Waikato Kendo Club

Welcome to our 2016 Kendo Beginner Class Today's orientation programme includes: Introducing Kendo - PPT Introducing Waikato Kendo Club Kendo - The Way of the Sword Dojo Kun and Etiquette Za-rei Beginners' first lining up Dojo Senpai Beginners' first lining up Ice Braking & Testimony from Senior Members First Kendo Experience led by Dojo Senpai Group activity End of Lesson Competition - Relay Prize Giving Group Photo on Saturday 5 March 2016 Welcome to all our 2016 beginners picking up shinai and  start your Kendo journey with us. We wish you enjoy it and  become more handsome and more beautiful through the Kendo training.  :-) * Thanks to Eric for keeping these great moments for us! 

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.

Farewell to  Gavin , have a good trip back to home.  We will miss you and see you next time!  smile emoticon 珍重再見，後會有期！ ＊ Kendo Journal 09/03/2016: Appreciation Today we were emphasising our training on Zanshin (殘心）. Zanshin is a concept unique to Kendo. There's no other martial art that will do Zanshin or have something similar to this. In most other martial art, practitioner is training on how execute the technique efficiently with their physical strength and agility and may the best man prevail in the competition. Ippon is the Kendo term used to describe when we score a point in Shiai. Ippon can also be view like a "ritual" where I declare my intention with Kiai before executing my attack using techniques and physical agility. Then finishing the ritual with going pass your opponent, reflecting on my own action and appreciating your opponent's sacrifice to make you a stronger Kendoka. To my understanding, the last part is known as Zanshin. To

Here are the PPT prepared for the Beginner Class last weekend  with Isida Sensei's documentary about Kendo  by the National Geography. Use sword (Katana) as an approach to explore and understand the Way of Life. * HQ - Kendo's Gruelling Challenge (original English narration) This documentary is about what it takes to grade for 8th dan in the Japanese martial art of Kendo. It follows two candidates of very different ages and personal histories as they try to pass one of the most difficult exams in the world. Along the way we are shown why they are so passionate about Kendo and why they are focused on pursuing their own improvement regardless of the outcome of the test. Made by the Japanese national broadcaster NHK, this doco will be 20 years old next year. For the first time it's on the net with English narration and semi-decent picture quality (transferred from VHS). Still one of th

Kendo experience for Beginners in groups 5/3/2016 - by Lily It's the first time for me to write something on Facebook, cause today's Kendo training is so special! In the beginners class , I tried to explain Kendo to who never know Kendo before. It was really hard to explain everything comprehensively, but I have learnt to teach is one of the best ways to get better understanding and improving oneself . To be truth, I felt very proud of myself to get through difficulties once faced by ourselves. I also felt the patience we should have in treating with tough moment. Moreover, in the second class, I put on Men for training. It was quite different to ordinary training. When I put on Men, the training was more serious and more close to 'real kendo'. In short, to be relax and focused is always important throughout Kendo.

Waikato University starts this week,  welcome many of you coming back to NZ to  continue your study and Kendo journey. Let's have another great year together! * * * I think I'm gonna call this Kendo diary now... (by Nicole) Wednesday 2/03/2016: Firstly, we need to welcome our returning students back to training.  Looking forward to train with you boys and girls throughout this year. This also means we will be having new blood coming into our club as the new beginner's class is going to start this weekend. You'll be Senpai from now on, fighto! There's a change of training menu for our regulars for this year. While we are still doing the Kihon, Waza and Shiai training, we are also shifting our focus on stretching exercise to strengthen our muscle and footwork exercise to improve our agility so that we can perform better when we are doing Kendo. For example we were doing zigzag tsuri-ashi through uneven spaces to train us for bei