Nanseikan Kendo Club 剣道クラブ南西館

This is one of the videos I mentioned at training today. It looks just like a large kote, but it is actually a very smooth seme towards men and then kote when the opponent raises their shinai. The other video which I mentioned today, of aigote-men,  I just couldn't find. I'll keep looking.  b

Well actually it's kenjutsu art, or Tenshinshoden Katori Shinto Ryu art to be really precise! It's a drawing I did based on a photograph of Otake Risuke sensei, the headmaster of the school, doing the characteristic jumping nukistuke (drawing of the sword) of his school. Click twice on the picture and for maximum bigness. Next term we are back on Saturday 15 October.

Jakob Schmidt, a long-time jodan practitioner and Kendo World forumite, has written a very useful article on practicing jodan at Kenshi247.net. There are also a lot of great jodan videos to be found on the net like this one from Kendo World's channel, which you can watch in HD! And the one below has a fantastic translation by Kenji, who came to Kangeiko last week. I learned a lot just watching it... when I was able to stop laughing (you'll understand when you watch it)! And of course Chiba sensei himself will be here in August (although I've never seen him instruct in jodan).

This year's Kangeiko was held last Saturday in chilly, but not excessively cold conditions. Three clubs were represented: Nanseikan, MUKEN and MBK. There was a good mix of experience levels present, and I think everyone who came got something out of the day. I know the NSKers present certainly did. Kangeiko and other kendo seminars offer the chance to explore something in depth, to try things out over and over. Usually, at the end of the day, as well as being sore and tired, everyone feels that they have measurably improved. The focus of this Kangeiko was tenouchi . We started with some drills using the kusari fundo I have mentioned previously to emphasise correct swing. Then we moved on to exercises for increasing wrist strength and flexibility. From there we did exercises in visualising all the different movements of the hands in the various shikake and oji waza. This was done with empty hands. We then practiced these movements with shinai in hand, and finally against...

Chiba-bogu are one of the best online retailers of kendo equipment. However in the past all their equipment was very expensive. Now with the launch of their new site , they have a few new bogu including the one pictured above, their 5mm Clarino model . Clarino is an artificial deer-skin substitute that performs very well. Most often it is used for kote palms, but here it is used for all the edging as well. The advantage with this bogu is that it is order made to your measurements so you can be assured of a good fit. It does mean that it takes 6-10 weeks to complete your order. But it appears to have been marked down from over $1000 to around $650, which is pretty good value.

This term we will be focusing on tenouchi 手の内. To review the basic theory about tenouchi and what it means, have a re-read of this . Last Saturday we did a fun drill using a kind of kusari fundo , or weighted line. Usually this is a metal weight on the end of a chain, but we just used bean-bags on the end of cotton ribbon. The exercise was to practice cutting by using the whole arm from the shoulder and not just swinging from the elbows. If you didn't do it properly, the bean bag didn't fly through the air in an arc. When done properly it was almost as easy as cutting with a shinai. Using the whole arm and shoulder meant the weight stretched out the ribbon and swung as if it were something rigid, like a shinai. The other thing it did was to make you throw your cut forward, rather than down towards the ground. Above is a short vid of this exercise being practiced at this year's Kangeiko . I was going to put a picture, but the ' kusari fundo' is completely...

My email is currently not working so I haven't been able to send out any group emails about this term's dates. They are of course on the Training Dates pages, but as a reminder, this term starts on tomorrow, Saturday 30 April and goes until Saturday 2 July. There will also be Kangeiko on the last day of training, 2 July, starting at 9am and finishing at 5pm. NEWS : In the Australian Kendo Championships held over Easter on the Gold Coast, Victoria finally won back the open team trophy and Kate Sylvester is (once again), women's individual champion. You can see video of some of the championships here .

Might have to get a Wii now... :D b (Thanks to Kendo World user issacvas )

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 no...

Here's a short film about a South African metalsmith named Ford Hallam and his task of making a reproduction tsuba 鍔. It's a really amazing look at the techniques and efforts needed to make such a "simple" item. In fact during the times where samurai still existed, craftsmen often specialised in making only tsuba and nothing else. Tsuba were originally made in pairs (for the long and short sword) and this one had lost its partner, so Hallam was asked to remake the missing tsuba from photographs. It's in two parts. Enjoy! b

The path of the tsunami across the Pacific Ocean The destruction caused by the earthquake and tsunami that hit the east coast of Japan has been unfolding over the last few days and I'm sure everyone has seen some of the terrible footage. Now, problems with damage to one of the nuclear power plants in Fukushima have added another emergency, even before the clean-up can begin. As Satoru Orihashi (former member of Melbourne Budokai now living in Japan) said via email: I am busy to recover our business and to deliver rescue goods. It looks people have no time to be sad. Fortunately all the Australian kendoka living in Japan, including Nagae sensei and his wife, are safe. However there is still a hard time ahead for those in the affected areas. Many people are still missing, or they are homeless and have lost all their possessions. Still others are safe but don't know the fate of their family and friends. The only positive thing that one can say about this is that the Japanese peopl...

