Waikato Kendo Club

My Kendo Reflection When I started Kendo in 2020, I felt a little nervous. But I know that it is the best martial art for people like me to become a Samurai and learn the way of the Samurai and the way of the sword.  When I first heard about the kiai , I was very worried. But then manage to get over it after doing a few kiais myself.  Every time I head to training, I feel more powerful and stronger. Makes me feel like an actual Samurai every time I do Kendo. Around the end of 2020, I manage to get into the intermediate class to join with the other hardworking Samurais and I was excited. I was more eager to do Kendo after joining the intermediate class.  Now part of the intermediate class, I have improved a lot more and am still learning my way through Kendo. After some months of training I started renting Kendo armour and I was even more excited. Then after another few months, the day of the Autumn Grading & Championship came in. I was nervous because I didn’t know t...

Kendo is a true companion to my life-long journey  I have been thinking about what Kendo means to me since sensei asked us this question a few weeks ago. Everyday I’d wake up and think about this - when I drive, when I do the laundry, when I do my suburi… The answer always seemed right in front of me but it was hard to pin point it into exact words. The power of language appears weak in front of this answer as kendo has infiltrated my life in so many aspects and depths.  For me, kendo makes me calm and re-collected. It straighten up my spirit and reinforce the positive self-believe. The positivity (佛教言“正”) is not simply an “optimistic” attitude. Rather, it is a deeply rooted steadiness to allow my spirit to look through the random thoughts and emotions in my head and to understand that behind these deceptive moments of our life, there is “the way”.  I think everyone has their own interpretation of what “the way” is. In my eyes, it manifest in various forms. It could be Go...

Autumn Grading - 17 April 2021 Waikato Kendo Association would like to congratulate the following members for their achievement in the Autumn Grading 2021 held in Hamilton. “Success is the progressive realization of a worthwhile goal.” Earl Nightingale Little Samurai Class 10th Kyu Oliver Ke Soichiro Yamaguchi  9th Kyu  Dominic Liu Xialun Yang Xenia Liu 8th Kyu Eunice Liu Adult Class 10th Kyu Li Lian Min Ki Hong ( SJC ) Yeonjoon Kim Hayden Cook ( SJC ) Fiona Dunton Laine Baldwin Tristan Stowell ( RHS ) 9th Kyu Yeonsoo Kim 8th Kyu Celene Cai Jang Ho Kim Kyle Baxter Ben Albany 6th Kyu Wilkie Larke 3rd Kyu Elliot Payne ( RHS ) 2nd Kyu Jennifer Kan ( RHS ) Shodan Valintine Thompson Panel Joyce T, Kevin P, Awa W, Leo L, Kai Y, Clark L, Sam T. Assistants Nicole R, Yana T, Jason N . Photo Credit Lance McCaughan Photography Relevant reading: Kendo Journey: A "Travel Guide" from Shodan to Godan-and-a-Half