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 […]
Happy new year! Phew, just when you think you are done, it all starts again! I started kenshi 24/7 in 2008 but my first online kendo presence was actually in 1994 or 95, when I published a website for the club I started in: Edinburgh Kendo Club (almost certainly the first or second kendo related […]
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 […]
「小川さん、あなたは私と同じ道を歩いているようですね。」 “Ogawa-san, it seems like you are walking down the same road as me.” Mochida Seiji’s words to Ogawa Chutaro two months before his death in 1974 Following on from my last post I’d like to introduce to readers my favourite kendo (note-like) book: Ogawa Chutaro’s epic “hyaku-kai keiko” = “one hundred keiko.” I have […]
Very recently I started a “club note” system here at my kendo club here in Osaka. For the benefit of readers who live in countries where schools don’t have active after-school clubs like Japan (my school in Scotland certainly had no such thing) let me explain briefly: I prepared a note book for the club […]