... we were talking about gyaku do (逆胴 – "opposite or unorthodox do "), now called hidari do (左胴 – left do ). Well here is the video I mentioned. Koyama sensei (Kyoshi 7 dan) in white representing the East, versus Ishida sensei (Kyoshi 7 dan) in red representing the West, 2002 East-West Championship. Look closely at the technique and how he does it. I think there is something very interesting that he does (or rather that he doesn't do) which makes it successful. Enjoy! b

Massed kendo goodness! Primary/Junior High School kendoka at a seminar in Hokkaido. Former All Japan champion and Japan Team Captain Eiga Naoki demonstrates men ni tai suru waza (techniques against men ) and kote ni tai suru waza (techniques against kote ) See if you can name them all in the comments section...! b

This year there is plenty on as usual, not least of which our regular training starts back this Saturday. For term dates, go to the Training Dates page. There will also be a visit this weekend from Nittaidai (日体大), the National Sports Science University in Tokyo. As usual there will be a speci al training with their kendo dept members (open to all VKR members) and a special demo of traditional Japanese Mar tial Arts. See below for details. GOODWILL TRAINING A goodwill training will be held with Hakamada sensei, Yagisawa sensei and Shinzato sensei, and 23 members of the kendo faculty. Date: Sat 12 Feb Time: 5:30 for 6:00 start. (Doors open at 5:30. Training will be 2 hours) Venue: Footscray Park Aquatic and Fitness Centre (Building L), at Victoria University - Footscray Park Campus, Ballarat Road, Footscray VIC 3011 Melway 2S F4 Website: http://www.vu.edu.au/campuses/footscray-park Cost: $10 We hope to see as many Victorian kendoka at the training as possible! PERFORMANCE...

ABKC - note Her Majesty the Kamiza in background Just got back from a wonderful four days in Apollo Bay. Thanks to Peter, Libby and family for their warm welcome and showing me and my family some of the many sights in the area. The Apollo Bay Kendo Club has recently been recognised by the VKR and congratulations to all the ABKC members for their perseverance up until now. I found a really keen and committed bunch of individuals who already show a solid grasp of basics and especially reigi saho (etiquette). We trained three times over the four days including all day on Sunday. There was a lot to get through as I had spoken to Peter, the club's instructor, prior to getting down there on what they wanted to cover. The two restrictions were a very hard floor (ceramic tiles on a a concrete base - ouch!) at their current dojo, and the lack of armour and armour experience of some members. For that reason we looked closely at the Bokuto ni yoru kihon waza keiko ho , as a way of teaching s...

We held our annual summer training this year on Saturday 11 December. It was a relatively small gathering this year but still boasted representatives from four different VKR clubs. A special thanks to Kyohei Fujiie for bringing his Renshinkan members down from Benalla for the day. The distinctive thing about this year's summer training was that, firstly, it wasn't so hot (and that's not a bad thing!) and secondly that we practiced kata. All of them. Some people had not done kata before and finished the day having an acquaintance with all kata up to number ten. Everyone did well with the overload of information to memorise. I hope that those who attended will be able to build on what they learned when they return to their home dojo. For those who are interested, it took four hours to get through all ten kata. This included time for demonstration and some (but not a great deal of) repetition. b

Last Saturday, Sumi sensei held a training session at the Kenshikan. Luke and myself were there and it was a great session. Sumi sensei's assistant was Tashiro Junichi sensei (8th-dan). There were also another three 7th dans and three 5th dans in attendance, so the level of instruction was very high. Sumi sensei is famous as a kendo teacher and he was the head of the committee that designed the nine "Bokuto ni yoru kihon waza keiko ho". Sumi sensei calls them the "Bokuto kihon" for short. These are the kata where the is a kakarite and a motodachi, and the kakarite calls out "kihon ichi!" or "kihon ni!" before performing the movements. Most NSK members are familiar with these 'kata'. (Those at training last week will have them fresh in their minds!) So Sumi sensei showed us how to perform these basics with full bogu and shinai, which was very interesting. We will definitely try this at Nanseikan. He also has devised his own patterns fo...

Well yesterday's visit by 22 sensei from Japan was a great success. It really did seem like a dream to have so many experienced instructors in our small dojo. When the bus arrived in the car park and they all started to get out it was like, "here they come!" We had to "extend" the dojo outside with carpet. Luckily it was such a beautiful day, and some of the sensei took the newest Nanseikan members outside for some intensive training, leaving the rest of the space for jikeiko. The format of the morning was first zokin (cleaning), which was pretty hectic but with so many people it was over in about 45 seconds! Next we posed for a group photo, then had the usual welcome speeches and exchange of presents (Nanseikan gave each of the sensei a packet of Madura tea, since it is grown and made in Australia, is different to Japanese tea, and is something that is not breakable or heavy for their luggage. And the Japanese love a nice cuppa!). Then we introduced the sensei ...