Waikato Kendo Club

2012 Beginner Class Dates

2012-01-11T00:24:00.000-08:00

Some basic information for 2012 Beginners Class are here:
Ages from 8 to 80, both boys and girls, are all welcome!
No prior experience required!

Dates:
Beginner Class A: 10/17 March - 7 July (18 lessons)
Beginner Class B: 14/21 July - 3 November (18 lessons)

Time: Satursday, 1.30 - 3.00pm
Venue: SOE Gym, Gate 4, Hillcrest Road, Hamilton

Fees: 200.00 NZD (including equipment rentals)

Read more at our training blog:

First Day of the 2010 Beginner Class-B
Updates of the 2011 Beginner Class B
YouTube: Kendo 4th Dan (or waych the video from our Blog)

* * *
For further enquiry, please email us at waikatokendo@gmail.com

Clement: Notes from the NZ Squad Training in Christchurch, 2011

2011-12-06T14:18:00.001-08:00

The New Zealand National Team training in Christchurch's brand new dojo.

Team NZ is hard in training for the WKC in Novara.

Photo taken and shared by： Kendo World

* * *

Hi all, so some recap from the lessons Awa and I learned at the NZ team training. Keep in mind that this is mainly for winning in shiai and that there is a difference between that and "grading" kendo.

- Dramatise your cuts - Regardless if you really hit or not, got to convince judge that you scored the ippon. If judge gives you ippon, take it.

- Change the rhythm of your cuts - Don't always stick to your same fighting style, change it up if it doesn't work.

- Keep the winning attitude, take what you get - It's war, you fight to win. If you hold ippon, keep it. One ippon is enough to win the match.

- Shiai line should be your friend - fight from centre out and don't have your back to the line. When opponent near line, taiatari + cut to ensure no hansoku.

- For seme, hold for one breath, breath in quick and out slow - Watch for the opportunity and explode your strikes when you find them.

- Do thoughtful kendo and focus on form - learn to be flexible for waza, change if need be and make sure your form is correct. Otherwise you will never get ippon.

The following are some techniques for waza:

- Debana kote - Move body left and have slight pressure left on kensen, as opponent lifts for men, strike kote. If opponent seme is very loose, their kensen will tend to follow your kensen, so when you lower and raise your kensen, opponent will do the same. Strike when they are raising kensen.

- Kaeshi do - Don't look down after hitting, cut with one movement (not split into block + do). Block opponent's men with shinai extended forward to get greater distance for do.

- Tsuki - Strike it like a cut and feel like you are putting your left hand on opponent's men dare. Be sure to strike for Tsuki Men if you miss tsuki.

- Hiki-men - apart from correct striking, ippon also comes from the "oomph" in the zanshin when running back, make sure that you really run fast and sell your ippon.

That's all the main points, I'm sure Awa can add more to it as well.

Eiga sensei's instruction on Kirikaeshi

2011-09-20T14:33:00.000-07:00

"Please do the kirikaeshi with Dai-Kyo-Soku-Kei
(dynamic-strong-fast-light)". ~ Eiga sensei.

#1 [After the kirikaeshi demonstration by Teramoto-sensei]

(Eiga-sensei:) That was wonderful kirikaeshi, wasn't it? First of all, what was wonderful about that was the stance. As Teramoto-sensei told at the suburi practice that you don't move the axis of your body. Although the opponent comes straight forward, the stance is that you can move any directions.

#2 Next, that was kiai! You still say, "ya… ," and "men… ." (He shows,) "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaa, Meeeeeeeeeeeeeen!!!" Show your feelings with this first strike of men. Then, because the breath should be one time, it's not that you were doing like, "men, men, men…, " but "MeeeeeenMeeeeenMeeeeeen!!!" The breath connects.

#3 And finally, that was the point of the strike. There are some people still hitting the upper side of the sinai, yet hit sure the left and right men. Also, when after you finished hitting the shinai, some people let the sinais up, rested, and said, "Ya!" However, as Tramoto-sensei did, back with zanshin, put kiai, and hit men. You are completely done until here, then, it's called "Kirikaeshi." Understood? (Students:) Yes, sir!

#4 (Eiga-sensei:) Fist, the first shout, straighten the posture, put out more kiai, correctly hit left and right men after hitting the first men with one breath, brow the last men, and show your zanshin. All right? (Students:) Yes, sir!

#5 (Eiga-sensei) One more addition! A motodachi, a person of the hit side, has to be the partner. Because you have to make a good technique together, it's not good that only the hitting side shout, "Yaaaaa!" The motodachi also shout, "Yaaaaa!" when you heard, "Yaaaaa!" Okay?

