Yesterday I joined a 120-person keiko at the Mecca of kendo, the Butokuden (this ancient article needs updating!). The Butokuden was the HQ dojo for the Dai-Nippon Butokukai, the most influential organisation in kendo’s history, and the father of today’s All Japan Kendo Association.
Most of the historically renowned sensei taught there (Naito Takaharu, Monna Tadashi, and Ogawa Kinnosuke to name a few), and every famous kendoka has practised there in some shape or form (it was here that all the future 10th dans polished their skills). As every kendoka already knows, it has also been the location of the Kyoto Taikai since 1899.
So when someone invites you to a large keiko session at the Butokuden how can you not go?
Here are a small handful of pics from the godogeiko session:
By the way, you don’t have to wait for one of these large events to practise at the Butokuden: they have open keiko sessions during the week throughout the entire year. Please visit the Kyoto Kendo Associations website to find out schedule and keiko times.
