Nanseikan Kendo Club 剣道クラブ南西館

This Saturday is our annual Kangeiko: 9am til 5pm. There is no cost for NSK members. Other VKR members, the day is $20, half day or concession $10. Snacks like toast, tea, coffee and fruit will be provided.  BYO lunch. The kitchen will be available for preparing your own food. If you are coming from another club, please RSVP by this Wednesday if possible so I have an idea of numbers for catering. nanseikanATkendovictoriaDOTasnDOTau. You can also RSVP via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/561435837368854/ See you there!

As mentioned at training, annual memberships are due. For seniors (16 and over) it's $70. Juniors are $40. If you could bring money to training next Saturday that would be very helpful.

Now that everyone from the last beginners' course is in full bogu, it's time to start thinking about buying your zekken (also called a nafuda). This is a personalised bag-shaped cover that fits over the centre flap of your tare, and shows your dojo and name. These are both useful, and necessary if you ever want to enter a competition. Zen Sankei in Japan make our zekken for us. They have a special page set up where only Nanseikan members can enter their details to order a Nanseikan zekken. You just input your name, and also the size of your tare. http://www.zen-sankei.com/onlineshop/product_info.php?cPath=21_66&products_id=347 Because they are small and light, I don't think postage is very much. But you might like to find other people who want to order them together and save on postage. Cain Lee is the man who runs Zen Sankei Australia. He lives mostly in Japan but visits Australia regularly and is a member of Melbourne Budokai.

After you've finished reading this post, enjoy this great video of oji waza (counter-attacks) from a very kind Youtube user in Hiroshima. If you go to the Youtube page, you'll see they've given the timing references for all the different techniques displayed. I love the calligraphy "do" 道 at the end of the dojo. For everyone, both our most recent beginners and our ongoing members, membership fees for the Australian Kendo Renmei and the Victorian Kendo Renmei are due by 15th June. Why the 15th? The VKR has recently introduced a cut-off date for memberships of the 15th of each month. This is to allow for processing. Remember the VKR is a small organisation run entirely by volunteers. So if you need to be registered as a member by the 1 July, then you need to get your application in by 15th of the month before. Half year memberships These don't apply now, but will be relevant to those who join the August beginners' course. Half-year memberships...

We've got a shipment of new equipment just in time for Saturday's first training of term. I look forward to seeing everyone there. Hope you've been doing your suburi! ;) Dates:  term 2   16/4, 23/4, 30/4, 7/5, 14/5, 21/5, 28/5, 4/6, 11/6, 18/6, kangeiko  18 June

Shinai bags can be expensive but it is necessary to have something to carry your stuff in. Everyone at Nanseikan should have shinai and bokuto, if not now then soon, and these can be difficult to carry to-and-from training. If you're on public transport then you definitely need something to contain them in, preferably with a carry strap. This little sequence of pics shows how to make a handy shinai bag out of a length of oridinary fabric and some lightweight rope (in this case it's an old men himo ).  It's really just a glorified furoshiki . The great thing about this design is, firstly it's very cheap, it's expandable, and you don't need to take the tsuba off your shinai and bokuto before putting them away.

Usagi Yojimbo is angry at me for my bad scheduling over Easter. Although I had scheduled two more classes this term, this coming Saturday will actually be the last for the term. There will be no training on Easter Saturday. Training will start back for term 2 on Saturday 16 April. As is our tradition, the last training for term 2 will be our annual Kangeiko (寒稽古) or winter seminar. This is on Saturday 18 June. Training on that day will go from 9am until 5pm, and there will be kenshi from many other Victorian clubs in attendance. Get ready to learn 6 months' worth of Kendo in one day... Usually there is a small extra charge for the whole day training, to cover hall hire. But since my miscalculation of the dates for term 1, there will be no extra charge for Kangeiko this year for NSK members. Wishing James good luck for his shodan grading next Sunday!

Yesterday the March 6th kyu to 2nd kyu grading was held at the Kenshikan. Congratulations to Chris and Andre for both receiving their 6th kyu. Commiserations to Alex for being unsuccessful at 2nd kyu. As a grading panel member I learned the following: sometimes they will include kakarigeiko! most junior kyu grade candidates have poor tenouchi as a result, most strike the mengane (grill), and not the datotsubui (scoring section) of the men so you can  really  stand out from the crowd if you have flexible wrists when you cut kiai is generally too quiet left heel resting on the ground is a mistake that's very easy for the grading panel to see many people judge distance poorly, or fail to match their technique to their motodachi's distance, especially when doing multiple cuts most of my attention as a judge was not on whether people would pass or fail, but whether there was someone who deserved to be promoted to try for the next grade above (th...