There is the phrase "Dai-Kyo-Soku-Kei." Is there any one who remember it? Means, "dynamic - strong - fast - light." Please do the kirikaeshi with Dai-Kyo-Soku-Kei. All right? (Students:) Yes, sir!

Notes:
1. Thanks the translation done by YouTube user: 6shige9.

2. If you read Chinese, here is another link for translation in Chinese.

Training notes for week 11-17 Sep

2011-09-17T05:54:00.000-07:00

Murakami sensei explained the correct tsuba-seiriai

at the 2008 Asia Area Sinpan Seminar, Seoul, South Korea.

Some notes about our training on week 11-17 Sep 2011:

I think we all had a good time on Thursday's ji-geiko evening. Thanks to the members who came at the evening. As discussed, we won't have group warm-up on Thursdays. Please come earlier and get yourself ready. Hope we can start at 6.30pm sharply.

After the shiai-geigo last Saturday (10 Sep), we talked about the tsuba-zeriai situations and have some practice of hiki-men waza. I can see your tsuba-zeriai has much improved today. Of course, we still need more training and practice on hiki-men.

My plan for next week training will be:

continue the small-men and small-kote-men practice,
continue the hiki-men practice,
introduce one exercise to enhance leg muscle strength,
more kakari-geiko to enhance fitness and reaction.

* * *

As for beginners, I am pleased to see that you can well perform the first Kata of Bokuto Keikoho (other than tsuki yet). We will move to Kata Two of Bokuto Keikoho next week. Also, jump-suburi will be our main task for the coming few weeks.

Here is a video clip on Youtube for you to preview the Bokuto Keikoho.

Just two more tasks (fumikomi and kirikaeshi), and then you can have a further step from the Beginner Class.

Finally, thanks to Scott's feedback on the Beginner Class:

Kendo is challenging and fun.
Each week I look forward to learning new techniques

and the chance to practice.
There is always a good mix of humour and seriousness.

Wish you all have a nice weekend and see you next week.

Last word, I think we need to take more photos from now on and video your shiai-geiko on Saturday for both memory and review purposes. :-)

Timetable updates 2011

2011-09-11T20:34:00.000-07:00

Our new training schedule will start from Tuesday 13 September 2011:

Intermediate & Advanced Classes

- Tuesdays: 6.30pm to 8.30pm @ SOE Gym

- Thursdays: 6.30pm to 7.30pm @ SOE Gym

- Satursdays: 3.10pm to 6.00pm @ SOE Gym

Please note that the Thursday evening is for ji-keiko and shiai-geijo only.

Beginner Class remains the same:

- Satursdays: 1.30pm to 3.00pm @ SOE Gym

See you at the new times!

By the way, the new club's website is currently underconstruction. Please wait! :-)

The theme of striking "small-men"

2011-09-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

Joyce's first time led the warm-up, Saturday 10 Sep 2011.

Time flies! I have been back to NZ and led the training for more than one month. While the spring is coming, I still remember how cold the NZ temperature was few weeks ago!

First of all, I am glad to see we have few more members achieved the Dan grades in the National Seminar and Grading held at Auckland Kendo Club on 20, 21 August. It shows the great commitment and efforts from themselves and the Dojos during the Kendo journey! Personally, I am proud of them and would like to invite them keep the enthusiasm of training hard and learning more!

Secondly, In the past few training sessions, the "small men" technique has been our central theme. I would like to drop few notes here for the purposes of review and reflection:

1. Striking Power: The power of small techniques should not be smaller than the big techniques. While the big techniques (kihon) build the proper body movement and te-no-uchi, the small techniques is based on these but perform a faster strike. So, it is important that we won't get confused by the literal meaning of "small".

2. Three Points Coordination: The coordination of left hand, Tan-Dan and right knee is essential to perform small technique. However, before striking, the good posture of chudan kamae is important (please refer to Morioka sensei's three check points).

3. Kensen: Do not let the power of right arm to interfere the central line. Also, be aware that the timing of lifting kensen is key factor to the risk of debana-kote.

4. Central Line: The study of ura (inside, right) and omote (surface, left).

5. Renzoku waza: Based these basics of small-men, we continue to the most basic renzoku waza: small-kote-men. Two important tasks need to be mastered: (1) tenouchi - the tightening and relaxing of strikes, and (2) zanshin - the follow-up of left foot (body).

6. Harai waza: Extending the small-kote-men, harai-men is the following waza.

Based on these techniques, we started the small-kote and (kote-)ai-kote-men waza yesterday. These would further enhance the learning and experience of tenouchi, center, rhythm of kote-men.

