On a boiling hot morning in May 2017 I set off armed with a 50 year old picture to find the grave of the person who I consider the single most influential kenshi in the history of modern kendo: Naito Takaharu sensei. I had known for a while before then the general location of his […]
Updated – see below Between positing the last article, and updating it with information from various later-published missives, I re-started keiko trying to follow the ZNKRs guidelines. In particular I wore a “men-mask” around my mouth and nose (a tenugui used bandana style) and fitted a plastic mouth guard. I did these in various combinations […]
I changed my mind ….. read this first… As I am sure many kenshi 24/7 readers are aware, the state of emergency regarding the current pandemic has already been lifted here in Japan. It was lifted in Tokyo on the 1st of June, and here in Osaka a few days earlier. Students are already back […]
The strongest kenshi in the 20th century: Miyazaki Mosaburo When Miyazaki Mosaburo, then 35 years old, walked in to the Butokuden as a newly minted kendo instructor at the end of the summer of 1927, the young busen students weren’t aware of who he was. Well, perhaps they heard rumours, but they certainly weren’t ready […]
In Japanese the term “Gogatsu-byo” (五月病) – literally “May sickness” – refers to a sort of malaise that comes over people during May who have started a new life at the beginning of the year, which is the 1st of April here in Japan (no joke). Whether you are someone starting a new job, a […]
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 […]
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, […]
For as long as I have been writing kenshi 24/7, and even before then, I have been very picky about shinai (and to a lesser extent, bokuto). Whenever there is an article in a kendo mag about someone’s shinai preference, I read it. I have also spent many years not only trying out different shinai […]
Apologies: due to the ongoing pandemic the 2020 seminar was cancelled mid-March. This years Edinburgh Kendo Seminar, hosted by Edinburgh Kendo Club and kenshi 24/7 is ON! This will be the fourth year straight that I have travelled back to my home country of Scotland to run a seminar, and my eighth time in the […]
Last year my high school kendo club celebrated it’s 60th anniversary. 60 sounds a lot, but the school itself was actually founded in Meiji 19 (1886), over 130 years ago, when the girls department of the Osaka-fu Shihan Gakko (“Osaka Normal High School”), separated itself into a different institution. Of course, long term kenshi 24/7 […]