Striking in kendo, for the experienced, is something that occurs at the end of a process, which is usually encompassed in the umbrella term “seme” : through pro-actively applying some sort of pressure on your opponent you “break” their posture (physical and/or mental) and defeat them. This is the theory of-course. The less experience someone […]
“Known as the village of master swordsmen, Yagyu is the birthplace of Yagyu Shinkage School of swordsmanship… Long ago, Japan was a land engulfed in war where the principal objective was slaying ones’ enemies by sword. From this war-torn wold, the mast swordsman Yagyu Muneyoshi was born. He created the school of Yagyu Shinkage where […]
I have been wearing masks constantly for the last six months (since mid-March. I wear one in the supermarket, on the train to work, at my desk, in class, and, as you know, during keiko. My beard+the humid Japanese summer just makes things worse. But, as things stand at the moment, life might be this […]
In the last article I briefly touched on The Concept of Kendo and The Purpose of Practicing Kendo as published by the All Japan Kendo Federation (ZNKR) in 1975. In the piece I referred to Ogawa Chutaro as the principal architect behind both. Now, this is my inference based on the kind of person he […]
(Over the past few months I’ve written and re-written, scrapped, dumped, given-up on, and saved-for-later many kenshi 24/7 posts. I had ideas but couldn’t find the motivation, or I had no ideas but felt like I needed to post something. Todays effort is a ramble to be honest, but at least I pushed the “publish” […]
On a boiling hot morning in May 2017 I set off armed with a 50 year old picture to find the grave of the person who I consider the single most influential kenshi in the history of modern kendo: Naito Takaharu sensei. I had known for a while before then the general location of his […]
Updated – see below Between positing the last article, and updating it with information from various later-published missives, I re-started keiko trying to follow the ZNKRs guidelines. In particular I wore a “men-mask” around my mouth and nose (a tenugui used bandana style) and fitted a plastic mouth guard. I did these in various combinations […]
I changed my mind ….. read this first… As I am sure many kenshi 24/7 readers are aware, the state of emergency regarding the current pandemic has already been lifted here in Japan. It was lifted in Tokyo on the 1st of June, and here in Osaka a few days earlier. Students are already back […]
The strongest kenshi in the 20th century: Miyazaki Mosaburo When Miyazaki Mosaburo, then 35 years old, walked in to the Butokuden as a newly minted kendo instructor at the end of the summer of 1927, the young busen students weren’t aware of who he was. Well, perhaps they heard rumours, but they certainly weren’t ready […]
In Japanese the term “Gogatsu-byo” (五月病) – literally “May sickness” – refers to a sort of malaise that comes over people during May who have started a new life at the beginning of the year, which is the 1st of April here in Japan (no joke). Whether you are someone starting a new job, a […]