Monthly Newsletter

Volume 7 Issue 4 Editor:  Dave Christman

Sept - Dec  2005

Note from the editor: New stuff to put up here on our "Monthly" newsletter has been so slow since September 2005, I have condensed it all for a end of the year newsletter.....enjoy.

Terry's dad visits USA 9/15:  Mr.Tokuhiro came to the USA on a week long business trip, and immediately stopped in on Sunday's practice to watch and lend his support to our club. He was a Judo nidan in the past until his business schedule got the best of him. We all went out to the Hunt Club to hoist a few, and talk nonsense about any subject that came to mind. Mr Tokuhiro is the president of HI-LEX International, headquartered in Yakarazuka and has 16 plants around the world. He speaks English very well, and is fun to be around. 

MWKF Tournament, La Crosse Wisconsin 11/5:  This year our club did a bit better. It took Hajime Sugawara himself to knock Matsuura sensei out of the competition, and  Travis came home with a two medals. One in Senior.Youth individuals, and 3 youngsters put together a great team that fought for first place in the Team Finals. They placed second, beaten 2 to 1 by some teens from Moline. On the team was Jordan Holmgren from Toyoda Center, and another youngster from Moline kendo dojo. Terry won a match in the mudansha individuals, then lost. Bob fought in the new "senior" division, and was shocked when 2 jogai was called on him. He failed to notice how small the courts were. I think they were actually smaller than our one court in our dojo. I have some nice pictures here. The MWKF held its annual board meeting and yours truly was re-elected as president for another 2 year term. We officially accepted 3 new dojo and accepted 3 others as "affliate" dojo with all voting rights. We also voted in a lot of changes in the way we will do things in the future.
Examinations 11/6:  Congratulations to Travis Hill on passing the exam for Ikkyu in La Crosse.

Annual Golf Outing 11/13:  Bob and I prepared for our annual golf outing by sending out 200 invitations. Gee Whiz, not one RSVP came back......no one wants to play golf with us. I hear through the grape vine though that Terry Tokuhiro is secretly practicing golf getting ready to challenge his sempai in the summer of 2006. This year reversed  the slide I was experiencing mid-summer, when Bob beat me by 3-4 strokes. So it was sweet revenge to beat Bob by about the same this year due to a new swing I've been working on. Normally, I get a few pictures, of this major event, but my batteries were gone kaputt. We are hoping to grow this event beyond just the two of us.
Aaron's Blog:  Our Friend Aaron Robadey who has moved on out west has established a blog on the web to vent his urge to write, and document his travels. Please check it out:

http://thelionsdenn.blogspot.com/

You will be able to keep up with and write him from there. He has a lot of photos there also.

. 

Peter Boylan:  We have begun a new class available at our dojo. Peter Boylan has "rented" our space once a month to use (on a Saturday) to teach koryu iaido and shinden muso ryu jodo. Our first session was held on November 19th. He is starting us ( yes, I will be practicing ) on learning the All Japan Kendo Renmei versions of iaido and jodo first. The iaido kata is one I'm very familiar with, and that is what we do every Wednesday night. The cost is $15.00 per session. This class to open to outsiders, and non-kendoka. 
Tagawa sensei passes 8th dan exam:  Congratulations to Yoshiteru Tagawa, the founder of the Detroit Kendo Dojo. He has received the honored dan ranking of hachidan, or the 8th level of "black belt". This is a extremely tough examination to pass, this exam is held only in Japan. He is the first member of the AUSKF to receive the 8th dan by actually physically testing for it. There was 1,357 candidates and only 12 passed, a 0.9% success rate.

On Saturday Dec 17th, Travis, Matsuura, Stephen and I traveled down to Detroit to practice at the last practice of the year, and we had a chance to spar with Tagawa. Afterwards we all went out to celebrate at the Mandarin Garden restaurant and we had a good time eating, and drinking sake.

UPCOMING EVENTS
Extra Practice Up until the Detroit tournament, we will be trying to get in some extra practice for anyone in bogu. Every Sunday till FEB 19th we will be having an advanced practice for bogu-people only starting at 3:00 p.m. there will be break between 5 and 6:00 p.m. and the regular class will start. For all people who are not in bogu, or not participating in Detroit, this makes no difference to your normal pactice schedule.
 Peter Boylan (Koryu):  the next practice will be on January 28th at 10:00 a.m.
Party/Practice/Chicago, Jan 22, 2006:  The MWKF will hold a practice and party  in Honor of Tagawa sensei passing the exam for 8th dan. For details, click here.
 Detroit Tournament Feb 18-19th, 2006:  The Detroit Kendo Dojo has announced its 8th annual Tournament will be held on February 18th-19th, 2006. Saturday is the examination day and Sunday will be the tournament. Please download the info/application forms here.
 

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

When asked by his officers why he built no castle to serve as his headquarters, Takeda Shingen replied " A warrior leader must build a castle in the heart of every one of his bushi, and this will be stronger than any material one" 

 
-Story told about Takeda Shingen, (1521-1573) 
 

E-mail the editor, let me know your comments at:  mailto:dtc12@comcast.net to reach me.

[Home]