Volume 6 Issue 3

Volume 6 Issue 3

Editor: Dave Christman

May 2004

NEW: Scholarship Applications There is some financial help for struggling kendoka to attend MWKF kendo events. Please check into this site here.

Grand Rapids As some of our members may have heard we have decided to "mentor" a new dojo. This is the Toyoda Center dojo in Grand Rapids. They started basically as an aikido dojo but have gotten some other instructors of Japanese budo and cultural subjects to come in and offer classes. Matsuura sensei has decided to help them as much as he can on some Saturdays until he feels they can fly on their own. Much credit is do to Aikido sensei Blaine Feyen, and his compadre Dave Mata. They are coming along nicely. I myself was up there recently and was impressed with some of the students who have had only 2-3 months practice. The dojo itself is spacious, clean and very traditional. Feyen's teacher was Toyoda Fumio. A man I met many years ago in Chicago. I used to cut across

(All Grand Rapids photos by S. Matsuura)

his mat (after profusely bowing) to practice at the Choyokan Kendo dojo. It was upstairs in a rickety old building on Belmont Street, founded by Miyazaki Yutaka sensei. They shared space what was called the Japanese Cultural Center. On May 8th, I traveled with Matsuura sensei and his wife Sonia to the Toyoda Center. The idea was the same idea Matsuura and I have for our dojo, a new student should work hard many weeks just to learn some basic rei and waza before they are even allowed to wear armor and mix it up with their seniors. Otherwise they will have bad habits, and may be scared off completely. This "test" is an idea that came from my sensei, Izui Kiyoshi, 7th dan (Chicago). He had a soft spot for the children in kendo, so he brought them along carefully, and had physical and academic tests for them as they worked their way through the kyu ranks to shodan. As you may have discovered, only the bigger dojos in the larger metropolitan areas have the resources to test the students at every kyu level below shodan. So Matsuura asked me to help administer one of those "basic" tests to his adopted group in G.R.

Seven people had enough time in to take the test. They all passed, and I'm sure their ability to stay "in the groove" and not break into wacky crazy kendo (our goal is to prevent that) is established.

Summer Camp Announcement, Aug 6-8 Very exciting news, Hajime Sugawara has had contact with one of his instructors back in Japan. We have invited him to come to be our guest instructor at summer camp this year. His name is Yamanaka. He is hatchidan (8th). He was instrumental in teaching Sugawara sensei his high quality jodan techniques. Yamanaka sensei is just as comfortable in chudan also.

UPCOMING EVENTS
	AUSKF Iaido camp: June 10-13, 2004 at the University of Colorado, in Boulder CO. Click here to find the registration forms: http://www.yamakagekendo.com/camp.html AUSKF Kendo camp: Jul 23/24/25, AUSKF Summer Camp. Will be in Las Vegas. MWKF Summer Camp: We have scheduled this for August 6 - 8th. It will be held again at Kalamazoo College. We will be hosting Yamanaka sensei ( 8th dan) from Saitama, Japan. He will be our guest instructor for this summer's camp. Kanto Visit: A group of top university students from the Kanto area (Japan) will be touring the US and Canada in late August, and they may be making a stop in Detroit. This will be an excellent opportunity to practice with topnotch college-age people. Keep in tune for this.

New Monthly Feature


	I've collected a lot of stories, quotes, koans, poems and haiku. Here is one I really like: The end is the beginning, the first technique is the last, sword becomes no sword, intention becomes no intention, the first teaching becomes the highest knowledge. The beginner and the master behave in the same way. (Harris)

e-mail the editor: let me know your comments at: dtc12(nospam)@comcast.net to reach me just remove the (nospam) from previous address.

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