Kenyu Online
Volume 22, number 4
April 2008
PNKF DATEBOOK
- May 17, Bellevue Junior Taikai, Sat, 9:30am-3pm.
- Jun 7, Portland Rose Festival Taikai, Sat.
- Jun 7, PNKF Board, Sat, 2:30-4:30pm, Kent.
- Jul 19 or 26, PNKF Shinpan Seminar, Sat, 12noon-5pm, Kent.
- Jul 28/Aug 2, PNKF Junior Seminar, Mon/Sat (possible dates).
- Aug 8/9/10, Tomokawa Sensei Seminar, Fri/Sat/Sun, Curtis High School,
8425 40th Street W, University Place, WA 98466.
- Aug 9, PNKF Shinsa, Sat, Iaido 9am-12noon; Kendo 12:30-5pm, Kent.
- Sep 13, PNKF Board, Sat, 2-4pm, Kent.
- Oct 4, PNKF Shinpan Seminar, Sat, 12noon-5pm, Kent.
- Oct 18 or 25, Tacoma Taikai, Sat, 10am-4pm, Curtis High School (possible dates).
- Nov 1, PNKF Board, Sat, 2-4pm, Kent.
- Nov 15, PNKF Taikai, Sat, 9:30am, Kent.
- Dec 20, Kent Taikai, Sat, report time 9am, start 9:30am, Kent.
OTHER DATES
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Jul 3/4/5, AUSKF Kendo Championships, Las Vegas.
- Jul 25-Aug 1, 2008 AJKF Foreign Kendo Leader's Summer Seminar,
Kitamoto.
- 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.
- 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
Special Guest - Kendo Hanshi 8th Dan Kakehashi Masaharu
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.
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