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All Nanseikan training suspended until end of March

As may have been expected, the VKR has this evening recommended all clubs to cease training until the end of March. They will monitor the situation and make further recommendations in due course. Below is the message from VKR President Cyntheia Lim. Dear all, The COVID-19 situation is changing very rapidly.  The VKR is now recommending that all kendo, iaido and jodo activities be suspended until the end of March.  We will review and update our recommendations before the end of that period.  Your support and understanding is greatly appreciated. Your voice will be heard We are open to hear your concerns, questions regarding this situation. Please feel free to write to  president@kendovictoria.asn.au . Kind regards, Cyntheia Lim President Victorian Kendo Renmei

Inspiration

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OK, so Japanese police kendo is a little above our level. But still you can learn a lot just by watching. Mostly you can aspire to their Kendo. Every now and then you will be able to achieve a technique a little like what you've seen high level kenshi do. Perhaps you will see the solution to a difficult problem or bad habit in your Kendo. This is Kumamoto Police kendo. They feature Nishimura sensei among their number, one of Japan's best kenshi--national team member, All-Japan champion and subject of this documentary I've linked to previously. This video is of their training basics: suburi, etc. Watch what they do and how they do it. Enjoy!

Quick news post for March, including urgent call for volunteers for AKC

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AED and First Aid The club has just received a Samaritan PAD 360p AED (Automatic External Defibrillator). The individual or organisation who donated it wishes to remain anonymous but they have our  heart felt thanks! Defibrillators are devices that restore a normal heartbeat by sending an electric pulse or shock to the heart. They are used to prevent or correct an arrhythmia, a heartbeat that is uneven or that is too slow or too fast. Defibrillators can also restore the heart’s beating if the heart suddenly stops.   Different types of defibrillators work in different ways. Automated external defibrillators (AEDs), which are in many public spaces, were developed to save the lives of people experiencing sudden cardiac arrest. Even untrained bystanders can use these devices in an emergency.   https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/defibrillators https://www.ambulance.vic.gov.au/community/education/restart-a-heart-day/ In the time I have been doing Kendo (~3...

Nittadai Seminar

Please note the Nittadai seminar has been canceled

Details for The Australian Kendo Championships

Dear all, Please read the information below regarding registration for this year’s Australian Kendo Championships in Melbourne as either a competitor, shinpan, official or seminar attendee. Competitors   All Victorian competitors are required to register and pay directly via the AKC online registration website:  https://vkr.ecwid.com/ You must include the correct seeding (ranking) based on the selection results as advised by the Victorian Coaching Team. Please contact the Victorian Team Manager (Andrea Ngai) if you are unsure of your seeding.   If you also intend to attend the seminar, please register and pay at the time of registration. All 4-Dan (and above) competitors are expected to make themselves available for Shinpan duties for events in which they are not competing. Please indicate your availability via the registration process. Registrations and payments are due by 14 February 2020. In the situation where Victoria’s allocation in ...

Working With Children Check for NSK members

More and more kids are doing Kendo at our club and at other Kendo clubs in Victoria. This is a good thing. It means there are adults and kids training together and learning from each other. The Working With Children Check used to be something only instructors needed. Now, however, nearly everyone over the age of eighteen who trains in a club where children are also training needs to have one. There are various exemptions, such as if you're related to the children you work or train with, but this is only if you are related to all of them . As we do a fair amount of training with other dojos, it is better if everyone has a WWCC. If you are currently training at Nanseikan and over the age of eighteen you need to do the check. For volunteers it is free, but you will need to go to a Post Office to have your photo taken for the card (also free). As soon as you have your card, please let the club know. Apply below: https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/individuals/applicant...

New training times confirmed for 2020

Saturdays will be 9.30am to 11.30 am, Wednesdays will be 6.30 to 8.00pm. These will be our training times from now on.

