Nanseikan Kendo Club 剣道クラブ南西館

 Take the night off! :)

   These two videos are well worth a look. Firstly, from a channel that is uploading lots of "Kendo vs..." videos lately, this is the first one I've seen where someone with a high level of Kendo skill is up against a fencer. I'm not sure if the epee-ist is as skilled but it is an interesting match.  This video is more interesting from a technical and cultural point of view. It shows a demonstration shiai at the 88th Kyoto Taikai held at the Butokuden in 1992. The two competitors are Sugawara Keizaburo (on left) and Nakakura Kiyoshi (the taller sensei, who featured in the story I told last Saturday at training). Both sensei were 9th dan. George McCall has a great article listing all the 9th dans  here , including the rationale and history behind the higher dan grades. What I love about this match is how spirited it is. There have been 'generational shifts' in Kendo (as George observes in the linked article) according to how and where the major Kendo teachers we...

  Here is an important announcement from Macak sensei and the Victorian Kendo Technical Committee regarding changes to grading requirements. Please read carefully> To All VKR Kendo Clubs Kyu Grading Examinations in 2022 Given the achievement of the 80% double vaccinated target in Victoria most clubs are now either back to training, or soon will be. It looks like we are nearly back to normal, although none of us can foresee what lies in the future. There will be some significant changes to the way Kyu Grading Examinations will be conducted in Victoria in 2022 and Clubs and potential Grading Panellists should take the following items into consideration when they are planning for next year. VKR Seminar : As we did early this year, we will start the year off with a seminar currently scheduled for Sat/Sun 12/13 March. This is also the Labor Day long weekend, so please make a note in your calendar. It is expected that 3rd to 1st Kyu and 1st to 4th Dan Grading examinations will be sche...

  Training starts back officially this week! We will be training for the next six weeks. Our last Saturday training will be 11 December and last Wednesday 15 December. Soon has put his hand up again to take the beginners course, which will also start this Saturday. Thanks Soon. As usual beginners will start at 9am and finish at 10am. Main class will be 10 am to 12 noon. Ballarat Taikai Those gutsy folks from the Ballarat Kendo Club, one of Victoria's oldest clubs, will be going ahead with their annual taikai. If you are keen to take part, please see Mick at training or send him an email at competition.nanseikan at gmail. Schedule below. Uchimura sensei's kote I'm pretty sure this is the kote I mentioned at training last night but it's much lower resolution than I remember seeiing back in the day, so the broken tsuru is not visible. This is a great compilation of all the other times Uchimura has scored kote in high level competition. You can get a sense of his style: usu...