Nanseikan Kendo Club 剣道クラブ南西館

Michi Martial Arts (formerly Michi Budou) is one of our favourite suppliers. Russ and Junko do a lot for the club in terms of service, like taking orders and hand-delivering them to training at the dojo. Please support them whenever you can, by considering them as suppliers for your equipment needs. www.michimartialarts.com

just Google "Kenshikan Dojo Melbourne for directions" Due to my involvement in the Interhigh Gasshuku on the weekend of 16-17 November, Nanseikan training will be at the Kenshikan on the Saturday. So Nanseikan training will be part of the first two sessions of the Gasshuku. Training will start around 9am, so get there normal time. 9am —10 am is scheduled for Kendo. 10.30am — 12.30am is scheduled as a Naginata introductory workshop. I'm really excited as I've only done Naginata once before! So next week, everyone will need to remember to take their bogu home, and bring it to Kenshikan the following Saturday. from the German Naginata Federation

As promised, here is a link to a great new translation in English of what is a seminal book on Kendo technique and philosophy. The Kendo Reader or Kendo Tokuhon by Noma Hisashi is a classic of Kendo literature and is now available here . I will write a bit more about it at a later date. But for now, it is highly recommended. I would buy the hard copy, which comes with a free digital download as well.

I need some Nanseikan members to help out with a very short Kendo demo this coming Saturday afternoon, at Heidelberg Primary School, from 2.45 to 3.00pm. We would need to be ready by 2.30, so that would mean arriving no later than 2.00 at the school (parking will be difficult). There's no restriction on skill-level, anyone is welcome to volunteer! If you can do it, please send me a short text message on 0422 146 367. b

...and goes until 14 December. The calendar for next year has been fully updated as well.

Congratulations to all those who graded last weekend. Everyone was successful. Max, Patrick, Quinn, Ben, Alex and Nick all graded to 6th kyu. Sean graded to 5th kyu, Jerry graded to 4th kyu and Alvin graded to 3rd kyu. Grading fees are now due. They are $15 for Max, Quinn and Alex, and $35 for everyone else. If you want to do a bank transfer, just shoot me a quick email, otherwise you can pay at training next Saturday.

As promised today at training: lots of interesting stuff to look at in spite of no subtitles. The life of a poor Kendo champion... And then a look at the kind of teaching that I aspire to... :)

Congratulations to all those who graded last Sunday. I believe everyone passed. Now, on to the benenfits of membership and grading!: the ANU Kendo Club, has extended an invitation to all VKR kenshi to attend their 2013 seminar and Taikai. More details here: http://anukendo.org/events.htm Also, there is a new artilce on " Shugo-Nanseikan " about the Kenshikan Dojo, which may be of interest to those who were visiting it for the first time on Sunday. http://shugo-nanseikan.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/the-kenshikan-melbourne.html

grading at Kenshikan when it had the old floor Upcoming grading dates below.  If you are grading please make sure you take either your own, or club bogu with you.  6th kyu will only need to wear do and tare. 5th kyu and above wears full bogu. If you are grading please take full bogu and tenugui!  (shinai as well, of course!) It sometimes happens that people get asked to double grade, in which case you need to have everything there just in case. Grading for 6th Kyu - 2 Kyu: Date:  September 8, 2013 Time:  12.30 registration for 1 pm start Location:   Kenshikan Dojo, 91 Rosslyn Street West Melbourne VICTORIA 3003 Grading for 1st Kyu   - 3 or 4 Dan:   Date:  September 22, 2013 Time:   12.30 registration for 1 pm start Location:   Kenshikan Dojo, 91 Rosslyn Street West Melbourne VICTORIA 3003 Grading fees are $35 for kyu grades , payable after you pass. The VKR will...

looking at Osaka Castle, from the roof of Otemae HS, 2009 Yes, part of my mind is in Japan right now. Training for and planning my trip in November is well underway. In the meantime though, normal life goes on... Firstly, please bring your bokuto to training for the next few weeks, as we will be practicing the bokuo kihon with the beginners, who start next week. Also... from this year's kangeiko Kenji Sugimoto from MUKEN passed his 5th dan grading at the Kendo Leaders' Summer Camp in Kitamoto, Saitama Prefecture. Pics of last year's camp can be seen here . Well done Kenji! You finally get to sit on the other side of the dojo. Kenji is a much better kenshi that I was when I passed 5th dan. I think he'll easily pass 6th dan when he's eligible. Here is an old diagram I made to show what height to raise the shinai for the backswing of a cut. Both are considered a large swing. There's no need to lift the sword any higher or further back...

the first men toré of the day This year's Kangeiko was cold — 0º C when we started. The Kendo gods were truly smiling on us! In spite of that we had an excellent turnout, boosted by large contingents from MUKEN and for the first time Monash Uni Kendo Club. Kyohei had three of his students accompany him from Benalla. Members from Fudoshin and MBK rounded out the numbers. In all, throughout the day we had 25 kenshi attend. practicing oji waza The focus of the day was shiai, with a particular focus on introducing new kenshi to some of the ideas and issues of shiai. From looking at the definition of Yuko Datotsu , we practiced basics with a shiai purpose, looked at common strategies and mistakes at different levels of shiai, and then put that into action in three mini shiaijo . Each shiaijo had at least two experience kenshi overseeing the matches: a single shinpan officiating and another observer who was called on at the end to give verbal feedback. The begin...