Finally, as we have more experienced members now, more shiai-geiko and ji-keiko is important for us to accumulate experience and more advanced study of Kendo. We will continue the shiai-geigo on Saturday afternoons and organise a new session for ji-geiko soon.

Best wishes for those who got flu and injuries. Hope you will get well soon!

Updates of 2011 Beginner Class B

2011-09-10T06:27:00.000-07:00

2011 Beginner Class B - September

Due to my delay of returning to NZ, Clement had his contribution for the first few lessons. He makes my job of taking over this new class much easier.

It has been a great pleasure for me to work with a group of enthusiasm beginners

The 2011-B Beginner Class has already run 6-7 lessons. We have covered basic footwork, Kamae (Chudan) and basic strikings (Men, Kote, Do). Today, it's a review of all these three basic strikes. Hope the beginners felt the training was enjoyable.

From next week, we are going to learn another basic footwork: Fumikomi - a milestone for Ki-Ken-Tai-Ichi.

By Sam Tsai

Congratulations to our new Dan-grades

2011-09-04T15:05:00.001-07:00

2011 NZKF Seminar and Grading @ Auckland

Congratulations to whom achieved a new milesone in their Kendo journey in the 2011 NZKF National Seminar and Grading:

Ni-Dan

- George Liu

Sho-Dan

- James Huang

- Gaelle Guyader

Ikkyu

- Marilyn Kho

- Jordan Te Wharau

Ni-Kyu

Chui Suan Low

We are proud of your energy and persistence you have put into your Kendo!

Hope to review the Kihon?

2010-08-06T02:26:00.000-07:00

First Day of the 2010-B Beginner Class

Sam will be our main instructor for the 2010 July Beginner Class.

All Waikato current members are welcome to participate the class with beginners to review the kihon (basics) again!

If you hope to review the kihon, the time is NOW!

Don't miss out and ... ...

Hope to see you there!

2010 Kendo Beginner Class B

2010-07-20T16:28:00.000-07:00

Kendo Grading in June 2009 at Waikato Dojo

Kendo is a part of Japanese traditional Martial arts.

Kendo = Japanese Fencing = the Way of Life

It involves highly technique of using soward perfoming the form of the art and body conbat along with individuals' character development through other cultural formate.

If you have always interested in exploring other culture, Waikato Kendo Club can be a place to make the start.

When:
Saturday 31 Jul 2010
to Saturday 11 Dec 2010

Where:
School of Education Gym
Gate 4, Hillcrest Rd.
Hillcrest, Hamilton

Contact Details:
Marleen Charng

Email: waikatokendo@gmail.com
Phone/fax: 07 856 1488
Mobile: 022 642 9781

Cost and booking details:
20 weeks lessons, $200 only, equipment (rental) included

For more information, please visit:
www.waikatokendo.org.nz

Kevin: This sho dan didn’t come easy

2010-07-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

This sho dan didn’t come easy

Actually, this shodan didn’t come easy for me

There I was in 2007, happily hacking and smashing people with my bamboo sticks. Things were going really well in my life, my job was good and my relationship was better than ever. Then along came Han-Uan, and I had no idea what I was about to get into…

Han-Uan Peng was born on 21st June 2008

After Han-Uan was born, things start to feel different pretty quickly. It was a life changing experience that you can never prepare for. My happy and cheerful girl, Marilyn who used to sing “hakuna-matata” (from Lion King) with me became more and more gloomy and depressed as the days passed, trying to cope with the stress of motherhood and not having her family around her to help. People all around me were telling me that I should focus more on family rather than spending time on my hobby and interests. Pressure was coming from everywhere; her family, my family and some colleagues too.

I looked after our pet Chihuahua before and so I thought a young baby couldn’t be more difficult than a pet, right? WRONG! Han-Uan was fed on demand every 45minutes and did not sleep for more than 1 hour at a time. No for long, Marilyn was starting to look more and more like a panda - a very grumpy one.

Asian families is not keen on the European methods of controlled crying, setting up routines and things like that so we had quite a few arguments at that time. Things were just a big mess. There was a guilt trap set up for me, that because I was doing kendo so I couldn’t put all my time into helping out looking after Han-uan; and ofcourse pressure were on me to stop Kendo.

Whilst back in kendo I felt that I was quite behind as some of my classmates have already progress to black belt and I was still lingering in the kyu level. My basics were terrible, I was also struggling to do well in shi ai and junior people were starting to catch up and surpassing me. So I said to myself: “f*ck this, I am going to continue kendo, I don’t care!”

