Nanseikan Kendo Club 剣道クラブ南西館

To say Nakakura Kiyoshi sensei was important to Kendo is like saying Don Bradman was important to cricket. Not only was he instrumental in shaping post-War Kendo (he was largely responsible for " the Concept of Kendo "), he was an influential teacher, a swordsman without peer in his generation and at one time the adopted son of the founder of Aikido, Ueshiba Morihei sensei (that's a young Nakakura with Ueshiba sensei above, c.1933).  As you will see from this excellent interview from 1987, Nakakura sensei was such a gifted martial artist that Ueshiba chose him above his own son to be his successor, hence he was adopted into the Ueshiba family and married Ueshiba sensei's daughter. For a while he became "Ueshiba Morihiro", but that didn't work out... http://members.aikidojournal.com/private/interview-with-swordmaster-kiyoshi-nakakura-1/ The reason he is so important to us is because he was my teacher's teacher. Nagae sensei became...

But back again next Wednesday. See you all Saturday.  PS - thanks to Chie for attending the delegates' meeting Sunday.  🙏

Anyone who is interested in learning some of the basics of Tatsumi Ryu iai will need two extra pieces of equipment, as well as their bokuto. They are: a plastic saya  http://www.tozandoshop.com/Plastic-Saya-p/002-wps.htm and an obi  http://www.tozandoshop.com/Standard-Cotton-Iaido-Kaku-Obi-p/095-iomo[xx].htm Oh, and a pair of knee pads might be necessary, depending on how strong your knees are! Volleyballer's kneepads are a good option. We practice from 8.30 to 9.00am Saturdays before regular training. There is no fee for this training.

The year is well underway and the Kendo calendar is filling up! Here are some events to consider: VKR Delegates' meeting Kenshikan, Sunday 17 Feb from 1pm Nagae Taikai Kenshikan, Saturday 2 March from 1pm (2 dan to 5dan) VKR AGM Kenshikan, Sunday 31 March from 1pm 44th Australian Kendo Championships East Victoria Park WA, 19-24 April If you would like more information about any of these events, please get in touch.

As promised, here is that video on whip dynamics. Watch the whole thing, or start at 5:45 for the gist of it. The speed of sound is indeed (well done Alex and Ben!) 343m/sec or 1,234.8km/h (which for all you old timers, air force or navy people is 667 knots). The similarity with the shinai, as I mentioned at training this morning, is the 'unrolling' of the whip and how this causes the speed of the tip to increase exponentially. Our aim with the shinai is not to interfere with the whip-like potential of the shinai, by having the most rational and efficient cutting action possible. We should try to imitate the kinetic wave of the whip's motion through the way we use our body, recreating this unrolling by starting with the shoulders then continuing through our upper arms, elbows, forearms, wrists, palms and fingers. As you can see in the slow motion video of the whip with the taped segments, the unrolling movement is characterised by each section of the whip coming to re...

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