Waikato Kendo Club

Photo Credit: Auckland Kendo Club
Original text in Chinese by Sam Tsai English Translation by David Pan 

This is the fourth time I have had the pleasure of attending Yamagami Sensei’s Kendo seminar.
In 2016, the seminar topic was about the fundamentals of kendo: The five sections of the shinai – Jin-Gi-Rei-Chi-ShinIn 2017, the seminar topic was regarding the “heart(mind) of self-control”, namely: 克己心 / こっきしん / kokkishin: the mindset of overcoming the self平常心 / へいじょうしん / heijoshin: everyday mind 不動心 / ふどうしん / fudoshin: immovable mind In 2018, the seminar topic is 三殺法 / さんさっぽう / San-satsu-no-ho or San-sappo 「竹刀・太刀を殺す」: Kill the sword 「技を殺す」: Kill the waza 「気を殺す」: Kill the spirit

The topic this year is 攻防一致 / Koboitchi. Most kenyu probably heard of it by the more classical term 懸待一致 / けんたいいっち / kentaiitchi, a realm or level of understanding which we hope to attain one day thru training. That said, how do we actually work on this in our daily training? I think this is a question that many ke…

The 12th New Zealand Kendo Novice Championship 9-10 November 2019
Acknowledgment 
We thank Jason Oh Sensei (6th Dan) from North Shore Kendo Club for his service as the Shinpan-cho (chief judge) and running the shinpan workshop in the Novice Champ. Huge thanks also go to Ben Chin, Makoto Kuroda, Naoko Stephenson, Walt Kim, Thomas Hong, Leo Lin, Luo Wen, Eric Viola, Ren Sayer, and Yoko Maruyama for their service as a shinpan. 
Shinpan workshop led by the Yondan Senpai 
This is the third time of Yon-Dan Division Shiai as a shiai demonstration for the novice Kendoka to learn from their high grade senpai but also providing an opportunity for these junior Kendo instructors to learn from each other in a shiai situation. We appreciate the efforts from all the participants: Naoko Stephenson (AKC), Wlat Kim (NSKC), Thomas Hong (NSKC), Luo Wen (WKC), Ben Chin (AKC), Ren Sayer (AKC), Yoko Maruyama (AKC), Eric Viola (AKC) and Leo Lin (WKC). 
Lastly, we thank Marleen Charng sensei for the efforts of orga…

For the longest of times I have always had a passion for the art of swordsmanship and how it is expressed and performed across the many cultures around the world that have a history in the art. For me I experienced sword fighting (mainly for fun) as a teen doing what was considered as European martial arts. I started learning the sword and board and its many techniques which were used in European warfare. 

I remember getting bashed around, thrown of my feet, feeling great swords slam upon the steel helm. Literally half an inch from concussion, it certainly was great fun! Now these people were twice my age and twice my strength, I knew it would be a long journey ahead and I simply wanted to defeat them. However, there was one difference, I wanted to use Katana. No European swordsman could defeat a Samurai, right? At least this was how I thought and my obsession with samurai and legendary swordsman like the great Miyamoto Musashi. I mesmerized over thoughts of doing unbeatable techniques…

2019-09-24 RHS Kendo Club The last lesson of Term 3
- Congratulations to all the members who joined the grading today and achieved their new grades! - Thanks to all the senior members in the Club who helped the kohai (juniors) preparing their grading and demonstrated good leadership! 
- Thanks to Marleen Sensei for helping out the grading exams. - Thanks to all the parents coming to support the kids and helping out the event. - Thanks to all the members, Rex and Joyce for a great success of Term 3 Kendo lessons.
Congratulations to Jacob, Levi, Tim, Felicity and Cassidy for achieving 10th Kyu in Kendo
Congratulations to Lucas, Cody, T J, and Lovejot for achieving 10th Kyu in Kendo
Congratulations for Annya and Lucas  for achieving 9th kyu in Kendo
Congratulations to Isaac for achieving 8th Kyu in Kendo

Best wishes to your anticancer pharmaceutical research project!
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Life is full of obstacles and challenges but they shouldn’t stop you from moving forward, meaning, do not give up just because something is not going your way. In fact, they should be the driving forces of your progress. I don’t know everything about Kendo, only what my sensei(s) and my mother have told me. There are some steps which I can’t do but I still train because that is how a person makes progress. You cannot improve if you don’t do anything. Being the person I was and still am (a total weirdo), I never really understood what giving up meant before. I had never so-called given up on anything I started because I didn’t know what it was. It sounded like a silly human sentiment to me. How can you stop doing something that you have not mastered? Doesn’t it feel incomplete? Shouldn’t it motivate you to try harder because it feels good to master something or it enriches your life ie. makes your life more meaningful? 

How…