Nanseikan Kendo Club 剣道クラブ南西館

Please see this announcement from the VKR

Some great training drills from Osaka Police. One day we will practice them in the dojo! Please continue to take care of yourselves.

This is a great little TV doco from Japan. In Japanese but there's lots of good Kendo watch. And locations too. It's all about the Kyoto Taikai which happens every May at the Butokuden. Even though this was made for a general TV audience, they spend a lot of time on individual matches. There's even isshujiai ! (kendo v naginata) And it's called "The Kendo". Awesome!

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 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

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!

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...

Please note the Nittadai seminar has been canceled

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 ...

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...

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.

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.

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 : 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-...

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!

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

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 

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.

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.

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