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Exactly 2 years after the first Eikenkai in Scotland seminar I returned to Edinburgh and held another. In amongst the busy backdrop of the Olympic and Edinburgh festival mayhem around 30 people spent a couple of days together doing kendo, drinking beer, eating curry, and generally having a fun time. The Saturday session ran for […]
HYOSHI (拍子): musical time, tempo, beat, rhythm When people use the term HYOSHI they usually use it when they talk about something that is “out of rhythm” or “offbeat” and the likes, but when you try to express the term precisely its often hard to do so, even for scholars. When I consider what HYOSHI […]
The following is a presentation of a couple of charts found in the book ‘Nihon kendo no rekishi’ (The History of Japanese Kendo) that I found interesting and my commentary on them (apart from the charts themselves, this is not a translation). To read more about whats discussed here in more detail, including the background […]
Gekken Saikoron – The Argument for the Revival of Gekken Editors note: The Jikishinkage-ryu swordsman Kawaji Toshiyoshi (1834-79) was a Satsuma-han samurai who lived during one of Japans most tumultuous periods. A military man, he took part in many of the battles that happened over the country as it reacted to western encroachment and fell […]
The true meaning of rei is found in the midst of seriousness The following article was originally published in April 2011 and is by Ota Tadanori hanshi (see author bio below). I placed this article on my ‘to-do’ list a while back and picked it up randomly a few days back. With the 15th World […]
Already well known in Japan, Osaka sports universities Sakudo sensei is becoming more and more well known outside of the country nowadays, so I thought I’d dig out a piece of kendo literature by him to share with kenshi247 readers. Here is a translation of a short description of ‘seme’ that was originally published in […]
1. By the time you are in sonkyo you should already have your strategy in place: ‘As soon as you stand up, 1 – seme, 2 – seme, 3 – seme… pressure, pressure, pressure.’ ‘If you want to strike me men go ahead, do it! When you attempt to I will strike your dou.’ ‘Just […]
400 years ago today, on April the 13th 1612, the most famous duel in the history of Japanese swordsmanship took place between Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro*. Its so well-known that there is no point in adding any information here, as every single kendo, iaido, or probably practitioner of any Japanese budo knows the story! […]
During keiko, when you are struck by your teacher or a friend its really them giving you kind, wordless, advice: “Be careful, this is a weak point.” If you are resentful and think “damn it, I’ve been hit!” then – when you have reached the status of being able to take part in the Kyoto […]
しない競技は、終戦後の廃墟と混迷の中から生い立った新しい競技である。 Shinai kyogi was a new sport that sprung up In the ruin and confusion of the post war period.” … is the first line of the chapter on Shinai-kyogi in the book “How to study kendo” that was published in 1965. It goes on to explain in a bit more detail: To say it […]