2012 Wrap up

Merry Xmas! As I am into my last week of keiko for this year I thought I’d take a little bit of time out to reflect on the year that was.

It started out pretty bad as I was still recovering from a bad traffic accident that laid me off keiko for a good 8 months. Just as I started to get the feel for it again I managed to screw up my achilles (probably to do with not doing kendo properly for 8 months..). Because of these 2 injuries, I never really got back into my proper stride until November (I feel like I lost over an entire years keiko). I’m nowhere near pre-accident fitness, but I am back in the dojo, loving kendo again, and clawing any lost ability back bit by bit!!

It wasn’t all bad news of-course. One of the personal highlights of the year for me has been the completion, publication, and subsequent amazing reception of my 4-years-in-the-making Kendo Coaching Tips and Tricks manual. It was a bit of a labour of love for me, so I was both surprised and delighted at the amazing comments people made about it, as well as the amount of sales. Cheers everyone!! If you liked it, please recommend it to your kendo friends.

As far as the website went we published 42 posts: a mixture of articles, photo porfolios, and Eikenkai updates (see below for a rundown of my favourite posts).

I kept my promise last year of releasing more photography out into the public domain: on the website, on facebook, and especially on instagram (check out the #kenshi247 hashtag).

The largest Eikenkai session of the year had almost 30 kenshi from various countries packed in Sumiyoshi Budokan. We saw a couple of members pass kodansha grades and we’ve started to pique the interest of the odd hachidan as well. All good!

What’s in store for 2013?

As always, I run this site and its projects in and around my own work/keiko/study life… so its hard at times to keep producing constantly. However, the following are things that I’d like to at least attempt to get done in 2013:

• Publications: at least one top quality publication (1/2 way through now!);
• Photography: start of a couple of more serious projects;
• Eikenkai: keep up the hard work, produce more kodansha, and start a satellite group;
• Articles: try to maintain a steady pace of content throughout the year.

Cheers!

Once of the best things about running this site is that I get to meet a lot of new kenshi from many different places. Some manage to make it to the kenshi247-led Eikenkai sessions, and some come to Yoseikai… and I meet many others over the net as well.. via email or comments here on the site or on facebook. Its been a tough 5 years to-date, but meeting new kendo friends always inspires me to keep going!

Cheers everyone, and happy holiday season!

- George
25th December 2012.

2012 has been a year of varied posts, check out some of the best below.
To see more of my best picks of 2012, please click here.