On April 29th every year the All Japan Prefectural Championships (Todofuken taikai) are held here in Osaka. I have been attending the shiai as a spectator for well over a decade now, and have seen it change in format from a mixed male/female competition, into a separate male (the one I was at today) and […]
Category Archives: shiai
March Madness 狂気の沙汰
Whew, what a month. March has always been a busy month for me, both work-wise and kendo-wise, but this year has been… too much. Kendo-wise my club took part in four shiai (three university invitationals and a local competition) plus we hosted a five-school renshujiai. Work-wise, things started with the usual high-school entrance exam craziness, […]
Boxing day shiai 試合
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 […]
Re-imagining shiai 試合について考え直す
Recently I wrote two articles that took a critical look at the current kendo style and the (obviously directly related) problems with modern shiai. https://kenshi247.net/blog/2018/03/08/engendering-positive-kendo/ https://kenshi247.net/blog/2018/02/16/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 […]
All Japan Prefectural Championships 2018 第66回全日本都道府県対抗剣道優勝大会
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 […]