2020 Kyoto Enbu Taikai

If you intend to attend the 2020 Kyoto Enbu Taikai, please send your application form to AKR at akrsecretary@kendoaustralia.asn.au. AKR will collate all individual applications and send them to AJKF. Please note that the application deadline from AKR to AJKF is 12th February 2020.

Training for 2020 starts next week! New start time of 9.30am for Saturday training

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Happy New Year! あけましておめでとうございます! Training starts back next Saturday 1 February. This year we will be starting a little later. Training will go from 9.30 to 11.30am. Wednesday training will start from Wednesday 5 February. We will start at usual time: 7.30 until 9pm. However I'd like to get opinions on starting earlier, e.g. 6.30 to 8pm There are a number of events coming up. There is the annual Nittaidai seminar, Vic team selections and the big one, the Australian Kendo Championships at Easter. They are in Melbourne this year and it would be great to have NSK members volunteering to help on the day. More information to come.

Martial Arts “Kendo” and the Motivation Network During Attention Processing: An fMRI Study

Martial Arts “Kendo” and the Motivation Network During Attention Processing: An fMRI Study : Japanese martial arts, Budo, have been reported to improve cognitive function, especially attention. However, the underlying neural mechanisms of the effect of Budo on attention processing has not yet been investigated. Kendo, a type of fencing using bamboo swords, is one of the most popular forms of Budo worldwide. We investigated the difference in functional connectivity (FC) between Kendo players (KPs) and non-KPs (NKPs) during an attention-related auditory oddball paradigm and during rest. The analyses focused on the brain network related to “motivation.” Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and task-based fMRI using the oddball paradigm were performed in healthy male volunteers (14 KPs and 11 NKPs). Group differences in FC were tested using CONN-software within the motivation network, which consisted of 22 brain regions defined by a previous response-conflict task-...

Fujiwara sensei's Kendo research results

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2019.00170/full Happy New Year. Some light holiday reading for you all. Don't forget your daily suburi!

Nittaidai Seminar

Here are the details for the up coming Nittaidai Seminar Sorry I cut and pasted this from a PDF, I couldnt figure out how to import a PDF. If anyone wants the full brochure let me know and I will email it. Early Bird discount ends 31st of December.  Kendo Renmei presents Nittaidai Kendo Seminar 2020 Featuring: Makoto Yagisawa Sensei: 8-dan, kyoshi Nobuaki Furusawa Sensei: 7-dan, renshi Chikano Shinzato Sensei: 7-dan, renshi When: 29 Feb – 1 Mar 2020 9am – 5pm Where: Monash University Recreation Centre (Clayton Campus) Melbourne,  Registration (Individual Registration) https://vkr.ecwid.com/ Fees: Early Bird (before 31st December 2019): 2-day : $80 1-day : $50 Full Price (from 1st Jan 2020) 2-day : $100 1-day : $60 Benalla/Apollo Bay/Under 16s (2-day): $60 From the Desk of the Secretary

Grading Dates

Dear All here is the full list of grading dates as it currently stands: Kendo Sun. 15th March --- 6th kyu - 3rd kyu kendo Sun. 22nd March --- 2nd kyu - 4th dan kendo (AKC's grading Tuesday, 14th April at MSAC) Sun. 6th Sept. --- 6th kyu - 3rd kyu kendo Sun. 20th Sept. --- 2nd kyu - 4th dan kendo Iaido/Jodo Sat. 28th March Sat. 25th July From The Desk of the Secretary 

Great new koryu videos from Meiji Shrine Autumn Budo Demonstrations

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Tatsumi Ryu starts at 11:35    Don't forget to check out our previous post about how to order Tomoko san's beautiful shinai bags.

