History - The 1st All Japan Kendo Championship

One of our members knows one Kendoka who learned Kendo "few decades" ago but has stopped for a long time. He asked me why the Kendoka seems to have different styles from what we are doing. Actually, I think that there are no much difference but just evolved to a "finer" way.

Some core concepts such as Sen, Seme, Sutemi and fighting for central line etc are still the very important concepts today.

Anyway, it is really a pleasure to watch the video clip of The 1st All Japan Kendo Championship in 1952:

Hope you will get some inspiration from these great senseis.

Comments

Sherwood said…

I have to agree with you about kendo evolving. .. I'll go a little further and say that it would be impossible for it to stay the same. All we can do is to trust our sensei's and try to keep as true to their teachings as we can. Should we ever become sensei ourselves we will have a great responsibility to pass on our knowledge without corrupting it too much from what we were taught.

My father taught me many things, some of them I try to do exactly as he showed me but however hard I try I do it slightly different to him. I can't do it exactly the same because I am not him.
When I teach my son these same things he again does them very slightly different to me... he has to because he is not me. The process has evolved.
I'm sure a samurai from the 18th century was different from a samurai of the 8th century, they were both truly samurai but they had evolved.
All things evolve ... that maybe why so many older people think of the "good old days".

As I get older I become more of a traditionalist. However, I don't see a danger in kendo evolution ... Revolution? that's a different story.
Sorry for the ramble.

11:33 pm

How do you practice seme?

Kobayashi Hideo Sensei – How to Seme (w/English CC) 小林英雄先生 - 攻め方 How do you practice S eme ? Very early on, I have heard of the “Three Opportunities to Strike”: strike when your opponent’s technique is about to start, strike when your opponent’s technique ends, and when the opponent is mentally and physically depleted. Since then, this line of thinking has given me a direction in how to train. In 2017, Utsunomiya sensei, 7-dan kyoshi, came to visit us and taught me the concept of “okori”. That reminds me of the conversation that happened 8 years before that in 2009 with Morioka sensei, also 7-dan kyoshi, who asked me: “What is the timing or reason of your strike?” I think most people are familiar with the idea that you should “ seme then strike ”. However, when do you strike after seme has been a source of struggle for most kenyu. That’s why when I saw the video from Kobayashi Hanshi where you seme for the purposes of creating “okori” , I felt this added a whole other d

Happy Rabbit Year 2023

We wish everyone have a Happy Rabbit Year Saturday 21 January 2023 Keiko Reflection - Janet As lunar new year of the rabbit arrives so is our Dojo welcoming new beginners to get a taste of what kendo is like. While the beginners learned brand new ideas, the senpais were reminded of the basic purpose of Kendo, which is self discipline, development & improvement of our body, mind, & spirit. Constantly striving for a more perfect & beautiful cut rather than being just a form of self defence or stick fighting. Ashi-sabaki or footwork ( Kouda sensei demonstration ) is very important in Kendo particularly Suriashi or sliding steps as it not only look more graceful & elegant, but also would reduce noise when moving on wooden floors & reduce likely injury from stepping onto hidden weapons or obstacles on the floor in medieval Japan. We were also reminded of the basic sequence of engagement during a kendo duel: 1. Holding good Kamae (on guard position, Kouda sensei demonst

Having good Senpai is a wonderful thing in Kendo.

13/03/2016 Yesterday's training was really hard! I thought everyone there make effort to do kendo without sensei (going to Auckland for the Yamagami sensei's seminar ) . There were quite a few problems I met from the training, for example I was scared when Claire senpai and Kevin senpai was about to hit me, and let kensen move away from centre. It may take time for me to modify my psychology. And I should improve my posture in the following training. Thanks to Nicole senpai for telling me a lot about how to maintain boku. I felt her passion in Kendo is exactly the same when we were training together and chatting after class.

Waikato Kendo Club

Search This Blog