Waikato Kendo Club

“SHOGAN” a program in the late seventies which hooked me on the Japanese ethos of the period  and sparked my interest for my martial arts passion was then born “BUSHIDO” the way of the  warrior. After many years participating in several different full contact arts the path has lead me to  “ KENDO ” and after an interest in “KENJUTSU” or the art of the sword it was a natural step. A  quick search on the internet and I found “WAIKATO KENDO ASSOCIATION” venue at the  university basket ball hall gate 4, “Great!” nice and close to home, I turned up and used proper  DOJO etiquette and was welcomed in. After a hello and handshake with Sensai Sam Tasi and a few after club members I took a seat to  watch. After years of playing hard and a few major motorcycles accidents in life as motorcycling is  my other passion, this art still gives me a good work out and is easy on my worn joints this is great. After 8 months of being part of the Waikato Kendo Association family I am enjoying eve

Hi, my name is Darren.  This is my story and my beginning into Kendo. When I was young, my Dad took me to a Bruce Lee movie. This changed my life forever, and from that moment on I knew I wanted to learn Martial Arts.   There was something magical, yet beautiful about the way Bruce Lee moved and delivered blow after blow with optimum precision and speed. I wanted to be just like him. At 18 years of age, I started doing Nam Wah Pai Kungfu . This was a great start into the Martial Arts world for me, it taught me discipline, flexibility and endurance. But I knew that I wanted to learn more. And so, I then began Thai Kick-Boxing , which I found to be more realistic and suitable to what I was looking for, in a Martial Art. 27 years on…..with many hours of  training/sparing, 3 ring fights and later the teaching of Thai Kick-Boxing to others, I was forced to stop. Two hip replacement operations later and  with a sadness in my heart, I then faced a reality that Martial Arts of an