




Dear all,

I would like to inform you that my research project regarding the relationship between life habits (exercise, kendo etc,.) and mental well-being has been approved by the institutional review board (IRB) of Kyoto University.

I would be very happy if you would kindly participate in it by answering an online questionnaire below. First, you can login initially upon creating a new ID and password; Furthermore, if those who have a connection to martial arts, (For example, X University Kendo Club/ Judo Club) whose initials are hypothetically AB, could create an ID such as XkendoAB/ XjudoAB, it would be greatly appreciated. Following the “Xkendo~,” the next portion of the ID can be one's initials or any other word you may wish to use. I would also be very pleased if you would forward the URL of this project to your friends (regardless of Kendo/ non-kendo relation) whose ages range 18-80 years. Both PC and mobile phone are available (e-mail, SNS such as LINE and Facebook).

While taking the questionnaire, if you do not wish to complete it in it's entirety at one time, the progress will be saved when closed and can be completed at your convenience. The questionnaire will require about 30 minutes to complete. For this questionnaire, please answer each question considering the situation regarding your "present status". English version: https://www.kyotopsy.org/questionnaire?group_id=597823b9-957c-45a6-b4ed-4bbeb75aee37

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

 Best wishes,

 Hironobu Fujiwara
 ===========================================

Hironobu Fujiwara M.D., Ph.D.
 Assistant Professor Kyoto University Hospital
Integrated Clinical Education Center Department of Neuropsychiatry
RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project
Artificial Intelligence Ethics and Society Team
Visiting Researcher







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