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Monthly Newsletter |
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| Volume 8 Issue 4 | Editor: Dave Christman |
June/July/August 2006 |
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All Photos by D.Christman, unless otherwise noted |
| MSU Hosts a All-Michigan Day-Camp, July 16: Ron Fox and his MSU people organized another practice session This one was a 1 full day long mini-camp. About 30 people showed up. extremely worried about the heat. The national Weather service actually issued a heat advisory. Tagawa sensei was in charge, and he ran a conservative and humanely paced practice. Again, he covered topics going from very basic stuff, all the way up to advanced waza. Then a rousing jiyu-geiko was included at the end. That is when the heat kicked in. I dropped out with 15 minutes left. I then suffered some heat exhaustion, and at my age, I don't want to go through that again. We had Stephen, Travis, Matsuura and myself go. Big Bob attended the morning session, and then traveled back to Battle Creek to teach our normal class. People from EMU, Detroit, MSU, and U of M were in Attendance. We met a few MSU people at a new sushi bar called "OMI" for a nice dinner afterwards. Poor Travis, his meal was forgotten, and was real late in coming out from the kitchen. Little did we know that this event was the beginning of a long heat wave the the whole USA experienced for about 2 1/2 weeks. |
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Annual MWKF Summer Camp, August 4-6th: This year was the third and final year for Yamanaka and Saito sensei, and it was sad to see them for the last time, as these two fellows are true kendo professionals, The MWKF should be very proud they got them to come to the USA to teach at all. Thanks to Sugawara sensei for that. Also a big thanks to J.M. Kenoyer sensei from U of Wisconsin for hosting the event. As you may know, we here in BC has hosted this event for something like 19 out of the last 22-23 years. There was always about 30 to 50 people who came, (except for a few years) but this year a record 122 people came to camp, an excellent turnout.
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We had a 7 people travel to camp. 5 of us in the company van (without cruise control). Travis, Stephen, Terry, Matsuura and myself spent $100.00 in gas (round trip) and 9 plus hours getting to Madison. We were stuck all through Chicago in terrific traffic jams due to road construction. Also traveling separately were Fernando and his son. I'm pleased to mention Jim Broadwell and Jordan We got lost in Madison and wasted a good hour driving too far north of the city, but we are confident we know what to do next time. Project Stephenshorts was formulated to try and keep Travis and Terry from partying all night, but I'm not sure it was successful, I think we got Terry to act his age, but I'm afraid Travis may have acted his age anyway.......but they made it to the infamous 6:30 a.m. kata practice on Saturday morning. This year the sensei were just a bit more lenient, last year they had 7 practice sessions in all, this year there was only 5 sessions. |
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The weather wasn't too extreme and the yudansha and the mudansha were split into two different gyms. Matsuura helped translate for Saito (yudansha group) and Sugawara translated for Yamanaka (mudansha group). We think the gym the yudansha used was actually air conditioned, it seemed to be a few degrees cooler than the other. The two sensei are fantastic teachers, and have a good sense of humor. The accommodations were nice, the dorm-rooms were individually air-conditioned, and the bathrooms were big and very clean. Food was good, and the walking to the dojo, and to the cafeteria was close, and not a problem. Even though we were on the 5th and 6th floors we had 2 fast elevators to move us. The real nice thing about this event was (as an adult) you were just two blocks walk from the downtown area where all the action was, open till after midnight.....I know BW3 benefited by us being in Madison. I have made a decision that in the future, I would suggest that people in the BC dojo go only if they are wearing bogu. That is only to ease the burden on the teachers, not a comment on the quality of our people in BC. Fernando and F/Jr. had a great opportunity and I said grab it, you are so close anyway. They basically started wear bogu just after returning from camp. Plus they were mentally ready to see this kind of quality sensei. Just ask them if they learned anything.....they'll tell you. I took pictures of them being given tips from Yamanaka sensei himself. See below. The trip back was totally a different route, we drove 100 more land miles and got back in 7 hours, a 2 hour shorter drive. That is how bad the road construction was in Chicago on the way there. |
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For more Summer Camp photos, please click here. |
