Waikato Kendo Club

So proud of you for the milestones: Milestone 1: whole dojo kirikaeshi 👍 Milestone 2: full Go-hon waza 💪 Saturday 14th January 2023 Keiko reflection - Janet Todays Keiko emphasis was on developing a strong body, mind & spirit. Learning to feel every inch of our bodies to better perform the correct movements through repeated Kihon & Kata training to enable us to perform minimalistic & elegant movements by engaging our core, straighten body posture with stable smooth footwork, full rotation of our shoulders to generate power & produce good Kiai & strikes. Todays Kata training, we went through Bokuto ni yoru Kendo Kihon Waza Keikohou : 1. Kihon Ichi : Ippon uchi/ Single cuts (Men, Kote, Dō, Tsuki) 2. Kihon Ni : Nidan Waza/ Two continuous cuts (Kote-Men) 3. Kihon San : Harai Waza/ Using Omote or left side of Shinai to sweep opponents Shinai away from centre (Harai-Men) 4. Kihon Yon : Hiki Waza/ Techniques performed going backwards usually from Tsuba-Zeriai position (M...

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...

 On Kendo and Philosophy  by 小澤博 剣道教士八段 View of life equals view of kendo When I was in my 50s, I had the following conversation with one of my colleagues, professor S., who is a philosopher. I asked him, “Can you explain philosophy to me in a way that I can understand?” Professor S. replied: “What are you talking about? You practice philosophy every day when you think about kendō.” I replied: “ I only think about how I can do kendō better today than yesterday, tomorrow better than today, in a month, in a year… ” “That itself is philosophy”, said professor S. “Which means that I am a philosopher?” I asked. On Kendō and Philosophy Hiroshi Ozawa “Yes, you are a philosopher. A philosopher is not just someone who writes and lectures about Kant and Heidegger to introduce their teachings into daily life. Some people around me call me a philosopher, but to my embarrassment, I have to admit, I would not call myself that. What you are doing in Kendō is philosophy in practice. A dedicat...

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...

My path to Kendo 15 December 2018 Kia ora my name is Valintine Thompson and this is my journey on the path to Kendo. I've always admired Japanese culture because it reminds me of my in own identity of who I am. That's why I joined up in 2017 learning the basics and enjoying it. In time I learnt to improve. I've seen the movie the Last Samurai and Star Wars and found them quite good. I knew a little bit what Kendo was about but since I joined up I've learned more. I am proud of both Sam and Marleen Sensei for their efforts in teaching us.  On Wednesday and Saturday I come in early open the doors turn on the lights warm up before training. On Saturday I come in before 1.30pm although I am 7th kyu grade that doesn't stop me from helping others and also reflecting on what I learned and improving.  I entered my first Novices Champs   and did well and got a medal for good fighting spirit. My family  have encourage me to always go to kendo and do m...

My personal reflection on the Rembuden Taikai : First, let's celebrate the success our team has brought us. Congratulations to Kai Yoshitani , who brought home a gold medal for Men's senior Dan open and Jordan Te Wharau who placed at second in the Men's junior Dan competition. They both fought really hard against the odds and went a long way to achieve the success. Even though Awatea Yi-Williams and Kevin Peng didn't get to advance into the final, for every shiai they fought, they showed full commitment in every seme and every cuts. They showed us not to faltered when you are at a disadvantage, keep calm and remember the Kendo sensei has taught us. Senpai has set a really good example for us junior in the future. As for the junior member of the teams - Leon, Joseph Cao, Felix Chu, Anthony, and Spyke Lawrey, you guys did awesome considering this is our first convoy to fought outside in a national level competition. This competition was hard battle for team a...

Welcome to our 2014 Beginners  Grading result on 2014-August-09 1st Kyu Gavin Cheng Claire van der Goes 4th Kyu Yizhou Dai 5th Kyu Irfa n Sazali Gunn Kim Teng Lu 6th Kyu Yang Xue Wen Huating Zhu Simon Young 7th Kyu Antony Cheng Fae Ferguson 8th Kyu Spyke Lawrey Suki Dai Yuuki Li Shawn Xu Congratulations to all of you and remember to keep training hard,  the next grading has just started! 

Well, how exciting! On Saturday we trained hard, as usual, and I was quite tired during gi keiko. It was a little discouraging to face senior after senior and be unable to compete adequately with them, even though they were kind and allowed opportunities to strike. I felt discouraged to feel like I had no way of "getting to them". Thankfully Sempai Amigo gave me some very useful advice. He could see is was wasting energy by striking without commitment. Without commitment, no point could be scored anyway. I took on his advice and tried to be more selective about my strikes when facing the next opponents. Then came shiai - Red versus White teams as usual. The Red team looks very strong and has many experienced Kendoka. White team has a great variety of young, old, inexperienced, etc. - it was time to face off. Perhaps the two biggest surprises of the day came from me and Adam. I faced the fantastic sempai Leo again. In my mind I was determined to perform well. I quickly exchang...