Nanseikan Kendo Club 剣道クラブ南西館

With the next 6 kyu- 2 kyu grading coming up at the Kenshikan on Sat 7 March at 1.30pm, I have reposted the requirements for each grade below. Grading requirements for kyu grades 2.3.5 6 kyu Technical Requirements Kihon-waza to be executed with Motodachi, candidates wearing Tare and Do. • Correct Hakama & Keikogi • Correct Bogu • Rei and Sonkyo • Ashi-sabaki • Kihon Men • Kihon Kote • Kihon Do • Kihon Kote-Men (Delete) • Kihon Kote-Do (Delete) • Kiri-Kaeshi (Delete) 2.3.6 5 kyu Grading Technical Requirements Kihon-waza to be executed with Motodachi, candidates wearing Tare and Do. • Correct Hakama & Keikogi • Correct Bogu • Rei and Sonkyo • Ashi-sabaki • Kihon Men • Kihon Kote • Kihon Do • Kihon Kote-Men (Delete) • Kihon Kote-Do (Delete) • Kiri-Kaeshi 2.3.7 4 kyu Grading Technical Requirements Candidates wearing full Bogu and demonstrating against each other. • Correct Hakama & Keikogi • Correct Bogu • Kihon Men • Kihon Kote • Kihon Do • Nidan-waza • Kihon Kote-Men • ...

I know at least one person who would really love one of these... I'm not so sure about the sad little guy below... From a very cheesy gift shop of all things kendo called kendo358.com b

8-dan grading in Kyoto. Pic from All Japan Kendo Federation These are the dates for upcoming VKR gradings for the first half of the year. Mark them on your calendar! (:b § Saturday 7th March – Kendo 6th Kyu to 2nd Kyu Grading § Sunday 29th March – Kendo 1st Kyu to 3rd Dan grading

In Korea, some 8-dans have gold-coloured mengane ! It's a bit of a "status-symbol", a way of showing off either how wealthy or how skilful you are. When I first saw them I was a bit shocked. They seemed so, well, showy . But then I remembered that many Japanese 8-dans have status symbols of their own, like sam-e dodai , ( do made from sharkskin) which is very expensive: usually about $3000.00 from a good Japanese maker. And that's just for do itself! If you click on this image you can see how the do has many little dots. These are the natural texture of the sharkskin. Usually the craftsman who makes it is able to arrange a small line of these dots across the middle of the do as a kind of decoration. You will also notice that this bogu set (from www.tezashi.com ) has black mengane . This is really just a different kind of status symbol. Black mengane have only been made for the last 2 or 3 years, but are becoming very popular, especially outside Japan. Even thoug...

アけましておめでとうございます！ ( akemashite omdetou gozaimasu! ) This year training starts on Saturday 7 February. Term dates will be: term 1 ............. 7 February – 4 April term 2 ............ 25 April – 6 June term 3............ 18 July – 12 September term 4............ 10 October – 5 December Above is a nengajo or New Year's card for our club. All the best for 2009. Let's make it a year of learning, fun, and victories! b PS - Don't forget to check out Shugo-Nanseikan , our other blog with lots of new articles about kendo.

...and a 2009 filled with much kendo! Here are some pics of Chiba sensei's chudan no kamae for you all to emulate! b

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 ...

Next Saturday is not only our last training for 2008, but is also the day of the Victorian Junior Kendo Championships. Like last year, we will be having the competition straight after training, at our own dojo. We will finish training a little earlier and start registration and shinai check at 10.30am, with competition starting at 11.00am. The comp should finish around 12 noon. It is planned to have three age divisions, same as last year: under 12, under 14 and under 16. Everyone who is a VKR member and is wearing full bogu at every training can enter. And afterwards we will have lunch at a nearby cafe, to be decided. Come along and make sure we win back what's rightfully ours from Ballarat KC! b

After 10 months in Australia, Natsu will be returning to Japan, and her final year of high school. She has really helped Nanseikan see what the next stage of kendo has in store, and has brought the reality of Japanese kendo right into our dojo. We will miss you Natsu! All the best and keep in touch. b

