Waikato Kendo Club

Wednesday 31st May 2023 Keiko Reflection - Janet Tonight’s Keiko was planned by Marleen sensei & led by Senpais Leo & Joyce.  We had a rare opportunity to watch & learn some wazas/ techniques first hand from both senpais particularly on their specialties: Jōdan-no-Kamae & Gyaku-Dō. The upper-level posture or stance ( Jōdan-no-Kamae ) which Leo Senpai uses, is the Hidari (left) Jōdan , where the left foot is in front of the right foot, so essentially the foot positions are reversed from normal Chudan position.  Using the posterior right foot to push off when going forwards & the anterior left foot to push off when going backwards.  Otherwise all other elements of footwork remains the same, like heels off the ground using Suriashi sliding steps, maintain inner parallel & the distance between both feet, right foot not overtaking left foot, using the left foot for fumikomi & right foot quickly follow up after strike to run through with Zanshin…etc....

Saturday 18th June 2022 Keiko Reflection by Janet Kendo is a way to discipline human character which helps to mould our mind & body, & encourage lifelong personal growth & improvement. No one in the world can stop us from improving & become a better person apart from ourselves. Therefore, let’s continue to do our best to refine our kendo together. In Kendo, the ultimate goal for all kendokas is to strive for Ippon (or Yuko-Datotsu, a valid strike, at least). In order to achieve Ippon, we need to execute a strike with Ki-Ken-Tai-Itchi.  That is why we need to show our strong spirit through strong Kiai . Kiai helps to bring our mind & body together so that we can deliver a good meaningful strike with intent . Handle the Shinai to correctly land a strike with Tenouchi on the Datotsu-bui of the opponent (striking targets) using the correct Datotsu-bu (striking area) on our Shinai. Strike with correct foot work, good body posture from Issoku-Ittou-no-Maai, then main...

My first step on the path of the sword I first encountered Kendo 剣道 about four months ago at a friends invite to come and see. And since then I’ve been going to the Waikato Kendo Club dojo to train as well as doing daily suburi 素振り at home and had recently passed my first grading. To my surprise Kendo has not only helped to train my body but has opened up a whole new perspective for me on life in general. I’ve always been fascinated by modern Japanese budo, and the philosophy behind them to follow a given path or way. Kendo - The way of the sword, is an excellent representation of it. Just like how good handmade swords are forged with care, patience and sweat from fire and hammer, the same can be said about Kendo. It is a way to discipline and shape our character through vigorous practice and training to become a better person that we can be proud of. And through time it helps to mold the mind and body , and cultivate a vigorous spirit , allowing us to gradually hone the skills to fi...

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...

  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...

I would love to share a Kendo reflection from the Hundred Suburi Club written by one of our Beginners who just got her Bogu sending from Japan and is going to have her first training with Bogu on this Saturday.  I am touched by seeing how much thoughts that she has put on linking Kendo and her everyday life and personal development.   * * * 05.05 300 suburi done.  There is definitely quite a difference to do suburi with and without the kote! Getting used to it with practice and patience! It felt like I have become familiar with suburi at the level of “no bogu kendo” but once I entered the next level everything is slightly different and new and it’s a whole new training. (Which is great!)  I also have two additional comments from today:  1) Like what says in the posted drawing “劍即人生” aka “kendo is life” - I get to apply and reflect many kendo concepts in my daily life. Even small things like reminding myself to put the lid back on the laundry liquid or tidy up a...

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...

2019 Little Samurai Class Beginners' reflection on "how Kendo has influenced my everyday life?" * Kendo makes me stronger and healthier. ~ David  Kendo makes me happy. It is fun to learn and hit with my shinai. I love to make friends at the dojo and learn from everyone. ~ Ava Kendo gives me better balance and focus. ~ Seb  I have new friend. I am happy. I like play Kendo. ~ Monica  Kendo has influenced me in my life by making me more focused in my learning at school and out of school by having goals and life lessons. Kendo has given me confidence in myself to do tasks, and ask for help in needed. ~ Frankie. I started Kendo because I would normally have a arched back. Now, I have learned discipline. Kendo also teaches me to work hard. ~ Elliot  Kendo has influenced me by making me into a better person. I can  be more focused on thing I need to focus on, be ready to learn and improve on who I am, and be able to think about more stuff. ~ Randika   Kendo h...

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

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...

For the longest of times I have always had a passion for the art of swordsmanship and how it is expressed and performed across the many cultures around the world that have a history in the art. For me I experienced sword fighting (mainly for fun) as a teen doing what was considered as European martial arts. I started learning the sword and board and its many techniques which were used in European warfare.  I remember getting bashed around, thrown of my feet, feeling great swords slam upon the steel helm. Literally half an inch from concussion, it certainly was great fun! Now these people were twice my age and twice my strength, I knew it would be a long journey ahead and I simply wanted to defeat them. However, there was one difference, I wanted to use Katana . No European swordsman could defeat a Samurai, right? At least this was how I thought and my obsession with samurai and legendary swordsman like the great Miyamoto Musashi . I mesmerized over thoughts of doing unbeatabl...

Best wishes to your anticancer pharmaceutical research project! * Life is full of obstacles and challenges but they shouldn’t stop you from moving forward, meaning, do not give up just because something is not going your way. In fact, they should be the driving forces of your progress . I don’t know everything about Kendo, only what my sensei(s) and my mother have told me. There are some steps which I can’t do but I still train because that is how a person makes progress. You cannot improve if you don’t do anything. Being the person I was and still am (a total weirdo), I never really understood what giving up meant before. I had never so-called given up on anything I started because I didn’t know what it was. It sounded like a silly human sentiment to me. How can you stop doing something that you have not mastered? Doesn’t it feel incomplete? Shouldn’t it motivate you to try harder because it feels good to master something or it enriches your life ie. makes your life more mean...

The 11th New Zealand Kendo Novice Championship 10-11 November 2018 Acknowledgment  We thank Nori Higashide Sensei (7th Dan) from Japan for his service as the  Shinpan-cho  (chief judge) and running the shinpan seminar in the Novice Champ. Huge thanks also go to  Alan Stephenson Sensei (6th Dan), Blake Bennett Sensei (6th Dan) and   Sam Tsai Sensei (6th Dan) for the assistance for the shinpan seminar and Naoko Stephenson, Rina Igarashi,  Walt Kim,   Kent Tanimukai, Leo Lin, Kai Yoshitani Luo Wen, Jordan Te Wharow and Awatea Yi-Williams for their service as a shinpan.  Nori sensei gives instruction during the shinpan seminar  This is the second Yon-Dan Division Shiai as a shiai demonstration for the novice Kendoka to learn from their high grade senpai but also providing an opportunity for these junior Kendo instructors to learn from each other in a shiai situation. We appreciate the efforts from all the participants:...