editorial

It took four years to make but it’s here now, at last. The problem is, it’s so good, and so goddam expensive, I don’t want to use it. I couldn’t bear the thought of somebody’s shinai leaving a mark on any patch of my made-to-perfection set of super bōgu. How much? Let me just say it would make your eyes water. It did mine, and my wife is never ever to know. Can I afford it? Not really to be perfectly honest, even on my comparatively generous university salary and with no “ankle-biters” to feed or care for. Still, when I was told by an old bōgu dealer friend, Mr. Tokusanai, at my sensei’s BBQ some years back that the futon used in the finest-of-fine craftsman-fashioned bōgu is as rare…

the 14th all japan invitational 8-dan kendo tournament

The fourteenth edition of the 8-dan holders tournament was held again at Nakamura Sports Center in Nagoya. As predicted, it turned out to be a great tournament with some magnificent performances by highly skilled and experienced sensei. Of note were K8-dan Hirano Seiji (Tokushima) who ruthlessly dispatched former champion Ishida Toshiya (Tokyo) in the first round; Kanagawa’s diminutive K8-dan Kasamura Kōji; K8-dan Koyama Masahiro (Shizuoka), who dismantled two-time champion K8-dan Funatsu Shinji (Osaka); and of course, six-time All Japan Champion, K8-dan Miyazaki Masahiro (Kanagawa), who was crowned champion in his second appearance in the championships Videos of all the matches from the quarter-finals onwards can be seen on our YouTube channel, but here are some of the choice photographs that we took on the day.…

uts kendo seminar

On December 3 & 4, 2015, UTS Kendo Club in Sydney, Australia, hosted its inaugural seminar, and invited two internationally renowned sensei, R7-dan Takanabe Susumu and R7-dan Wakō Daisuke, from Japan to share their experiences and teach kendo. Both sensei are highly regarded in kendo, having represented Japan at the World Kendo Championships (WKC). Takanabe-sensei represented Japan on four occasions, winning the Men’s Individual Championships at the 2012 WKC in Italy. He also won the All Japan Kendo Championships (AJKC) two years in a row in 2010 and 2011. Wakō-sensei also represented Japan at the 2009 WKC in Brazil and made it to the quarterfinals in the individual competition. Prior to this, he was the runner-up at the AJKC in 2008. Over 85 participants from various countries gathered at the UTS dojo…

takano sasaburō’s kendō

Takano Sasaburō (1862–1950) is considered to be one of the most influential pioneers of modern kendo. He was instrumental in developing the dan grading system for kendo, and was also a key member in the committee that created the Kendo Kata in 1912. His book, simply titled Kendō, was a tour de force in the creation of a uniform style for modern kendo, and is still considered a classic by kendoka today. In this series of articles, I will translate Takano’s book, and annotate the text to contextualise its ground-breaking content. The following is Chapter 2 of Kendō. Chapter 2: Kendo in Schools Section 1—The Objective of Kendo in Education As I have already established in the previous chapter, the true aim of kendo is to anneal the body and mind. This objective…

kendo for adults

Hatano Toshio-sensei was born in January 1945 in Musashi Murayama, Tokyo. After graduating from Kokushikan High School and Nihon University, he became a salaryman for a few years before establishing the Nanbudō Kendōgu shop in 1971. He passed the 8-dan exam on his second attempt in 1994. He serves as an advisor for the West Tokyo Kendo Federation, and is Suruga University Kendo Club Shihan, Musashi Murayama City Kendo Federation president, and leader of the Kinryūkan Dojo. Part 4: The Importance of Kirikaeshi for Mature Practitioners A characteristic of both kirikaeshi and kakari-geiko is that the attacker just attacks and is not concerned about being hit. In this sense, there is little danger of strange habits forming through the act of dodging incoming blows. This, I think, is where the benefits of…

uncle kotay’s kendo korner

Q: Uncle Kotay, what do the pleats in the hakama mean? They’re a pain in the neck to keep straight and creased. What’s the point anyway? (#pleatpolice) A: A good question lad. Many people out there in Kendo Land are probably not aware of the meaning behind the pleats, or why we even wear hakama in kendo anyway. Apart from the obvious advantages of having cool air blowing up your legs and into your nether regions in the stinking hot summer months, the hakama is a strange piece of apparel that has been around a lot longer than flared jeans. Many centuries in fact, and there have been different styles in vogue throughout the ages. The type we use in kendo today with the koshi-ita board in the small of the…