PNKF DATEBOOK

1. May 17, Bellevue Junior Taikai, Sat, 9:30am-3pm.
2. Jun 7, Portland Rose Festival Taikai, Sat.
3. Jun 7, PNKF Board, Sat, 2:30-4:30pm, Kent.
4. Jul 19 or 26, PNKF Shinpan Seminar, Sat, 12noon-5pm, Kent.
5. Jul 28/Aug 2, PNKF Junior Seminar, Mon/Sat (possible dates).
6. Aug 8/9/10, Tomokawa Sensei Seminar, Fri/Sat/Sun, Curtis High School, 8425 40th Street W, University Place, WA 98466.
7. Aug 9, PNKF Shinsa, Sat, Iaido 9am-12noon; Kendo 12:30-5pm, Kent.
8. Sep 13, PNKF Board, Sat, 2-4pm, Kent.
9. Oct 4, PNKF Shinpan Seminar, Sat, 12noon-5pm, Kent.
10. Oct 18 or 25, Tacoma Taikai, Sat, 10am-4pm, Curtis High School (possible dates).
11. Nov 1, PNKF Board, Sat, 2-4pm, Kent.
12. Nov 15, PNKF Taikai, Sat, 9:30am, Kent.
13. Dec 20, Kent Taikai, Sat, report time 9am, start 9:30am, Kent.

OTHER DATES

1. May 10, 44th Vancouver Taikai, Sat, 10am-6pm (gym open at 9am), Student Athletic Centre at BCIT, SE 16 bldg. 3700 Willingdon Avenue, Burnaby, BC.
2. May 31, BCKF Junior Taikai, Sat, 11am (please arrive by 10:30am), all children age 15 and under, including beginners with no bogu, BBQ following, Steveston Community Centre.
3. Jun 5/6/7/8, AUSKF Iaido Seminar, Championships, and Shinsa, with Iaido Hanshi 8th Dan and Kendo Kyoshi 7th Dan Masahiro Yamasaki, and Iaido Hanshi 8th Dan and Kendo Kyoshi 7th Dan \ Takaharu Saiki, hosted by John Prough Sensei, Japanese Swordsmanship Society Dojo, Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania.
4. Jul 3/4/5, AUSKF Kendo Championships, Las Vegas.
5. Jul 25-Aug 1, 2008 AJKF Foreign Kendo Leader's Summer Seminar, Kitamoto.
6. Aug 2/3, NCIA Iaido Seminar, with Kendo and Iaido Kyoshi 8th Dan Tomoharu Sensei, Chief Iaido instructor at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Sat/Sun, Stuart Hall High School, 1715 Octavia Street, San Francisco, California.
7. 2009, 14WKC, São Paulo, Brazil.

FOUR PROMINENT PNKF SENSEI HONORED WITH CERTIFICATES OF COMMENDATION BY THE CONSUL GENERAL OF JAPAN

On Friday, April 18, 2008, during the opening ceremonies of the Seattle Cherry Blossom and Japanese Cultural Festival in Fisher Pavilion, Kendo Renshi 6th Dan Kiyoshi Yasui, 91, of Seattle Kendo Kai, Kendo Kyoshi 7th Dan Rod Nobuto Omoto, 89, of Tacoma Kendo and Iaido Club, Kendo Kyoshi 7th Dan and Iaido Renshi 7th Dan Pat Yoshitsugu Murosako, 86, of Meadowbrook Kendo Kai and Musokai Iaido Dojo, and Kendo 4th Dan Paul Kurose, 79, of Cascade Kendo Kai each received a Certificate of Commendation in recognition of his contribution and distinguished achievements in promoting mutual understanding and friendship between Japan and the United States of America presented by Misunori Namba, the Consul General of Japan in Seattle.

Yasui Sensei was born in Auburn in 1916 and later studied in Japan where he learned Kendo in high school before returning to Seattle in 1936. Yasui Sensei helped reactivate Seattle Kendo in 1957. Omoto Sensei was born in Wahiawa, Hawai'i in 1918, and first learned Kendo there with Miura Kenji Sensei. After high school graduation he went to Kyoto for advanced Kendo study at Budo Semmon Gakko. Murosako Sensei was born in Fresno in 1921 and started Kendo in 1929. Murosako Sensei and Omoto Sensei have been leaders at the national level in US Kendo. Kurose Sensei was born in Tacoma in 1928 and raised in Seattle. He started Kendo at age 10, and rejoined in the 1960's. The event was attended by many such dignitaries as Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, Seattle Center Director Robert Nellams, Washington State Representative Bob Hasegawa, and Cherry Blossom Chair Tazue Sasaki. We are extremely proud and gratified by this recognition of our four beloved sensei. We are also grateful to Gary Imanishi Sensei for his part in facilitating this event.

UW TAIKAI CANCELLED

Due to unavailability of a venue, there will be no 2008 UW Taikai. We deeply regret any inconvenience this may have caused. We are working to secure a venue for 2009.