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Visit from Atsushi Ikenobu, August 11- 16th : Our old Friend from a few years back, spent some time in America with his family, they visited Niagara Falls and did some sight seeing. So he came back to his old stomping grounds. even though he hasn't practiced kendo in Japan since he left, he showed us he hasn't forgotten anything. He'd love to move to America if possible and work in the aviation industry. While he was here he visited South Haven's beach, saw a replica of Nină (the Columbus ship) and renewed his Michigan Drivers License. He'd really love to move to Kalamazoo and find a job. He is a graduate of WMU aviation school as a aircraft mechanic. |
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Welcome to Yoshida, Kotaro, August 15th : Things are going our way lately, here we are....11 of us just practicing like normal, when in walks a yondan from Waseda University, Japan and says he'd love to join our kendo club. OK, granted....he has been in the US for a while, and he has been practicing in North Carolina, but he is now moved to a teaching position at Albion College, and it looks like he will be here for many years. He is a fantastic addition to our club, and will be an asset for us I'm sure for years to come. |
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Visit to G.R. on August 19th : I guess I only mention this to remind people in our dojo that almost every Saturday there is a kendo practice in our satellite dojo in Grand Rapids that Matsuura sensei is the leader. One hours drive. YOU people are allowed to go and participate in it if you wish to have an extra kendo practice. I try to hit it once every 6 to 8 weeks, but I'm an old geezer. Stephen and Travis are always taking advantage of this.....so they get 3 days practice a week instead of only 2. Just a thought.....By the way, there was quite a few GR people I was hoping to see who didn't show up that day.... |
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Visit
from Yuta Sugiyama August 22nd:
We had a visitor drop in to practice from Japan. He is a friend of Luke
Denison's brother, From the moment I
saw his suburi, I knew he was pretty good. He is a 3rd year student
at The University of Shiga Prefecture (Shiga-ken Ritsu-daigaku) in the
city of Hikone, Japan. He is 21 years old and was born in the city of
Osaka. He started kendo as a second year student in Elementary School and
practiced there until his 6th year at Elementary (Japan's elementary's go
to 6th grade). He unfortunately had to stop kendo for the 3 years of
junior high to focus on his studies. He did start again in high school,
however, and has been continuing it ever since; totaling up to about 11
years. He now holds the rank of nidan. Currently he is doing study abroad
in the United States at Michigan Technical University in Houghton, MI. He
has come to study English and Environmental Science and will be in the US
until May of 2007. |
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Photos by George Denison |
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A photo of Yuta in kamae Our obligatory group photo of the event. |
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UPCOMING EVENTS |
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AUSKF Iaido Summer Camp, Sept 28th, 2006: The 2006 AUSKF National Iaido Camp will be held at Corryville Recreation Center, 2823 Eden Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio. The info is here. |
| AUSKF Educational Tour, October 8th, Chicago: The MWKF will host a visit from a traveling sensei, sent to us from Japan. Toru Kamei Sensei of Kumamoto Japan will be making an educational tour of the eastern part of the United States in October. Kamei Sensei is an Assistant Director on the Board of Education in the Kumamoto Prefecture in the High School Education Division. He is an 8th Dan Kyoushi and only 52 years of age. There will be a seminar held by the Choyokan Des Plaines dojo/ Dee Park on Oct 8th from 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m. |
| Four
sensei visit Chicago (Iaido):
Four hachidan
sensei will be coming to Chicago for around 10 days. We're thinking from October 19 to the 30th. The four are: Shimizu sensei (Eishin Ryu Soke, 8 dan), Toyama sensei (Eishin Ryu 8 dan), Nakatani sensei (Mugai Ryu soke, 8 dan), Fujimoto sensei (Mugai Ryu 8 Dan). If anyone who reads this wants to find out more about this visit please email the editor for more info. |
| MWKF
Tournament, October 28th, 2006:
The Chicago Kendo
Dojo will host the annual tournament followed the next day by the
examination. For the info on the what you need to know click on the
subject below:
MWKF Promotional exam information
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I've collected a lot of stories, quotes,
koans, poems and haiku. Here is one I really like:
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E-mail the editor, let me know your comments at: mailto: dtc12@comcast.net to reach me. |
