Nanseikan Kendo Club 剣道クラブ南西館

   These two videos are well worth a look. Firstly, from a channel that is uploading lots of "Kendo vs..." videos lately, this is the first one I've seen where someone with a high level of Kendo skill is up against a fencer. I'm not sure if the epee-ist is as skilled but it is an interesting match.  This video is more interesting from a technical and cultural point of view. It shows a demonstration shiai at the 88th Kyoto Taikai held at the Butokuden in 1992. The two competitors are Sugawara Keizaburo (on left) and Nakakura Kiyoshi (the taller sensei, who featured in the story I told last Saturday at training). Both sensei were 9th dan. George McCall has a great article listing all the 9th dans  here , including the rationale and history behind the higher dan grades. What I love about this match is how spirited it is. There have been 'generational shifts' in Kendo (as George observes in the linked article) according to how and where the major Kendo teachers we...

  Currently for sale on eBay .

Training for term 4 We will continue to have kata training 5.30 to 6pm Tuesday night  and more general training 10am to 11am Saturday via Zoom. We will continue this schedule until there is a change in regulations around public gatherings. When we come out of strict lockdown (no travel restrictions), it is likely the first opportunity to train together will be outdoors and with distancing. In this event we can consider meeting either at a park centrally or at different parks each week. I imagine that we will train in 'civvies' (normal clothes) and do solo movements:  suburi and taiso only.  When this happens we will discuss as a club what the best time and duration is for training, and what is the best mix of online and in-person training. As the situation improves, we can work towards more close-quarters training, eventually with the aim of returning to the dojo and practising one-on-one in full armour. Even then it is very likely that the following conditions would r...

Thanks for a great training today and glad to see everyone is well. Here are some links from our shugo as promised. Caleb's HEMA recommendation. These guys look fierce and skillful. Mick's recommendation. There can be only one... :) Want to watch 6 hours or Keirin racing from Nagoya? (Because bikes are awesome). Here you go... For Greg particularly, Keishicho vs Kogu (Tokyo Metro vs Imperial Palace) 2016 All Japan Police Kendo Championships. There's a great throw at 13:18. Not legal but who cares?  And here's one of Let's Kendo's excellent Ippon Omnibuses from the same tournament. Here is that documentary about 8th dan with Iwatate sensei that I mentioned. It's in English and has his explanation of what he looks out for when judging 8dan. He mentions left foot angle at 9:20. Sadly the uploader cut the doco before the end. just found the last bit!  https://youtu.be/skdc-9gCunY If you have Netflix, I highly recommend Japan Style Originator (Wafu Sohonke  和風総本家...

I hope this posting finds everyone well and making the most of the enforced seclusion of social isolation. It seems strange to be on such a long break from Kendo. Not only not training, but not making plans for the future. So to lighten your mood, here are a few fascinating and hilarious old newsreels from British Pathe. For those of us too young to remember, newsreels existed before most people had television. When you went to the cinema to see a movie, which for many was a weekly occurence, newsreels were played before the main feature and they were the news and current affair programs of their day. These ones from Britain have all the cultural attitudes of the day. It's quite amazing to see them from as early as the 1930s. And there's quite a difference between the film from 1962 and 1965. The 1962 group look like they learned Kendo from a book! Although the senpai has quite good tenouchi . The 1965 group look like they at least know how to wear their dogu. It would be w...

As promised, here is that video on whip dynamics. Watch the whole thing, or start at 5:45 for the gist of it. The speed of sound is indeed (well done Alex and Ben!) 343m/sec or 1,234.8km/h (which for all you old timers, air force or navy people is 667 knots). The similarity with the shinai, as I mentioned at training this morning, is the 'unrolling' of the whip and how this causes the speed of the tip to increase exponentially. Our aim with the shinai is not to interfere with the whip-like potential of the shinai, by having the most rational and efficient cutting action possible. We should try to imitate the kinetic wave of the whip's motion through the way we use our body, recreating this unrolling by starting with the shoulders then continuing through our upper arms, elbows, forearms, wrists, palms and fingers. As you can see in the slow motion video of the whip with the taped segments, the unrolling movement is characterised by each section of the whip coming to re...

