Nanseikan Kendo Club 剣道クラブ南西館

A sequence of training exercises from VKR yudansha who attended the special road-trip to Benalla last Sunday. Oh, and it was 35 degrees! First blast of summer north of the Divide.

Yuko sent me the link to her article about Nanseikan which has just been published online (there will be a print version of it soon too I believe).  GogoMelbourne is a Japanese-language newspaper for tourists and ex-pats living in Melbourne. Yuko has written a whole series of articles focusing on fun things to do around Melbourne with kids and this is her latest one. It's a great boost for our club! You can find the article here:  http://www.gogomelbourne.com.au/entertain/kodomo_melb/4310.html

All the dates for next year's training are now up on the Training Dates page. Fees are on the Fees page . The fees have not changed but there is a little more information about discounts for multiple family members and concession holders.

Junko has just informed me that they will have a full stock of shinai to purchase this Saturday. Price range I am guessing will be between $40–80, depending on size and also type of bamboo. They will have some sample kendogi and hakama which you can inspect and for which you can then place orders. These orders should arrive by 15 Dec. Junko asks that people placing orders please pay 50% deposit, either by cash or bank transfer.

Next Saturday 17th, Yuko from Eikobudogu will be coming to Nanseikan to take orders for shinai and dogi (uniforms). She may even have some stock to purchase on the day. You may remember her colleague Junko who came to Nanseikan last term with some equipment from the same supplier. They are still working on getting their English e-shopping site up and running, but in the meantime they are happy to come to us. Junko assures me that equipment ordered this Saturday will arrive by the last training for 2012 - Sat 15 Dec. That means you will have a new shinai and/or uniform to practice with over the summer break! So if you do not have your own hakama and kendogi yet, or your own shinai, now is the time to order them.

On Sunday 25 November the Victorian Kendo Renmei is organising a trip to visit the Benalla Renshikan to support Kyohei-san and his club which has been operating for several years now. Kyohei as you know, regularly comes to Melbourne to train with us, so it's only fair that we repay the compliment. Most people will be leaving from the Kenshikan Dojo in West Melbourne, but it makes sense for us to meet at the dojo to save time and make for a quicker trip. Benalla is about 2.5 hours drive away. Training is from 11am to 1pm followed by a BBQ at 1.30pm. This means we will need to meet at around 8.00am to get equipment from the dojo and head off no later than 8.30am. Here are Kyohei's directions: " The venue is the hall (sports gym) of Benalla College Faithfull Campus. There is another campus (Dunlop Campus) of Benalla College, so please do not confuse the two. Faithfull Campus is on Faithfull Street, and about 3 km from the exit of Hume Fwy. Get off Hume Fwy a...

Today is the day of the 60th All Japan Kendo Championships. UPDATE:  http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/content.php/249-The-60th-All-Japan-Kendo-Championships-REPORT  Videos will be uploaded on Kendo World soon for those who missed the live feed. This is the blue riband event in world Kendo. Although I'm not sure of the exact start time, we are about 2 hours ahead of Tokyo at the moment, so I think if you log in to their live internet stream when you get home from training today you might see they have already started the opening rounds. Above is a screenshot of the All Japan Kendo Federation's ustream page with a image for the All Japan Women's Kendo Championship. The link is here for the broadcast:  http://www.ustream.tv/channel/aj-kendo-f And Kendo World have a commentary and results as they happen in English here: http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/content.php/247-The-60th-All-Japan-Kendo-Championship-Saturday-3rd-Nov-2012 Enjoy!

ice-cold mugi cha (barley tea) and uchiwa (festival fans) — symbols of summer in Japan We've missed out on some training over the last fortnight but fear not! You'll soon have the chance for a kendo overdose. Saturday 15 December is not only our last training for the year but also our annual shochugeiko , or summer training. Shochugeiko is traditionally held during the height of summer, however since we will be on break at that time we have it on our last training. In past years we have been blessed with some particularly hot weather on this day which helps to make the training more authentic! The idea is that it should be more difficult than normal. This encourages extra effort which often leads to extra progress in one's Kendo. Training will cost an extra $10 for Nanseikan members who have paid their term fees, and $20 for non-Nanseikan members ($15 for students and concession holders). BYO lunch but other refreshments and fruit provided. Training starts a...