Shisei wo tadashi! Mokuso! These “commands” should sound familiar to most Kendoka. Sometimes the order to straighten up isn’t included, just plain “mokuso.” According to my dictionary it simply means “meditation.” But what is it that we’re supposed to do before and after practice? The common explanation its for getting rid of your thoughts, clearing …
Read more »Yagyu no sato (柳生の里) is a small village in Nara prefecture, Japan. Passing through it in a car or by very infrequent bus, you would probably notice nothing particularly different to any other sleepy rural Japanese town. However, this town was the center of Yagyu-han, the ancestral home of the Yagyu family, the masters of …
Read more »In one of the first weeks, after I just had started practicing jodan, I went up to thank a teacher, as per usual, after finishing a practice and he gave me the following advice: “It’s a brave path you are starting on and a difficult one. If you really want to learn it, you have …
Read more »November 3rd. This a day that kenshi around the world know and wait for. It’s a national holiday in Japan and more importantly it also the day of the annual All Japan Kendo Championship (AJKC). From Europe, North America, and Asia kendo fanatics converge on the Nippon Budokan to bear witness to one of the best …
Read more »Sometime in early 2006, I was sitting in the Toyota City Central Library. I suddenly heard a loud crash and a thud to my left, so loud that I immediately looked for the source of the sound, startled out of my reverie. On the ascending escalator was a little boy, probably all of two years …
Read more »This year Kanagawa-kenkei’s (Kanagawa prefecture police force) Shodai Kenji won the 56th All Japan Championships. As a young policeman on his prefectural A-team, a 4th time entrant to the competition, and an extremely serious contender for being in the Japan national side for next years World Championships there is nothing surprising here. What might be …
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