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About 2 and 1/2 years ago I posted an article entitled “How to pass hachidan.” In it was the advice a sensei of mine received, plus his own advice about attempting what has been called the hardest test in Japan. Flipping through some old kendo magazines a few weekends ago I found a similar piece […]
Osaka people: Police tokuren captain, Teramoto Shoji (35) (The following is a quick translation on a newspaper piece on the hugely popular Teramoto Shoji. The article was published in Osaka version of the Mainichi Shinbun on the 18th of January 2011. The picture at the top of the article is by George and was taken […]
When you think about kenjutsu study in classical times we think about all the different styles practising without wearing bogu and using bokuto. Starting about a 100 years ago various schools started to use men, kote, and dou. This allowed for more freedom in practise and was a way to train your body, polish your […]
When we talk about the correct transmission of swordsmanship, the essential/secret techniques etc, there are actually no real special or mysterious methods; winning in a duel is simply a matter of attacking the enemy when they attack their preferred area. By “attack their preferred area” I mean that when two people come together and fight […]
Take a look at the video below. This is the winning point of this years Zen nippon senshuken taikai (All Japan championships), held in the Tokyo Budokan on the 3rd of November 2010. This is the shiai that determines/determined who is the strongest competitor (young/male) in the country (and by extension, the world), and is […]
Kendo is a combative discipline where you fight with a sword, and it as such it may be thought of as a brutal and bloodthirsty art by some, but thats definitely not what it is: it is method of physical education that includes educational, moral, and spiritual training. The kendojo is a place where this […]
The kendo community is extremely small. I can’t even compute the number of times I’ve been chatting to someone (real life or online) when a connection has been made to a mutual friend. I’ve lived in three countries (U.K., America, and Japan) and have done keiko in 15+ more, so I’ve had plenty opportunity to […]
Ippon (n.) The act of successfully scoring a waza in kendo. The act of striking with ki-ken-tai-no-itchi.See ki-ken-tai-no-itchi and yuko-datotsu. Ki-ken-tai-no-itchi (n.) A term which expresses an important element in moving for offense and defense; it is mainly used in teaching striking moves. Ki is spirit, ken refers to the handling of the shinai, and […]
As it is said that ‘the eyes can speak as well as the mouth,’ it must follow that the language of the eyes is delicate and subtle. French philosopher Georges-Luis Leclerc de Buffon stated that ‘words’ express the character of man; an insightful remark. The sword is also considered to reveal the character of the […]
It must have been in 2001. It was the night before the European kendo championships (Bologna I guess) and I was chatting with the then U.K. kendo team coach Honda Sotaro sensei about shinai. In particular, I was unhappy with the shinai I had taken with me to use in the competition and was seeking […]