Waikato Kendo Club

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...

Congratulations to our Team Waikato they have made very excellent achievement in the 16th Rembuden Taiki. Kai Yoshitani won Men's senior Dan 1st Place, Jordan Te Wharau won Men's junior Dan 2nd Place, and Team made up by Felix, Jordan & Kai won 3rd Place from Inter-Club competition while our Team Awa, Leon, Spyke and Team Kevin, Joseph, Antony performed excellent in other matches. A very big THANK YOU to our extremely supportive supporters - Nicole , Jing, Catherine, David.  Except Kai, Awa and Kevin, rest of our team is still on the way driving home when I am publishing this good news to you. Now, let's make another peak in 2015 Novice Championships! Regards, Marleen 

Important Information The New Zealand Novice Championships, hosted by the Waikato Kendo Club, is a competition aimed at lifting Kendo experiences for junior Kendo practitioners. This competition will also provide shinpan training for senior Kendo practitioners with the New Zealand Kendo Federation’s (NZKF) support. Date: -           7 th November: Referees’ Seminar, Individual Competition & Prize Giving -           8 th November: Inter-Club Team Competition & Prize Giving Location: -           Gate 4, School of Education Gym, Hillcrest Road, University of Waikato, Hamilton Entry Requirements: -           Entry to the competition is open to members of the NZKF Entry Fee:  Spectators are free Entry fee for people aged 14 and under - $70 per competitor (lunches...

Auckland Kendo Club Invitational seminar February 2015 On the weekend of 21-22 February 2015 the AKC will once again have a visiting delegation from the Shizuoka Kendo Federation who will assist us in our annual invitation seminar. We have already had confirmation from several of last year’s delegation and are awaiting details of other various senseis who will attend. In the meantime you may wish to put this date in your diary now and make early bird bookings etc. We will send out a complete information pack as usual closer to the time when we have all the details confirmed from the Japan end. Graham Sayer sensei is liaising with the Shizuoka Kendo Renmei to ascertain exact numbers and dan levels but at this stage it is likely we can grade up to at least 4th Dan. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us . Kind regards Ken Wells PS A very merry Xmas to you all!!!

Text forwarded from Marleen's Facebook: Sato Sensei, Kitamoto 2014  Utsunomiya sensei & Sakimoto San, Tokyo 2014  ＊ I asked Sato sensei after Farewell Party @ Kitamoto Camp a question about Seme. I said, "Sensei, is there anyway we could train to make stronger Seme?" Sato snesei gently held my hand and told me,  "NO. strong Seme comes from good Suri-ashi". One day later, I had the honor to obtain Mutsumi Utsunomiya sensei's instruction. He showed me how it works. Since then, footwork means more to me. 我在北本外國劍道指導者夏令營最後一個晚上，問了佐藤老師一個盤據在我心裡很久的問題。我問：「老師，有什麼方法可以訓練出很強的『攻』？」老師溫和地拉起我的右手拍一拍並說： 「沒有這樣的方法。在劍道裡有效的『攻』來自於腳步...  放鬆妳的手跟肩膀，練習腳步是唯一的方法」 二天之後，我有幸可以得到宇都宮老師的指導練習。他充分展示了如何運用腳步進的攻法。 從此，「腳步」對於我有了全新的意義。 Some following conversation on Facebook ... Utsunomiya  Important point is not breaking down kamae, any time. But in fact, it is very difficult.  · 5 October at 22:14 Marleen Dear sensei, I couldn...

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! 

Saturday 18 January 2014 * On behalf of Waikato Dojo, I would like to welcome you back from Xmas and New Year holidays! Here are some general guidelines and plans from me for our members: For Kyu-grade  members, executing strikes with  ki-ken-tai-itchi  is the main focus at this stage. Perform the  kihon-datotsu  (basic strikes) correctly. We will have a lot of training on kiai-seme-Men, Kote-Men, and kiri-kaeshi. It is important to focus on your own techniques rather than whether you can hit on your opponents.  Be patient on this stage and there is no need to rush to move on to next stage. This stage is to build your foundation and you will find the long term benefit yourself! Another important issues for kyu-grade members is about purchasing your own  Kendo-gu  (the kendo-armour, or  Bogu ). Once you decide you want to pick up Kendo, you are encouraged to prepare your own Kendo-gu. Renting  bogu  from club is jus...