As is the norm here in Japan, kendo doesn’t stop over the holiday period (what little holiday period we have anyway), still, I shouldn’t complain! Luckily, as kendo is part of my job, if there is a shiai on a normal workday then that shiai becomes a “business trip” for me. Such was the case yesterday (the 26th of December).
Recently I wrote two articles that took a critical look at the current kendo style and the (obviously directly related) problems with modern shiai. Engendering positive kendo Zanshin confusion, sutemi, and hikiage Of course, I am not the only person who looks at and thinks about the current kendo situation. In most cases, however, any criticism given or suggestions made seem to fall on deaf ears – the ruling kendo elite make decisions for the rest of us often unilaterally without seeking input from general practitioners (a rare exception).
This year, as usual, the Osaka prefectural gym was the venue for the All Japan Prefectural Championships (mens). What was different from last year is that I am now in possession of a seven month old daughter, which meant I was only able to watch a couple of hours of the competition before heading back to nappy-changing duties! In that couple of hours I took a handful of snaps, some of which I will share with kenshi 24/7 readers today. This shiai, basically the All Japan Championships for teams, has a unique format, which I have introduced here on kenshi …
Today’s mini-post is another media one with pics from a couple of University Invitational Shiai that my students and I attended over the last couple of weeks. March is always a busy month shiai-wise (we still have one more next week and another was cancelled) but, as I’ve mentioned before, these university invitationals are my favourite type of shiai because we (usually – it depends on the shiai running time) manage 30-40 mins of godo-geiko once the competition is done. Unfortunately, both of the shiai this month ran over, which meant a “relaxed” 40 mins became a super frantic 25 …
When my alarm went off at 6am this morning (Sunday) I dragged my body out of bed, had a large cup of coffee, grabbed my stuff, then headed over to Kyoto to take part in this years Kyoto University high school invitational competition. By “take part” I of course mean “take my students over to compete.”