Pretty self-explanatory... :D b

Our team did well at this year's Melbourne Mumeishi 3s taikai. Jimmy was senpo (position 1) Natsu was chuken (position 2) and Richard was taisho (position 3) . Here's Natsu's report: Well the result was: Ballarat A; Jimmy, me, Richard lost with two points each to Fudoshin B; Jimmy draw, me and Richard won by tow points each UMKC A; jimmy got a dou, but lost by two points, and we lost too... it wasn't the best match if you say from the results, but both jimmy and Richard did extremely well, plenty of kiai, a lot of good techniques with really good timing. kaeshi dou etc i think they need more kihon so the uchi is stronger and also learn good 'kime' and they'll become excellent kendoka. The winning team was Kenshikan 'A', second was Ballarat 'A', they also got the fighting spirit award, and third UMKC 'A'. Well done guys and thanks to Geoffrey's dad and Jimmy's dad for transport on the day. b

It's nice to see a vid of jigeiko not just shiai. This is video of a jigeiko between Yamada Hironori sensei and Chiba Masashi sensei, both former All Japan champions. It was filmed a while ago, and shows Chiba sensei fighting someone of his own level. b

For your viewing pleasure! b

A short video of Nakakura sensei near the end of his life. He visited Australia several times over the years and was something of a kendo (and iaido) god. Next time you're at the Kenshikan, take time to notice the joseki. It says 'butoku' (martial virtue) and is by him. b

Term 3 has come to an end and we have almost a month off before we start on 11 October. In the meantime, the Australian University Games kendo competition will be taking place at Footscray Campus of Victoria University, Ballarat Road, Footscray on Wed 1 October, from 9.00am until 6.00pm. This year a record 70 competitors from 9 universities around Australia will be taking part. AFAIK entry is free for spectators, so if you're not doing anything on that day, come down and watch some intense shiai! And BTW, check out the Mt Fuji webcam down the bottom left of this blog. If you click on "more", you get a bigger image pop-up. It's a really sharp and clear picture too. b PS - there is always a link to Victorian school holiday dates on the left side of this blog too.

g'day! this is Natsu i'm gonna make a report on the VKC, which was held on Aug 24th Sunday at Ballarat. Me, Eli, Kurt and Jimmy entered VKC which started at an unhuman time(7:30am!! gosh!) and went though all day till well past 7pm. KYU INDIVIDUAL Jimmy was the first match of the day, fought against Son.N(UMKC) and Ryo.S(MBK), both really good matches, but unfortunately lost. Kurt won against Nicole.S(UMKC)(^o^), but lost to Rachel.L(MBK). Eli got through the first stage, beat Viet.H(UMKC), but lost to Andy.M(UMKC) at the next stage. Every ones matches were really great WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL I got through the first league, but lost to Chiaki.K(Fudoshin) at the next stage. DAN INDIVIDUAL I lost to Tom.M(UMKC), and Ruben.B(MBK) ...(ToT)\meh KYU TEAM Nanseikan was against MBK. The team order was senpou-Jimmy, chuken-Kurt, and taishou-Eli. Good match but lost...Still, good fight everyone!!!! OPEN TEAM We were against Fudoushin (like last year). Senpou was me, chuken Kurt and tais...

A great vid of Toda sensei. I've done jigeiko with him on several occasions. Ask me at training for some stories about his kendo. b

Good luck and ganbatte kudasai to Jimmy, Natsu (both pictured above), Kurt and Eli as they strive to do their best (or better!) next Sunday at the 2008 Victorian Kendo Championships in Ballarat. Those of us who can't be there will be thinking of you. b

Here's a great video of how a shinai is made. That's a lot of work for something that doesn't cost very much! The same YT user has also posted one about making bogu which is well worth checking out. b

Chiba sensei's Oji waza Video sent by ichibyoshi Note how straight Chiba sensei's cuts are after suriage, and esecially how stright his kote strike is. b