This year's Kangeiko will be on Saturday 22 June from 9 am until 5 pm. Kangeiko is a special training session that takes place in the coldest part of the year and  is usually an extended training that tests endurance. It also gives us a chance to cover a lot more things than a regular training. As usual this is also the last training for Nanseikan in term two. We will be following the same format as in previous years with breaks for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea. Morning tea and fruit will be provided but lunch is BYO. The focus of this Kangeiko will be shiai . Cost for Nanseikan members will be $10. Non-Nanseikan members $20.

As I mentioned at training yesterday, the 8th dan championships are probably the real pinnacle of Kendo competition in Japan. Watch particularly the opening bow to shomen as well as to each other. This is because it is the final. This is a good example of the bowing rituals or reigi saho for competition. You can also find other matches in the Youtube sidebar, since this is from the All Japan Kendo Renmei's channel, including some super-slow clips of winning points.

Hashimoto-s. on left Keichi Hashimoto (Renshi 6 dan) will be visiting Melbourne for four days next weekend. Here is his training itinerary: Friday 3rd May  - VKR Friday night keiko (7:00pm warm up, 7:30pm start keiko) Saturday 4th May  - Open training at Kenshikan Dojo (2:00pm - 4:00pm) Sunday 5th May  - MBK training at Kenshikan Dojo (9:30am - 11:30am) After doing a little Google jutsu, I also found his Twitter account, his competitor profile on the All Japan Kendo Federation website, and an interview where he shows off his Hummer and talks about starting Kendo in kindergarten (!) and how his other passion is music. He apparently had a band and for a while considered giving up Kendo to focus on music. All bogu-wearing kenshi are welcome to join in training with him. Even newer members could benefit from watching him in action. Hungarian hansoku from this year's European Kendo Championships It looks like the video keeps getting deleted. F...

Momiji (Japanese maple) in Sakura City, Chiba Prefecture, Autumn 2009 Autumn Term 2 starts this Saturday. It's a 10 week term and on the last Saturday we will have our annual Kangeiko , a special training that goes from 9am until 5pm. This term our focus will be on 1) integrating our new beginners  and 2) looking at the nuts and bolts of shiai , or competition. The aspects of shiai that we will look at most closely will be: correct procedure for competitors: reiho (etiquette) and basic rules yuko datotsu or what makes up a correct scoring point for more advanced students: competition strategy against different opponents introduction to being shinpan (referee) VKR AKR membership fees due Also, please be aware that in addition to term fees all membership fees will be due for Victorian Kendo Renmei and Australian Kendo Renmei. This is a single fee which members pay to the club and then I forward it to the VKR. It covers insurance, gr...

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 ...

Another very successful beginners' course has ended. I'm very excited to see so many people in the dojo and I hope you will all continue on next term. What makes me really happy is seeing such a mix of ages training together, especially family members. And of course having a dojo that is getting almost too full is really, really great.  It's a good sign that with my back against the corner of the dojo, I still can't get everyone in the frame in this photo! This term we used the bokuto kihon as the basis of our introduction to Kendo for our new members, and if you scroll down a bit you will find a previous post with an excellent video and the list of what the techniques are, for your future reference. We will revisit the Bokuto Kihon regularly, as well as looking at Kendo Kata. Throughout the term we also played some games, like the now world-famous tama-komigeiko (tama meaning "ball" in Japanese)! It's always good to have games from t...

This is a recent upload of a doco I've not seen before. It's probably from the 1970s and features rare footage of a competition between members of the Imperial Guard at the Dojo of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. From a rough old video but still well worth watching. This one's a bit more recent. It is interesting because it is of an entire training session at a private Kendo dojo in Tokyo called the Kobukan. The top of the screen seems cut off but it is actually the mezzanine level where everyone's equipment is stored. The dojo actually makes up the bottom two storeys of Ozawa sensei's house in Nakano ward. Ozawa sensei finally passed his 8th dan after 10 years of trying.    His father was 9th dan in Kendo. Outside the front. Ozawa sensei My favourite emergency exit door in the world. The corner of the dojo right underneath where Mihori san set up his camera to make the video of training you see above.

Since we have started the Bokuto Kihon kata, here is a video from the All Japan Kendo Federation with all nine kata. It's in Japanese, but you should be able to recognise the sequences you have done already. And as you can see from the screenshot above, there are captions with the numbers for each kata. The caption above reads, "Kihon 5, Nuki-waza". Then underneath it says what the attacks are: "Men nuki Do (migi do)", in other words "a strike to the head which is countered by escaping underneath to cut the right-side of the opponent's torso". One thing lacking in the video is the kakari-te  (attacker) calling out the names of the kata in advance, e.g. " Kihon go !", " Kihon yon! " etc. So far we have done up to and including kihon roku (6), which is suriage waza ("rising slide technique"). Next week we will do kihon nana , kihon hachi , and kihon kyu . The full name of these kata is b okuto ni yoru kihon waz...

The dates for this year's Kendo gradings and competitions has been updated here: http://www.kendo.org.au/p/training-dates-for-2013.html