Nanseikan Kendo Club 剣道クラブ南西館

  For those who are practising kata at home, perhaps with a view to grading next March, here is the perfect video to watch all ten kata, made by the AJKF.   Click "Show More" underneath the uploader's caption and it has links to further explanations of each kata, and detailed demonstrations of important points. The top comment has time links to the start of each kata in the original video for easy reference.  Watch the detailed videos to help you with your practice, especially if you are by yourself.  For feedback on your performance your reflection in a window is best. Points to watch for and practice: Correct actions, i.e. kamae, waza, footwork, so that the grading panel can see you know the kata. If you do enough practice it will shine through even if you make a small mistake on the day, and this is what they are looking for. Posture: make sure your kamae and movement looks like these sensei: big, accurate and straight. Rhythm: watch carefully when to start, ...

Congratulations sensei! Tajima sensei kindly sent this photo showing him proudly displaying his newly-received  hanshi certificate. Hanshi is a 'shogo' title and the highest qualification in kendo. This certificate represents a lifetime dedicated to excellence in kendo, and perhaps even more importantly, tireless work in developing and teaching kendo. Tajima sensei is the head of Kendo at Shigakukan University, a private university in Kagoshima. He is dedicated to improving the standard of the kendo club there and has so far had great success building a thriving dojo that produces quality kenshi. This is not easy to do. Kyushu alone is full of powerful kendo university clubs. Tajima's students have achieved success at national level in competition and at least one I know of has gone on to a career in police kendo. Having spent some time with sensei in Kagoshima, I've seen the work that goes into running a busy university dojo. There is a huge amount of daily admin. Shig...

Great training this morning everyone. Things to aim for in your home training: accuracy - have something to aim for when you cut; also practice tsuki and the action of hikite (thanks Ben F.!) pulling your right fist back to your hip strongly then grasping the handle again without looking. sharpness and stillness: senior people especially should aim for quick, sharp movements that return to stillness and relaxation in the body very quickly: in footwork, body movement and the action of the cut. strength practice: do suburi from sonkyo to develop core strength and also strength in your feet and ankles. Above is a picture of my indoor suburi shinai, made from a single shinai cut in half (thanks to Soon for the idea). I just cut the blade in half then bound the top half to the bottom half using old nakayui. I had to shave the tip a little to fit it into the original sakigawa. Feel free to use tape instead if you want. Videos Thanks to Andrew E for these two vids. The second one is especiall...

Thanks for a great training today and glad to see everyone is well. Here are some links from our shugo as promised. Caleb's HEMA recommendation. These guys look fierce and skillful. Mick's recommendation. There can be only one... :) Want to watch 6 hours or Keirin racing from Nagoya? (Because bikes are awesome). Here you go... For Greg particularly, Keishicho vs Kogu (Tokyo Metro vs Imperial Palace) 2016 All Japan Police Kendo Championships. There's a great throw at 13:18. Not legal but who cares?  And here's one of Let's Kendo's excellent Ippon Omnibuses from the same tournament. Here is that documentary about 8th dan with Iwatate sensei that I mentioned. It's in English and has his explanation of what he looks out for when judging 8dan. He mentions left foot angle at 9:20. Sadly the uploader cut the doco before the end. just found the last bit!  https://youtu.be/skdc-9gCunY If you have Netflix, I highly recommend Japan Style Originator (Wafu Sohonke  和風総本家...

  Here's some more inspiration for when we get back into the dojo.  This is an interesting channel from a Distance Education Centre, also known as a 'correspondence school', Seiji International High School in Takamatsu City, Kagawa Pref. This video just popped up in my feed and it has some really interesting drills. This video was posted only a week ago and I can't help saying I feel a bit jealous that COVID19 restrictions in their part of the world are so relaxed that they can train together with full kiai and no masks! Anyway... Their drills seem designed to work well in a small space while still focusing on fundamentals. I particularly like the drill where the kakarite starts with their kensen level with their opponent's tsuba -- very close distance -- and then performs correct cutting with fumikomiashi and zanshin . Also #backyarddojogoals...   This channel looks worth subscribing to. I also love how many fans they've got going! August in Japan, I can only i...

  Title sounds click-baity I know, but I think it's true! Watch what Kouda sensei says about "keeping your armpits closed" and then how powerful his men cut is after suriage (tsuki-suriage-men at 2:37). 

We've started to look at Tatsumi Ryu iai as a group in our Zoom training sessions. This is because it is something purposeful we can learn while in isolation. The movements relate to Kendo, whilst also teaching us more about the use and history of the sword. As I mentioned at training, one of the many things that iai teaches is how to use a sword safely. It is only once you have a sword in your hand that you realise they are very dangerous things: to the user as well as the user's enemy! This clip has some recent footage of the current Headmaster, Kato Takashi soke. He is the 22nd Headmaster in direct descent from Tatsumi Sankyo who founded the style in the 1500s. It is therefore one of Japan's oldest extant koryu bujutsu , or old school martial arts. Watch from 7:19 to 9:30 to see many of the basics I have mentioned, performed by Kato soke: muko (7:19)  - block from the draw then cut through  marui (7:45) - cut kote from the draw then cut through  yoto (8:08)  - bri...