Tomoko san's bespoke sword bags

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click on the image to see an enlarged version Tomoko Fujiie showed us her beautiful sword bags recently at training. If you would like to order one, please follow the link to her order form below. She makes two sizes: one size for katana/bokuto and the other for shinai. The thing I really like about them, apart from the fact that they are beautifully made, is that they have an ingenious toggle-drawstring closure which is simple and secure. I've not see that before an any shinai fukuro . Tomoko san's order form You can email your order to directly to kyohei dot fujiie at mail dot com Payment on delivery.

no training Wednesday 4 December

Apologies to those who were keen to train. There's always suburi! Last Wednesday training for 2019 will be the 11th.

Saturday 14 December: last training for 2019 and Shochugeiko by the beach

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Last year's Shochugeiko at Blairgowrie Community Hall photo courtesy Kyohei Fujiie It was so much fun we're doing it again! We're heading down to Blairgowrie for our annual summer training camp or shochugeiko . Here are the details: Where : Blairgowrie Community Hall, 12 William Rd. https://goo.gl/maps/HqeFZG8PsBF2 When : 9.30 to 4.00pm, Saturday 14 December  Meet : at the Heidelberg West Dojo at 7.00am and depart at 7.30am Cost : $20.00 VKR members, $10.00 Nanseikan members Food : BYO. Hall has full kitchen with fridge, stove, microwave, etc. Dinner will be picnic or BBQ on the foreshore. We'll be taking the St Pius PS bus which will fit about 10 people but we'll also need a couple of cars to help transport everyone's bogu. Hopefully the weather will be warm enough for a swim after we finish training for the day, although as last year showed, some people will go for a swim no matter what the temperature. So bring your bathers!

Tashiro sensei seminar 2019

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Tashiro sensei will again be visiting Melbourne as the guest of Mumeishi Kendo Club. All VKR members are welcome to attend a seminar and/or several trainings that Sensei will be visiting during the week of his visit. Please see details of the seminar and various trainings below.  Thanks to Mumeishi Kendo Club President Trent Reeve for this info. Other trainings: Mumeishi Kendo Club, Berwick Masonic Hall, 106 Princes Highway (Main street) Berwick: > > November > Wed 27th - 7.30pm - 9.30pm > Fri 29th - 7.30pm - 9.30pm > > December > Sun 1st - 9.30am - 11.30am > Wed 4th - 7.30pm - 9.30pm > Sun 8th - 9.30am - 11.30am > > A $5 visitor fee is applicable at these sessions. Parking is available at the dojo and across the street. > > Sensei will also be visiting the following dojo during his stay. In each case please observe the host dojo's visitor fees. > > Thurs Nov 28th @ Fudoshin Kendo Club 7pm - 8.30pm > Mon Dec 2nd and ...

Atsushi's "itte rasshai" party

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Atsushi is returning to Japan at the end of this month. Most likely he will be back next year when his visa is sorted out, so it is "itte rasshai" (see you soon) rather than "sayonara" (goodbye)! So I will be hosting a small party after training next Wednesday (20/11) at my house, around the corner from the dojo. The forecast is for for 31 degrees! So it will be the perfect night for a couple of beers after training. We can fire up the hibachi and have some yakitori, etc to help the beer go down. Please let me know via email or text if you are thinking of coming. Hopefully we can get all of the usual Wednesday night crowd and perhaps some extras for one night. Kanpai!

New club roles and calendar for 2020

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Our demonstration at the 2019 Sakura Picnic Day Thanks to everyone who put their hands up to take on various roles within the club. It's really heartening to know that people are willing to support the club with their expertise. It's also great to have people sharing their ideas with me on how to improve things at the club. It means that you're all thinking deeply about the way things run and are inspired to make things better. These are the people and the projects/roles assigned so far. The nature and the duration of each will be largely defined by the people undertaking them. However I will be in touch with each of you to offer some guidelines on the sort of things to expect, particularly in connection with jobs like Secretary. I imagine the ongoing roles will be for one year unless we decide otherwise. These positions are not exclusive or set-in-stone, so if you want to offer to work jointly on any of these tasks or projects, feel free to speak wit...