front entrance of the Kenshikan in West Melbourne It's grading time again. Below is the relevant info. Kendo 6 Kyu - 2 Kyu  Grading When: Sunday 6 March 12:30pm registrations, 1pm start Where: Kenshikan Dojo, 91 Rosslyn Street, West Melbourne Kendo 1 Kyu - 3 Dan  Grading When: Sunday 20 March 12:30pm registrations, 1pm start Where: Kenshikan Dojo, 91 Rosslyn Street, West Melbourne For Nanseikan's approach to gradings (and competition), please read this. To apply for grading, just speak to me at training and I submit your application. Fees are paid after the grading is completed and the VKR sends an invoice. Dan grading questions, and the form on which they need to be submitted can be downloaded by clicking this link to Google drive . For a description of what it feels like to go for the different grades, see this older article from Shugo-Nanseikan. For the actual technical descriptions of requ...

not the actual cover! I have just spent a little time updating the Beginners' Handbook. If you have just started the beginners' course, please take a moment to print yourself a copy. https://docs.google.com/document/d/18z5KYMuwsLMvyCd2GNWboSMw-iv-bTnZSmzK4Y2IcLk/edit?usp=sharing The purpose of the book is to cover just the basic procedures so that you can more quickly remember what you need to do and how you need to do it when you are in the dojo. It's not a handbook of techniques per se. The things it covers are: Pronunciation of Japanese words The Dojo correct attire and safety how to kneel down into seiza and stand up again correctly etiquette procedures how to hold the sword basic stances basic footwork patterns basic Japanese terms used in Kendo and their meanings what constitutes a valid strike in Kendo ( yuko datotsu )

From last week's visit by Ozawa sensei and Okada sensei. This was the Tuesday night training at Fudoshin Kendo Club. As I mentioned at training, we have more opportunities to train with high level sensei in Australia than most people do in Japan. The majority of Japanese kenshi rarely get to train with 8th dan sensei. So please consider making time to join in next time someone like Ozawa sensei comes to visit. And remember as Okada-s. said, if you want to improve your basics, just spend an hour a day doing hayasuburi !

I hope everyone has had a festive and restful holiday season. The mild summer so far has been very pleasant. Perhaps we'll get some scorching weather soon! We start back this Saturday, 9.00am start as usual. See you all then.

For those of you who haven't seen this yet, it is one of the best documentaries for explaining to non-Kendo people just why it is that we do Kendo. For a long time there were only very poor quality versions on Youtube (one reddit user described them as looking like they were filmed with a ham sandwich). This is a copy from the last time it was broadcast on TV. It is VHS quality but cleaned up as much as I could. I have searched around and cannot find anywhere that this version in English is available for purchase. Since the doco is almost 20 years old now, I would guess that Miyamoto sensei is no longer with us. However Ishida sensei has visited Australia in the intervening years, although to Sydney only, not Melbourne. All who have met him say that he is as warm and humble in person as he comes across in this documentary. Considering what he has been through, the man has an amazing smile. He is a walking advertisement for the virtues of Kendo!

Ozawa and Okada sensei last visited Melbourne in 2014. It was Okada sensei who gave me the insight to reconfigure my basic men-uchi. It is his observation that bringing the left hand up to forehead height before cutting helps to engage the lower spine.  Ozawa sensei is well-known to many as the leader of the Kobukan Dojo in Tokyo. I have reposted above the trailer for an excellent documentary in which he features. Below is a short video about his father, Ozawa Takashi sensei who was Kendo 9th dan.

あけましておめでとうございます！ I look forward to training with all of you in the coming year, 2016, the Year of the Monkey.  Let's work hard to lift each other's Kendo!

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.

We were lucky that a mild day was forecast for this year's Shochugeiko. A smaller crowd this year, but from my point of view, probably the best gasshuku yet in terms of what we covered and how well we did it. Here's the crew who started the day... ...this is just before the final session, taken because Gazzaniga sensei had to leave to meet Tashiro sensei at the airport... ...and at the end. Mostly still smiling... The tell-tale sweat patches show that it was a good day! I will post soon on Shugo-Nanseikan with a technical summary of the day and a reminder of the main points. In the meantime, before you go into the break, a good opportunity with the hot weather forecast for the next week to wash your hakama . Here's a little reminder (for those with 100% cotton hakama): Fold your hakama properly along all the pleats and wash in luke warm water in a large trough or in the bath. I use wool wash mixtur...

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.

Go to 19:36. This is Sawada sensei's explanation to his students of the correct method for zanshin after kote, as mentioned at training today. A brief summary of his points: the title says the technique is "tobikomi kote" (the girls are obviously taught to drive forward strongly after kote) After striking kote, raise the sword but keep your left fist as the pivot point, in other words at at the same height, don't move it up or down but keep it in the centre, in front of your hara . It is in this position that you move forward and crash into your opponent. There should be a definite space between your hands and your body, as there should be in your kamae also; that is, there should be space between your left fist and your stomach. Don't let this position crumble on contact with your opponent so that the space between your hands and your body disappears. If it does, you won't be able to do a hiki waza (cut going backwards) if the need arises. If ...

Please note a new training format page under the tabs above. This new format is being trialled to maximise our short time in the dojo. It puts the onus on Nanseikan students to practice more suburi at home, to free up time for kata practice and intensive shinai kendo training.