Categories
gradings kendo

My route to hachidan (Ishida Toshiya)

In January a couple of years ago I translated and an abridged article from the book “Kendo: the route to promotion” (part one). The article I chose for translation was one by Yano Nobuhiro sensei, a professional police kendo instructor here in Osaka. Later that same year I took Yano sensei with me to Scotland, […]

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kendo media

Almost done

One more keiko and this year is done. Whew. I must admit that this year has been a long one! Long though it may have felt, however, it wasn’t a particularity prolific one here on kenshi 24/7 compared to past years. That doesn’t mean I didn’t get anything done. Event-wise there were plenty of shiai […]

Categories
equipment kendo

Zansho (残暑)

A few years ago, I am not sure how many exactly, but it wasn’t soooo long ago, a slow change in the garments people were wearing for keiko began. Thicker, heavier dogi were giving way to super light and sporty “jersey” types, especially keikogi. These super-light keikogi looked (and still look mostly) absolutely awful… at […]

Categories
history kendo kenshi

Kyudan

Almost 10 years ago, I wrote an article entitled “A brief investigation into the shogo system” which, kind of by accident, also went on to discuss the dan-i (or “dan-kyu”) system as well. Over the years, the topic of gradings has crept up now and again here on kenshi 24/7: sometimes I’d look at a […]

Categories
kendo

Transformation

A few years ago I wrote and published my high successful Kendo Coaching Tips and Drills manual, the first of its kind, and still – afaik – the ONLY publication of its kind in the English language. The idea to write a more advanced manual for instructors first came in 2008. It then took four […]

Categories
history iaido kendo kyototaikai media

Embu

The window for applying for this years Kyoto Taikai has finished. I have been attending now for over 15 years, taking pictures and cataloguing my experiences here on kenshi 24/7. Unexpectedly, my first experience of actual participation was in the koryu section, not the kendo one… way back in 2009 I think it was.

Categories
kendo

Learning jodan through teaching it

About 10 years ago a student of mine – a tall 15 year old girl who had only started kendo seven months earlier – approached me in the dojo and suddenly said “please teach me jodan.” Not having thought too deeply about it before but knowing that I wanted to learn myself at some point […]

Categories
history kendo

The end of one era, the start of another

With the scheduled abdication of the current Japanese Emperor on April the 30th 2019, a new era will begin. Well, not a really a new world-changing epoch or anything so exciting, but a change in the Japanese calendar name that happens along with the succession of a new head to the imperial family. For people […]

Categories
dojo kendo media

Butokuden godogeiko

Yesterday I joined a 120-person keiko at the Mecca of kendo, the Butokuden (this ancient article needs updating!). The Butokuden was the HQ dojo for the Dai-Nippon Butokukai, the most influential organisation in kendo’s history, and the father of today’s All Japan Kendo Association.

Categories
miscellaneous

Looking forward

So, the start of 2018 ushers in the end of kenshi 24/7’s tenth year online. Unbelievably I’ve been writing this site since 2008 (which itself was an extension of a private kendo blog which began in 2003). I can’t remember exactly when the first post went up as I’ve deleted, archived, or otherwise removed or […]