After many years of consideration, I’ve come to the conclusion that some people may find me hard to work with. This is (mostly!) due to the fact that I am a bit of a sceptic: for things that I am invested in – or that I find important – I tend NOT to take what […]
Update: despite thousands of signatures from all over the world, Shingikan was closed at the end of March 2024. The council did consider saving it but it was overruled by a single vote. I rolled out of bed at 4am last Saturday on a mission. My shinai and bogu bag were pre-packed the night before, […]
For the second year running I took part in the All Japan inter-prefectural competition (kids) in a sort of adviser/helper role to the team running the live stream (actually there were two teams, each looking after four courts; I was helping courts 1-4). I wrote about the job in detail last year, and this year wasn’t […]
Ruminating is something I do a lot of. I guess you do too. Work, family, the mortgage, the next episode of your favourite Netflix show, and of course kendo all use some of our mental resources (the balance of which changes depending). Kendo, in particular, has been somewhat vexing for me over the years: Why […]
* Update (Sept. 20023) : two videos were added at the end of the article * For the eighth time in 15 years (including the three forced-hiatus years during the pandemic) I travelled to my home country of bonny Scotland to instruct a kendo seminar hosted and organised by Edinburgh Kendo Club. This was the […]
Today I held my first Eikenkai since February. Due to this-and-that a lot of regular members weren’t in attendance. Still, 15 people turned up for a just-over three hour session. Nationalities represented included Japan, China, America, Croatia, Ireland, Switzerland, Venezuela, Italy, Germany, and, of course, Scotland. The lack of locals made today’s session feel more […]
“When facing an opponent in shiai, the two metsuke are as follows. For opponents in jodan, you should watch the point from which they raise and lower their weapon [i.e. the hands]. Opponents in seigan will raise and lower their kissaki, attempting to hide their intent. When they are going to strike, they will raise […]
On the last Saturday of May, and the first weekend of June, my students and I took part in the largest high school kendo competition in Osaka prefecture. It took three days: the first day being the individuals competition (boys and girls), the second the boys team, and the last day the girls teams. Each […]
Last Saturday I spent the morning and the first half of the afternoon working with my students at a shiai held at Shudokan, the dojo in the grounds of Osaka Castle (and five minutes walk from my workplace). The shiai in question was the “kokutai” preliminaries for Osaka prefecture. Kokutai translates into “National Athletic Meet.” […]
In mid-April I took my kendo club to Osaka prefectures public high school kendo championships. A boys and girls team competition, it – somewhat surprisingly – started only 16 years ago. Here in Japan all the major high school competitions are dominated almost completely by private schools. They have superior facilities, longer training times, better […]