Waikato Kendo Club

Kendo Fundamentals: Mastering the Men Strike and the Art of Receiving In Kendo, the Men strike is more than just a basic move; it is a fundamental pillar of practice that requires precision from both the person striking ( Shite ) and the person receiving ( Motodachi ). Proper form is not only about effectiveness but also about ensuring the safety of your partner . The Receiver’s Responsibility: Safety and Posture When you are acting as Motodachi , your role is crucial for a successful practice session. Here are the key points to remember: Protect the "Cross Path": Ensure you receive the strike on the "cross path" of the Men protector. Keep Your Chin Down: Maintaining a tucked-in chin is essential for proper alignment. Prioritise Eye Safety: A critical safety rule is to avoid looking through the metal bars directly in front of your eyes . If a Shinai (bamboo sword) happens to crack upon impact, splinters can pass through those specific bars and cause se...

If an employer tells you, "We're like a family here," you'd probably think, "Yeah... no thanks." Family isn't something people declare, it is something you feel. Why do I mention this? I will explain below. Backward to my very first day at Waikato Kendo Club happened to be a grading day. One senpai came over to introduce themselves, explained how grading worked, and patiently taught me a few kendo terms. During our conversation, they mentioned that kendo had changed their life, that they no longer felt as anxious or stressed as they used to. At the time, I remember wondering, How can swinging a bamboo sword around possibly do that? Four months later, I think I finally understand. My love for martial arts actually started with my love for Japanese culture. As a teenager, I practised Aikido and absolutely loved it. When I moved to New Zealand, though, I couldn't find a dojo that felt like the right fit. Aikido relies heavily on working with your par...

Rototuna High School Kendo Club 2025 Our 2025 Kendo program at Rototuna High School has now come to an end, and I want to say how proud I am of all the students for their effort and commitment this year. Every Friday afternoon has been something I’ve looked forward to — not just for the practice, but for the energy, enthusiasm, and fun you all bring. It has been wonderful to see you challenge yourselves, support each other, and grow through Kendo. I’ve really enjoyed spending this time with you, and I wish each of you all the very best in whatever comes next — whether that’s continuing with Kendo or simply carrying the lessons you’ve learned into your everyday life. A special thank-you also goes to Rototuna High Schools for supporting this program and giving us the chance to share Kendo together. Sam Tsai Renshi 6 Dan Waikato Kendo Club 

Wednesday 19th April 2023 Keiko Reflection by Janet Tonight’s Keiko is a timely reminder of the importance of training in Ji-ri-ichi (事理一致, practice & theory combined into one). While we are constantly receiving knowledge & theory passively from Senseis, one must also be actively applying the theories learnt into action to make it their own through repeated practice.  We must also be proactive in our own learning by actively seeking more knowledge such as observing other kendokas keiko ( mitori-geiko ), reading books, asking questions when in doubt, & constantly reflect & ask ourselves why do we do this? what are we doing wrongly or correctly? This way we can better understand our bodies, the mechanics of each movements & the purpose behind each individual action, therefore maximise our learning outcome by improving productivity & quality of our practice or Keiko.  Remember Kendo is a martial art that descended from Japanese swordsmanship or Kenjutsu, s...

  Saturday 3rd September 2022 Keiko Reflection - Janet Today we had another fruitful keiko led by Marleen Sensei. Again started off with double Shinai warm up & Suburi which not only helped to condition our body & muscles to adapt to the increased weight but also made us more aware of using our left hand, arm & shoulder more dominantly & more aware of using our finger grips more precisely to achieve proper Tenouchi. We increased double Shinai Haya-Suburi to x30. For some Kyu grades like myself it’s still a tough challenge to keep up with everyone else & made our arms feel very heavy.  Sam Sensei reminded us that in order to perform effective & efficient Haya-Suburi, it’s extremely important for the body & arm to not be too tense for the entire time but rather we need to semi-relax some muscles during the Shinai swinging motion to allow the natural weight of the Shinai to help us to swing downwards & forwards then only tense up the muscles when n...

Wednesday 31st August 2022 Keiko Reflection - Janet Tonight’s keiko was once again led by our wonderful Marleen Sensei.  We began with double Shinai warm up drills, suburis & 30 Haya-Suburis followed by single Shinai 30 Haya-Suburis. Tonight’s Kihon & Uchikomi-geiko menu: Kirikaeshi x3 Big Men x3 Big Men 10 times rensoku continuous x3 Big Kote x3 Big Kote 10 times rensoku continuous x3 Big Dō x3 Big/ Small (for higher grades) Kote-Men x3 Followed by Ji-geiko then Kakari-geiko with Sam sensei.         Tonight’s focus was: 1. To better feel & use our fingers underneath the Kote correctly to continue working on getting proper Tenouchi during each strikes.  2. Concentrate on using our Shoulders more to raise the Shinai overhead & take care not to use too much right hand to manipulate the Shinai movements as this would produce unintended & unwanted forces & reduce accuracy. 3. In order to reduce time lag & to speed up strikes, try to ...

