Waikato Kendo Club

2022-05-21 Saturday  A huge lift up of the Beginners group - fitness, breathing, balancing, movements, Motodachi techniques - thanks to Marleen Sensei for leading the training! 👍👍👍 During Keiko, we often focus too much on hitting the targets and not paying enough attention on our own kihon (basics). It would a deep understanding to grab the idea of good outcome resulting from good basics.  * * *   Saturday Keiko Reflection for Beginners & Kyu grades - by Janet As one of the five virtues or moral principles of Bushido (way of the samurai) derived from Confucianism, & represented by one of the five pleats on the front of the hakama, Jin (仁) means benevolence, compassion & mercy, & the kanji 仁 symbolises 2 people coming together. In other words we need to treat others kindly with respect & courtesy like how we would like to be treated. Therefore, we need to associate with others with sincerity. So come to each keiko giving your 100% to help others train, be mindful

2022-05-14 Saturday keiko reflection by Janet Kendo’s purpose in a nutshell is to train your body & mind, & to keep improving oneself to become a better person. So always come to keiko (training) with a purpose in mind by setting a goal or a specific area you would like to work & improve on. This will make each keiko more effective and you will find it more fulfilling. For Kyu grades, we need to focus on kihon (basics) particularly set practices like Kirikaeshi & Go-hon waza (men, kote, do, kote-men, kote-do) by doing it correctly to achieve Ki-Ken-Tai-Itchi. During Shido- (teaching) or Uchikomi-geiko with sensei or senpai, try focus on delivering each strike with Ki-Ken-Tai-Itchi . Even if you missed or didn’t successfully land a valid strike, continue your momentum by keep going forward & keep your Zanshin to show your determination & quickly get back into kamae to try again. We need to learn to feel the correct distance, Issoku Itto no maai for ourselves to

The ultimate goal is Ki-ken-tai Ichi 💪 Don't skimp on your basics. They will carry you through everything in life. https://www.tofugu.com/japan/kendo/ * * * Wednesday Keiko reflection for beginners & Kyu grades by Janet During Kihon- or Uchikomi-geiko such as kirikaeshi, it’s important to “TAKE IT SLOW” to start with to ensure each strike is done correctly.  First get ready as soon as we can with good kamae (especially after performing zanshin following each strike) then concentrate on making every single strike in the timing of one (ichibyoshi) with correct kiai, tenouchi & footwork to achieve Ki-Ken-Tai-Itchi.  As tempting as it may be to try imitate sensei & senpais’ swift, clean & elegant strikes, it’s easy to forget each one of their moves are the results of years of hard training which have conditioned their body & mind to do it naturally & made it look so effortless when it’s in fact not. There are no short cuts on our kendo journey, but by coming to