Though a little bit chilly, yesterday was a beautiful day here in central Osaka. Arriving a little bit earlier than usual for keiko I decided to take a wander through the oldest shrine in the prefecture – Sumiyoshi Taisha. The budokan we are based at is right next to it… it’s so close in fact, […]
The following is a translation of three very short pieces by Sakuma Saburo hanshi on the subject of gradings. Obviously there is some overlap between the articles. I don’t know about you, but I personally hate gradings and need all the advice I can get !! Things to be careful about in gradings 1. Improve […]
Digg is probably the news aggregator app that I use most on my iphone to get news stories/information for reading when I am on the train or in the coffee shop (I don’t always read kendo books!). The other day I randomly picked a story about something I had never heard of before: Raw Denim. […]
A while back I stumbled on a poetic phrase while reading some kendo information: 獅子の気合 (shishi no kiai). In kendo-friendly English it becomes “The Lion’s kiai” – what a great image! I stumbled on it randomly again today so thought I’d google it’s origin. Unfortunately I found next to nothing about the phrase online, so […]
On the 4th and 5th of May 1934, Saineikan – a budojo located in the grounds of Tokyo Imperial Palace – was the venue of the second of three Showa-period Tenran-jiai (a budo or sports competition held in front of the Emperor). This post was mainly written in order to share some of the pictures […]