Categories
history kendo kenshi

The last Busen graduate

As every kendoka knows, Busen (Budo Senmon Gakko) was – along with Tokyo Koto Shihan Gakko – the premier place for training kendoka before the war. It was run by the Butokukai and was based in the legendary Butokuden in Kyoto. People who graduated from here went on to train kenshi all over the country. […]

Categories
dojo history

Kendo Places #4: Butokuden

Founding of the Butokuden in 1895 on the 1,100 year anniversary of the transferring of the Japanese capitol to Kyoto (Heian-kyo), and as part of the building of Heian-jingu, the Butokuden construction began. It was originally meant as a demonstration platform for the Butokukai. It was completed in 1899 on the north-west side of the […]

Categories
kendo

It was 30 years ago today!

(Note this is a guest post from Geoff Salmon) Not only when Seargent Pepper taught the band to play, but when I lived in Kansai doing pretty much the same kendo stuff as George is doing today. One of the real differences between then and now is that through the wonders of internet, email and […]

Categories
kendo

Yuko-datotsu vs Ippon

I am going to start today’s article with an anecdote and some self-reflection before getting into the main topic. In a roundabout way (as is my style) the intro anecdote is relevant to the theme, but feel free to skip it if you wish. [ While you are here: please note that registration for the […]

Categories
history kendo theory

What are you (not) looking at ?

“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 […]

Categories
gradings kendo

The accidental hachidan

This particular article has been brewing in my head for years. In private, I’ve talked about the situation countless times, discussing it with friends and probing for opinions or experiences. As I’ve being saying for some time now, and as most people should know (or at least feel), the grading aspect of modern kendo is […]

Categories
japanese kendo

Kendo iroha

Like most kenshi 24/7 readers, I always have a few kendo books and mags lying on my desk at work. When I have time to kill I like to randomly flick through them. Every now and again I’ll rotate a book from my desk with one from my bookshelf at home. In all honesty, however, […]

Categories
miscellaneous

2022 Review

Happy holidays! Usually at the end of the year I review what has been happening on kenshi 24/7 but this year has been rather thin pickings again, with only 14 articles published (this being the 15th). This has partly been due to the ongoing pandemic (at least, it seems to be still ongoing here in […]

Categories
kendo

Kendo saved me

Just over five years ago one of my sempai suddenly said – knowing I am a kendo book addict – that he was cleaning out some of his stuff and would I take a couple of boxes of kendo books from him. “Of course” I replied, and soon after he gave me a trove of […]

Categories
books kendo

Kendo Advice 1919

About three years ago I translated part of a book and shared a bunch of pictures from various other books by Hotta Sutejiro (a mini bio can be read on the linked article). An interesting if somewhat mysterious character, he was a early and very prolific kendo author. Last weekend, in a rare couple of […]