Things were spiraling out of control at home. We were having difficulty coping and one day when Han-Uan was really bad, I decided enough is enough and I am going to set this baby’s routine right. I am going to control feed him, not when he wanted feed. We feed him every two hours only and in the meantime he could cry as much as he wanted to. I also slept with him that weekend as well. After that weekend, he was sleeping at least 4 hours a night and happy to be fed every 2 hours. Marilyn was able to have her rest, I was off the hook.

There’s light at the end of the tunnel

February 2009, we decided to rent out our own place rather than continue to stay at my family’s old house. It turned out to be a great move as the old place was packed with a lot of family things that I couldn’t put or throw away. It also allowed us to be an independent family unit by ourselves, making our own decisions about how we wanted to live. Our new place had more rooms, more space, more control and a better environment for us to bring up Han-Uan and to focus on his routine. He now sometimes even slept through the night.

One day a great idea came to me: I devised a clever little plan to get Marilyn to start the kendo beginner class, hoping she would understand more about Kendo and therefore complain less when I was away from home doing my training. The plan worked perfectly and she is happy as. She could finally meet new people and do something different instead of staying at home looking after baby everyday. A little exercise during the week wasn’t a bad idea as well. Once again, she is off my back and I could focus more on my kendo.

Just as I finally passed my 1 kyu grading and am ready to challenge black belt in three months time, we decided to go back home for a visit in November to have family portraits taken and to visit our family and show everyone what Han-Uan looked like. This put my kendo training on halt for 6 weeks and subsequently resulting in me failing my first attempt to sho dan.

Oh my God when will I get shodan?

I look around the dojo one day, noticing all my 2007A classmates had progressed to black belt and I am the last one left— I started to worry a little bit.

I knew I needed to forget about grading and to just keep training as normal. I thought of Kendo as a marathon and knew that if I just keep going I would eventually get to sho dan and beyond. One good thing about me failing my dan grading is that I could get to participate in the National Kendo Open Champ as a kyu player. Even though I only received 3rd place but a medal is a medal and it is my first one too so I will take it with a big smile.

After the Nationals, more focus was put on training my coordination and basic techniques. Thanks to Marleen’s thoughtful training and Sam’s final revision. I couldn’t wait to tackle my next grading in June.

The view is better from this line of sitting: dan grade cue

There are probably a lot people who are like me or have it even worse, struggling to balance family, work and kendo. I sometimes envy others who have fewer commitments and think “Man they probably don’t know how lucky they are. They can just train without worrying too much about other things.”

There is this adage: "Quitters never win and winners never quit." There are so many people before me who started in kendo, did so well but then stopped. There are times during training I didn’t even know what I was doing, just purely going through the sequences but I did not quit. Kendo just became part of my weekly activities and something I do and enjoy doing.

There was a little chat session the day after grading discussing our feelings after we passed our grading. We were asked to say something and I was just speechless. There are just too many things to say and I didn’t know where to even begin. Many club members were saying they feel very humbled with themselves progressing to the next level. I didn’t think that way, not even a little bit, I think my sho dan is long overdue and personally, I think I deserved it!

It has been a very eventful ride in my journey to sho dan. I know this is just the beginning to my kendo life. I am happy I’ve lasted through this far and am still going. I particularly appreciate all the people who gave me help along the way; I wouldn’t have gone so far without them.

Now I am just about ready to tackle more challenges in kendo and life

NZKF Grading - 2010 June at Waikato

2010-06-28T17:13:00.000-07:00

Held on 2010-06-26 at Waikato Kendo Club

Thanks to Wells Sensei (AKC), Stephenson Sensei (JSK), Oh Sensei (DMK) and Gianni Sensei (AKC) coming down to Waikato for the pre-grading seminar and being the grading panel.

Also thanks to Leo and Clement for being the mototachi.

Ni-Dan

Naoko (Sophie) Goto (JSK)
Byung Suk Kang (DMK)
Awatea Williams (WKC)
Ruby Huang (JSK)
Tsu-Pei (Henry) Peng (WKC)
Minoru Suzuki (AKC)
Wen Luo (WKC)

Sho-Dan

Kevin Peng (WKC)
George Liu (WKC)
Tian Li (WKC)

Ikkyu

Omar Soemadipradja (WKC)
Adam Ward (WKC)
Shinhee Yi (JSK)

Nikyu

Angus Gray (WKC)

Sankyu

Jason (Jihoon) Park (WKC)
Joyce Tsai (WKC)
Debbie Price (WKC)
Jason Huang (WKC)
Seung Kyong Lee (DMK)

4th Kyu

Gaelle Guyader (WKC)
Chui Suan Low (WKC)

6th Kyu

Yutae Jin (WKC)
Maya Wells (AKC)

(More photos will come soon.)

