August 2010
Not really an Eikenkai keikokai per-se, but organiser George went back to his home country of Scotland and whilst there managed to conduct a small 2-day kendo workshop as well as some local keiko in the beautiful city of Edinburgh.
The two day workshop consisted solely of kihon with only a small amount of jigeiko had. More was planned but due to time constraints (only 6 hours on Saturday, 3 hours on Sunday) the content of the keiko had to be somewhat restricted.
All in all about 40 individuals attended (or watched) the sessions over the two days, and included representatives from all the leading kendo clubs in the country, specifically Edinburgh kendo club and its satellite dojo (especially Edinburgh university club and Yugenkai) and people from the west coast.
Special thanks go to people who travelled down from Aberdeen and to Jon Fitzgerald (current U.K. kendo team member, Tora dojo) who came up from London for the event.
Hopefully we will be able to do something like this again in a couple of years time!
June 2010
After what seemed like weeks of rain, our keikokai took place on the first sunny morning in ages. It was boiling and sticky outside so we were a bit worried that the dojo would be worse, but luckily for us air-conditioning saved the day!
Three people coming for the first time today (two who will hopefully become regular members plus a visitor from Tora in London) made up for a few of our normal members who didn’t manage to come.
The session was 40+ mins of kihon, about 40 minutes of waza practise, and 45 minutes of jigeiko. It was a good, solid, training session, and everyone looked happy (if sweaty and tired) at the end.
Post-keiko a small bunch of us hit the nearby Okonomiyaki joint for loads of food and a few beers.
The next session is scheduled for Sept 12th. If you are in town, please get in touch!
Date: Sept 12th 2010.
Time: 9am – 12pm.
Location: Sumiyoshi Budokan, Osaka.
Station: Nankai honsen line, Sumiyoshi Taisha station (3 mins walk from station to dojo).
May 2010
Mays keiko was the first to be held in our new permanent dojo, located in Sumiyoshi Budokan. Due to one of our special guests arriving that afternoon from Toronto, we held the keiko on the evening of Sunday the 9th (usually we hold keiko in the mornings). This evening session made it a bit difficult for some of our regular members to come, and a few others canceled at the last moment. Despite that, we managed a small keiko and jigeiko session with the 13 participants.
After this, we did a small mock grading, then headed out to a local restaurant for food and some beer.
Our next session will be held on the morning of June 27th at the same venue. Please feel free to come and join us!!
Eikenkai video
Check out a small (and kind of rough!) Eikenkai PR video I uploaded on youtube today. Hope you like it!
February 2010
February’s Eikenkai (the first one of the year) was a quiet affair compared to the last one but we still had a good keiko session.
We did a little longer kihon session than usual, about an hour (with lots of kirikaeshi and uchikomi!), followed by 30 minutes of waza practise, and finally 45 minutes of jigeiko.
After keiko and showering a few of us went into central Osaka and had some pizza/pasta/beer.
Our next keikokai will be held in Osaka around the 2nd Sunday in May… thats AFTER the Kyoto-taikai for those of you coming to see it. If you are still in the area at the time please feel free to come and join us in Osaka for a bash.
Remember and bookmark this site, and also to check out kenshi247.net while you are at it!!
Many thanks,
- George.
November 2009
Eikenkai had its final practise of the year on November 22nd.
We had people join keiko from the U.K. (most importantly Scotland, which all members accepted as the cradle of modern civilisation), America, Canada, Korea, Australia, and of-course Japan. “Local” members came from as far north as Aomori and as south as Nagasaki. Grades of the people involved went from shodan to nanadan.
In other words, it was a keiko with loads of different types of people, with different experiences, and different kendo stories to tell.
Keiko included warmup, suburi, introductions, 50 minutes of kihon, a 7dan taught basics session of 1 hour, and about 50 minutes of jigeiko. After that, there was a 5 hour drinking and eating session in one of the members restaurants (5 mins from the dojo). A lot of fun was had, stuff was learned, new friendships were made and old ones were renewed, and beer and mysterious Japanese “sake” (in unmarked) bottles was consumed in moderate quantities….
Eikenkai is an open keikokai for people coming to Osaka, and especially for non-Japanese kenshi who come to the area. Even if there is no chance to practise with the group itself due to scheduling issues, we can certainly help plug you into the kendo scene in the Kansai area.
June 2009
Due to various commitments it was hard to schedule in a bash sooner than today… and even then quite a few people couldn’t make it (shiai, concert, work, family etc). Still, with only 10 people we managed a pretty intense keiko session. The format was the usual 40 mins kihon – 40 mins waza – 40 mins of jigeiko format.
Our furthest away member came from Nagaya today. After keiko we had lunch, beer, takoyaki (Osaka’s favourite food!), more beer, even more beer…. a good time was had!
March 2009
We were minus a few of the usual suspects due to shiai / work commitments, but we still had a good bash.
40 mins of kihon, 40 mins of waza practise, then 40 minutes of jigeiko. Even my legs started to get a bit tired by the end!
We capped it off by lunch in a restaurant near Osaka Dome.
February 2009
Our first EIKENKAI practise of the year was jam packed: 45 mins of kihon, 45 mins of jigeiko, kendo no kata embu, two iaido embus (Hoki and Mugai ryu), and a hands-on how-to-use-a-katana lesson aimed at iaido inexperienced kendoka. Following all this we ate and drank into the evening at our sempai’s restaurant.
People participating came from 6 countries spanning 5 prefectures, from mudansha to kodansha, and representing 4 different ryu-ha’s as well as kendo.
Please click the images to see them fully.
Pictures from 2008
Here are some pictures from 2008. Please click on them to view them larger.
