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Last year my sempai and good friend achieved his long desired goal of working abroad in a Japanese embassy. Since leaving university (kendo specialist) and embarking in a career as a security guard he had continued to practise kendo as part of his job, eventually becoming his company team captain, winning the All Japan Companies …

Eikenkai is an informal group of friends in the Kansai area of Japan that seek to promote and develop kendo for the foreign community. We have strong connections in the area and wish to utilise these to make peoples stay or visit in the area a great kendo experience. Our February keikokai was a jam …

On a rather chilly, but otherwise sunny Sunday morning, the quiet morning sky over Steveston, BC, Canada, was pierced by the fierce kiai of a group of very serious ladies. Team Canada and Team USA had taken the opportunity of the Steveston Taikai the day before to arrange a series of friendly matches between the …

This small article intriduces the “Showa no kensei (昭和の剣聖)” or “The Sword Saints of the Showa period.” All of these kenshi are widely known within the Japanese kendo community, and abroad as well, but I thought a quick article in here would serve as a useful reference. I hope to expand on this and write …

Kenpō Nagasaki is a bimonthly kendo publication available to subscribers in Nagasaki prefecture. Each issue features shiai and seminar reports and articles by sensei on various topics. Recently the magazine featured statistics about dojo in Nagasaki prefecture, including a survey on how many dojo have kamidana or Japanese flags at their shōmen. I have translated …

The Japanese budo are upheld by many that practise them to be an aspect of traditional Japanese culture. That many budo have taken their current shape quite recently is not important, as many of the arts can easily be followed back to far earlier roots and can easily be shown to be heavily influenced by …

Please be sure and check out kenshi247.net’s gallery and flickr pages (leave comments here or on flickr) as well as kenshi247.net moderated flickr group the Art of Kendo which features excellent photography from around the world (and features work from a few kenshi247.net regulars). For those interested in photography we will have an introduction to …