20th CLEVELAND KENDO TOURNAMENT - April 5, 2008, Case Western Reserve University

Junior A                                 Junior B
1st place - Ayaka Hanaki, Detroit        1st place - Tetsuro Akamatsu, Keio
2nd place - Noeri Hanaki, Detroit        2nd place - Yumi Matsuyama, Cleveland
3rd place - Aoi Suzuki, Detroit          3rd place - Kenn Kildron, U Kentucky
3rd place - Shumpei Suzuki, Detroit      3rd place - Ryo Eguchi, Salinas

Junior C                                 Mudansha
1st place - Susumu Iiyoshi, Moline       1st place - Peter Ha, Hong-Moon Kwan
2nd place - Kosei Yamanouchi, Keio       2nd place - Peter Park, Georgia
3rd place - Travis Hill, Battle Creek    3rd place - Byron Chan, Purdue
3rd place - Kohei Tanigawa, Keio         3rd place - Hsin-Chien Shih, Purdue

Women                                    1 Dan/2 Dan
1st place - Ryoko Barr, Georgia          1st place - Travis Hill, Battle Creek
2nd place - Reiko DeSouza, Georgia       2nd place - Ginpei Park, Georgia
3rd place - Mikuni Mishina, Detroit      3rd place - Satoshi Yamauchi, Detroit
3rd place - Yoshimi DeSouza, Georgia     3rd place - Sung Kim, Hong-Moon Kwan

3 Dan and Above                          Teams
1st place - Kotaro Yoshida, Battle Creek 1st place - Shidogakuin NY A
2nd place - Akira Inoue, Ohio State U    2nd place - Detroit A
3rd place - Yohei Nagata, U Kentucky     3rd place - Georgia Kendo Alliance C
3rd place - Hajime Sugawara, Cent Indiana3rd place - Battle Creek
Fighting Spirit Award - Hun Hyan Min

12th HARVARD INVITATIONAL SHORYUHAI - April 26/27, 2008

Teams                                    Individuals
1st place - UC Davis                     1st place - Mizuo Kudo, UCLA
2nd place - UCSD A                       2nd place - M. Yang, TSA
3rd place - Cornell                      3rd place - A. Fortier, McGill
3rd place - SUNY Stony Brook             3rd place - E. Yang, BU

SHINKYU SHINSA

KENDO SHINSA, April 13, 2008, Tuscon.

1ST DAN: T. Steven Roosevelt, Idaho.

THE LAST WORD

Reidan Jichi - Feel it and embody it!

I was successful in the 7-dan examination in 1967, when I was 39 years old. I started working for the High School Physical Education Federation (Kotairen) as and assistant to Yuno Masanori Sensei. He would always become enraged if somebody asked him a question. His educational approach was to encourage the student to solve any riddles themselves before asking for a quick solution. When he did offer words of advice, they were so profound that it was often very difficult to understand without studying classic texts on Buddhism! However, there were five points that I learned from his guidance: 1. Never retreat in Kendo. 2. Don't strike indiscriminately! A katana is not something that you can make attacks with willy-nilly. 3. When you do strike, do it in one movement. 4. Study the significance of the shinogi on the ura side of the shinai. 5. Rather than breathe in, breathe out three times as much.

Through my work with the Kotairen I had many opportunities to go on the road with Yuno Sensei. Two or three times a year we would do a national tour together to investigate tournament venues, teach at training seminars and so on. I always had to demonstrate what he was teaching, so I was constantly under pressure to pay close attention to what he said. Traveling the country with him after taking 7-dan turned out to be an extremely beneficial eight-year period in my Kendo career.

To "strike indiscriminately" means that there is a good chance you will get hit instead. This encouraged me to devise many more ways of not getting hit. I was never taught this directly, but I realized that if I moved the thumb of my left hand towards my opponent's navel as soon as they initiated an attack, I would end up hitting their throat. If I moved my shinai up while doing this, I would be able to execute suriage-waza; and uchiotoshi-waza if I moved my shinai downwards. In those days, most people attacked in a straight line, so it was relatively easy to master suriage-waza.

Through my association with Yuno Sensei, I was also able to make the acquaintance of many other famous Kendo teachers. Every time Matsumoto Toshio Sensei laid eyes on me, he would make me assume kamae and fix my tenouchi. Tamari Yoshiaki Sensei told me to "apply seme to the centre!" "Learn the proper striking opportunities." When I did a preliminary 8-dan examination, he warned me not to strike nidan-waza. "Oka! You could never use nidan-waza if you were holding a real katana." He pushed me to do Kendo in accordance with "the principles of the sword."

Takana Magojiro Sensei taught me the importance of using a "light shinai as if it was heavy, and a heavy shinai as if it was light." The tsuba on his shinai was very small. I asked him why, and he replied, "If you can do tenouchi properly, you don't need a tsuba. You don't learn waza just to suit the tools you are using; you learn by developing your dexterity." When I trained with him, his shinai would be all over me like a snake, which made me very tense. But it inspired me to take notice of tenouchi and how it should be applied to devastating effect if done properly.

Nakajima Gorozo Sensei remonstrated me on my posture when standing up from sonkyo. "You must be ready to fight when you stand up."

Ogawa Chutaro Sensei was a master of degashira-men, or striking men just as his opponent was about to move. I learned from him that Kendo was not all about speed.

When I trained with Horiguchi Kiyoshi Sensei, his kensen would quickly gravitate over to the ura side. As soon as I made an attempt to attack, he would strike my kote. He was always researching how the ura side could be utilized effectively.

All of these teachers offered me something new. I was able to develop my Kendo because of the knowledge they imparted to me, and by actually trying to put it to use.

--Oka Kenjiro, "Always keep the 'principles of the sword' in mind when training," Hanshi Says, Kendo World 4.1, 2007, p. 97/98.