One more keiko and this year is done. Whew. I must admit that this year has been a long one! Long though it may have felt, however, it wasn’t a particularity prolific one here on kenshi 24/7 compared to past years. That doesn’t mean I didn’t get anything done. Event-wise there were plenty of shiai […]
「小川さん、あなたは私と同じ道を歩いているようですね。」 “Ogawa-san, it seems like you are walking down the same road as me.” Mochida Seiji’s words to Ogawa Chutaro two months before his death in 1974 Following on from my last post I’d like to introduce to readers my favourite kendo (note-like) book: Ogawa Chutaro’s epic “hyaku-kai keiko” = “one hundred keiko.” I have […]
Very recently I started a “club note” system here at my kendo club here in Osaka. For the benefit of readers who live in countries where schools don’t have active after-school clubs like Japan (my school in Scotland certainly had no such thing) let me explain briefly: I prepared a note book for the club […]
The 67th All Japan Kendo Championships (mens) was held on Sunday the 3rd of November in the Osaka Prefectural Gym. Luckily for me, some repairs and/or renovations on the Nippon Budokan for next years Olympics brought the shiai (for the first time) to Osaka, the venue being about a 20 minute bicycle ride from my […]
So, a few months ago someone posted a comment on the kenshi 24/7 Facebook page saying that I have a kote fetish… they were right! Kote, along with men and of course shinai, are one of the most important equipment needed by any serious kenshi and are worth, I believe, investing time and money in.
A few weeks ago, a guest of one of the young kendo teachers at my workplace was standing in front of the dojo mirror kamae-ing and looking at himself from different angles. I guess it is quite a common scene in many dojo with a mirror, be it Japan or elsewhere, but what got me […]
Yesterday I hosted my first Eikenkai session in about 8 months. 22 kenshi from six counties (Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Germany, America, and Japan) and 3 prefectures (Osaka, Kyoto, and Mie) got together at my work dojo where we did 40 minutes of kihon followed by just over an hour of jigeiko. After keiko we went […]
A few years ago, I am not sure how many exactly, but it wasn’t soooo long ago, a slow change in the garments people were wearing for keiko began. Thicker, heavier dogi were giving way to super light and sporty “jersey” types, especially keikogi. These super-light keikogi looked (and still look mostly) absolutely awful… at […]
Almost 10 years ago, I wrote an article entitled “A brief investigation into the shogo system” which, kind of by accident, also went on to discuss the dan-i (or “dan-kyu”) system as well. Over the years, the topic of gradings has crept up now and again here on kenshi 24/7: sometimes I’d look at a […]
For the past few years I have been travelling back to the wonderful city of Edinburgh, Scotland, to teach a seminar at my home dojo, Edinburgh Kendo Club. This year was the seventh seminar I have run over the past 11 years, and the 3rd in as many years.