EDIT: I've posted a different pic of the "Thumbs up" kote tshirt. There are quite a lot of garments available including hoodies and windcheaters. There are also iPhone wallets, stickers, tote bags and cushions (!). Their tote bags are really good, I've bought a few over the years and they're really sturdy; perfect for carrying kendogi and hakama, library books or just the shopping. Above is the most basic tshirt available.Could be the perfect gift for the Kendo person/social media addict in your life. Maybe that's you! For those that don't read Japanese, it says "ii, ne!" which means "it's good isn't it!", the Japanese equivalent of "like". Check out the different styles and colours here: https://www.redbubble.com/people/nanseikan/works/29785820-thumbs-up-kote?asc=u&p=mens-premium-t-shirt PS - this is my original artwork, so as the copyright holder I get a small portion of the fee from each sale. :) b

So here it is, the doco on the connection between Kendo and the swordsmanship of Star Wars. "You just took your first step into a larger universe." Enjoy.

This is a fantastic old film of one of the greats of Judo, Mifune Kyuzo sensei (10th dan).  If only there were as comprehensive film records of the greats of Kendo like Mochida, Ogawa, Saito et al. Even though I'm no Judo man, it's great to see Mifune's softness, "like an empty jacket" as one of the commenters puts it. I have no doubt that any of his challengers would put me flat on the mat in a heartbeat! The other thing I find astounding is the range of ways that Mifune disrupts his opponents' attacks. If you watch this on Youtube and see the links you might be tempted to watch some modern videos from the IJF. If you do, you'll see amazing athleticism, but be warned you'll also see such awful reiho that your eyes will bleed.

Red Bubble is an art marketplace where you can upload your designs and then people can choose to purchase them in different forms. I've created a shop with some Kendo-related designs such as this one that says "Nanseikan" (南西館). As you can see this is an iPhone 6 case, but you can also choose it as a t-shirt, tote bag, hoodie, etc, etc. Here's another one: At the moment there are four designs. I'll upload more as I come up with them. Check it out. Maybe you need a new hoodie for winter...? http://www.redbubble.com/shop/nanseikan PS - Term 2 starts next Saturday

click here for details

  This is our newest member who arrived recently from Japan. Originally from Niigata Prefecture, he will be training with us from now on. If there are dojo leaders from other clubs interested in securing a similar Japanese kenshi from the "Kendo Skilled Migrant Scheme", drop me a line... :p

This morning I went to MUKEN training. They have a training session every Wednesday morning from 7am til about 8.30am. It's a little different to some Kendo trainings because people tend to leave early if they have to go to work or lectures. But, like every VKR club, their training sessions are open to all VKR members, so feel free to join in if you have the time. There was also a very special visitor to training. We decided if he did Kendo he'd be a 9th dan sensei, based on his incredible self-control and lack of wasted movement! He is a tawny frogmouth ( podargus strigoides ) and as well as being incredibly cute, he is a nocturnal hunter related to, but different from an owl. Another surprise I received at today's training was the gift one of the new MUKEN tenugui . The story of the tenugui is below. Thanks to Viet and the the rest of the MUKEN Kendo club for the gift. These tenugui were designed by Takahiro Ueno, a calligrapher from Chiba, Japan. He is currently ...

First, thanks to those people who are helping with all the dojo packing-up chores in the background. It's great for me to be able to finish talking to some students about something important like how to fold the hakama, and to find all those little jobs already done. Thank you! Secondly, here are two funny Kendo videos, the first one I spoke about today because Jerry's kiai reminded me, and the second one is a similar, Kendo related one, based on a famous old story of a teacher and his student. Enjoy!

Each person who finds ten cringeworthy Kendo moments in this video wins a Nanseikan 10th anniversary badge. International readers included! Post your entry in the comments. I've tagged this as an "Instructional Video" because you can learn even by watching bad Kendo. :D

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

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

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

Here's a cool ad from Mazda Japan for their new "4 door, 4 seater concept car" the "Shinari". Not sure what the word means but the kanji (靭) contains the 'radical' (mini-character) for "blade" (刃). Must say I really DO like the look of the car. :P I think it will have to be an Autobot in the next Transformer movie! b (PS - Who else thinks the whole video is 3D animation?)