2022-05-28 Saturday  Confidence comes from discipline and training. Saturday Keiko reflection for beginners & Kyu grades - Janet During Saturdays keiko, sensei emphasised the importance of learning Kihon basics for strikes in the following order : 1. To go Big (such as big Men & Kote, to ensure we rotate our shoulders fully and correctly during each strike) 2. To go Strong (using predominantly the left arm to generate enough power) 3. To go Fast (connect all the movements from shoulder rotation to extending elbow and wrist into one: Ichibyoshi ) 4. To go Light & small (such as small Men & Kote, & have more control of the strikes using correct Tenouchi to retain power while making it crispy & not heavy) Another emphasis today was on making the correct Kote strikes in particular the Harai Kote waza. In Harai & Suriage waza, we sweep or deflect the opponents Shinai off the centre with our Shinai to make an opening before striking. But remember we must k...

  2022-05-25 Wednesday Focusing on Tenouchi tonight both Suburi and Uchikomi. 大強速軽 - Dai_kyō_soku_kei - Large_Strong_Fast_Light Wednesday keiko reflection for beginners & Kyu grades - by Janet Tonight’s keiko emphasis was about getting the correct grip on completing a strike called “ Tenouchi ” or literally “inside of the hand” in order to achieve a good & crispy strike. During Kamae, we need to semi-relax our hands around the Shinai handle almost feel like we are holding a baby bird or an egg within palm of hands without squeezing it too hard to break it.  Then concentrate mostly on the left side we raise the Shinai by raising the shoulders until the Shinai tip is at 45 degrees over head & we can just see the opponent from beneath the handle.  Execute the strike by concentrating on the left, rotate & drop down the shoulder swiftly using gravity & the natural weight of the whole left arm & Shinai combined until our elbow is just below the level of ...

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 comi...

Koken-Chiai 2021 交剣知愛 Having started training in Feb 2021 and making it to the end of my first calendar year having spent portions of the year locked down and away from the dojo was pleasing. I found the first half of the year training with the Waikato Kendo Club to be a whirlwind of learning, fitness and focus. The focus in particular became very useful for my work and personal life when the dreaded lockdowns hit. Because I had Kendo I also had a way to focus on my suburi and reduce stress levels dramatically. Kendo flowed into all aspects of my life; I made some big decisions such as changing my job of ten years. One of the deciding factors in changing jobs was the job is in Hamilton, it just so happens that the dojo is too - what a coincidence.  Grading days came and went twice, I managed to progress through to 6th Kyu and gain more understanding of body positioning, kiai and timing but the best thing I discovered was some good friendships. I became the rose between two great ...

  Ben Albany – Kendo reflections Grading Day 10 July 2021 Well, my second grading day has come and gone, and I now think back on the things I have learned and at the same time I think forward to my next steps in my kendo journey. Since the last grading day around three months ago many suburi have been cut , footwork has been worked on, and a balance in my life has been sought out. As usual the hectic pace of work-related life and study have meant stress levels increase. I find that kendo is continuing to help restore balance to my spirit, I have not been simply looking at YouTube videos as much these days (although there are lots of good ones to watch) I have been focusing on the physical aspects of training. I have still been watching what I eat, increasing my exercise and trying the best I can to sleep (not much success there yet) I also seek advice from sensei and senpai at the dojo so that I may improve myself. I have started to explore forms of mediation and relaxation, it doe...

I have been reflecting on Kendo since my first lesson in Feb 2021. On Sunday, I shared one of my reflection with my church members in my sermon and I thought, I'd share it with my fellow Kendoka too.  During my first Kendo lesson, Sensei Sam explained that Kendo is the " Way of the Sword " and not the " Way of the Knife ". This is because the sword has two cutting edges. One that cuts your opponent and a second imaginary edge that cuts at ourselves; cutting away our bad habits and traits and making us a better person.  I shared with my church that Christianity has a similar teaching. We teach that we are like a grape vine and God cuts away any branch that doesn't bear fruit. However, He does not just stop there. He also prunes the branches that bear fruit so that it (we) will become even more fruitful. As I reflect on this, it seems to me that we are not being diminished as we are "cut" away, instead that cutting away produces a fuller person, a m...

Suriashi すり足 - focus and balance The start of a long journey – my Kendo pathway by Ben Albany March 2021 Focus. Discipline. Fitness. Why would a 45-year-old, with a hectic life need to add more things to do in the week?   The answers are above. I am work for a company designing powerlines and assisting in operational matters. Stress level 100%. I started studying business through Massey University as a distance learner last year, so more challenges and stress. Lastly, having injured my back around a year and a half ago I had been doing next to no exercise, so the weight was piling on!!! I have, some would say, an unhealthy fascination with blades – I have way too many knives and a Katana with a live blade. I Google and Youtube to distraction and last year I started viewing a lot of Samurai and Kendo videos. The time has come to learn the craft, to learn the way of the sword – Kendo. I found Waikato Kendo web page . I contacted Sam Tsai (Sensei) , he provided me with some g...

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 whol...