Volume 7 Issue 1

Monthly Newsletter

Volume 7 Issue 1

Editor: Dave Christman

Feb 2005

New Member, 2/15/05: We accepted a new member the other day, it seems the fellow has had no kendo experience at all, and wasn't at the least bit interested in learning to do kendo, but just wanted to hang around the dojo and let all of us "whale on him" Odd fellow.....well, anyway I thought I'd a least take his picture to put up on the web.

( Thanks to bogubag.com for a flawless delivery and excellent service on our order.)

Detroit Tournament 2/20/05: We fielded a decent team down at the 7th annual Detroit Kendo Rensei Tournament. Individually Terry and Aaron did well. Terry won 2 matches, and Aaron won 3 matches. Travis in his first time out, took his opponent to overtime, then learned the hard way how important "zanshin" is as a concept, especially in a taikai. Matsuura sensei will be right there with him as they practice hard together to eliminate that tendency we all have to let our guard down when we see a flag go up......ahem.

Photos by A. Robadey

Included here is some of Aaron's photos in Detroit that I found interesting. Left is a view of the trophies, and the fighters vying for those trophies. Right is Craig, Travis and I trying to get a birds eye view of Matsuura sensei's matches.

Photo by A.Robadey

This is a great shot, it captures the proper attitude a participant should have, alertly awaiting your turn, watching your possible opponents in their matches.

This is the "arty" shot of the day. It has a whirling chaotic, cloudy atmospheric feeling, that I like. The kind of action shot when the shutter is open a little too long, or the camera is jiggled.

Photo by A. Robadey

Here is Travis's debut for team competition. The team beat New York's Kenzen B only to lose a close one to Detroit A team.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Michigan Family Taikai: This will be the 2nd Annual Event held only for dojos in Michigan and is a free ($$) event designed to give people experience in a tournament setting. It will be hosted by EMU in Ypsilanti on a Saturday May 21st.

US Championships: Will be held in Ann Arbor, on the U of M Campus, July 2-3, 2005. Make sure you go to help volunteer as a helper, or to as least be a spectator. You will see the best competitors in the United States.

MWKF Summer camp: It looks like August 5th-7th at Kalamazoo College. Hopefully Yamanaka sensei ( Hatchidan ) will be with us again this year. This man is now a legend, as he won the famed Hatchidan Tournament this year in Nagoya, Japan.

I've collected a lot of stories, quotes, koans, poems and haiku. Here is one I really like:

"A gem is not polished without rubbing, -nor a man perfected without trials."

-Inscription on the Temple of Everlasting Harmony

(17th century China).

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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