The new Page at facebook

2010-05-06T09:21:00.001-07:00

Dear All,

I set up a new "Page" at the facebook for Waikato Kendo Association few days ago:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Waikato-Kendo-Association/119990548026828

I am sorry that I did not inform you earlier as I was also new to this new system.

The old system I set up at the facebook was called "groups". However, it disappears from some people's facebook (at least mine).

Therefore, I gave it a try to the new "Page".

What I have learned so far is that the Page has kind of its own identity. Also, facebook "Page" is quite a public forum for our club. I hope to invite you share your Kendo journey there. :)

So, you will see my ID from my facebook but can only see "Waikato Kendo Association" when I post something at the page.

I have many Kendo friends in Taiwan and many of them don't use English that much. As you can see that most of my facebook posts are in Chinese.

However, I am hoping to share my Kendo journey with you. So, I think it will be nice if I can separate these two systems and I can have a channel to keep in touch with you.

Also, I think it is a good way to promote our dojo and make friends with other Kendoka. :)

So, please let's give it a go together! :)

Kind regards,
Sam

YouTube: Kendo 4th Dan

2010-04-13T18:29:00.000-07:00

Dear All

I hope to share this new movie with you. :)

It is done by George Perrin featuring the Budapest Főnix Kendo and Iaido Klub. http://www.kendoshortfilm.com/

Kendo Film - 1/3

Kendo Film 2/3

Kendo Film 3/3

An independent short film by George Perrin featuring the Budapest Főnix Kendo and Iaido Klub.
http://www.kendoshortfilm.com/

Kendo-Blue by Walter in 2005

2010-03-05T20:17:00.000-08:00

Here is a post on our old forum wrote by Walter in April 2005.

I think it is still worth to forward it here for our beginners. (Walter is now a NZ Kendo Team member.)

It's about "new bogu-on" and "Kendo-Blue" experience.

+ + + + +

Way back in the dark depths of history (mid 2002) I had just put on bogu for the first few times and I seriously considered giving up kendo. Im not entirely sure why I felt as negatively as I did, but I was not enthusiastic. I think, partly, I felt that Kendo had become very tiring and hard, probably because of trying to cut with bogu on.

Also, I started watching senior practice and it didnt look very exciting and I didnt understand much of what was happennng. Therefore Kendo, at the time, seemed difficult, tiring and not going anywhere desirable.

Hmmm, Im not sure why I stayed .... Maybe one of the seniors said something, or maybe I just decided to trust that things would get easier.

In any case I did stay (as you can tell) and Im very glad that I did!

I think the moral of the story is supposed to be that in Kendo (as in most things in life) you can go through hard periods. However, this doesnt mean you should quit immediately. Hold out for a while and it will hopefully become enjoyable again.

So thats a little story about the very beginning of my Kendo journey. We'll have to wait and see what happens in the future.

walter
_________________
I love kakari-keiko

URL: Waikato Kendo Club Forum

Clement: Thoughts about the 2009 NZKF National Seminar

2010-03-05T19:57:00.000-08:00

Original post on Thu Jul 23, 2009

Um, thought I'll like to share my experience with everyone:

Thoughts about the Kendo seminar
In my opinion, the decision to host the 2009 NZKF Kendo Seminar here at the Waikato Kendo Club (WKC) dojo was undoubtedly the best decision ever made by our sensei. I’ll like to begin by sending my sincere thanks to both Sam and Marleen Sensei for their commitment and passion to furthering the kendo of each and every member of WKC. Let’s not forget that had our sensei not opt for the seminar to be hosted in Waikato that many of us would probably have missed out on this wonderful experience.

After reading and hearing our fellow member’s thoughts (including Debbie’s fantastic self reflection), I’m certain that all of us, in one way or another, walked away from this seminar with a renewed appreciation for kendo and ourselves. Personally, I found this seminar to be an eye opening experience. I had a great time getting to know all the other kendo practitioners around New Zealand. There is a true sense of belonging when you are training a martial art alongside 75 other members. I know that many of our beginners have never actually trained or met with members of other dojo (excluding the senseis from Auckland for the occasional grading) and that this seminar must be so exciting for them!

I thoroughly enjoyed the simple teaching by Morioka Sensei and his brilliant philosophies. I learned a lot from what he had to say. Certainly I hope to use this new knowledge from him to further my kendo. However, Robin Senpai was correct in saying that what we have learned from Morioka Sensei was nothing new. Danten, footwork, shoulder relaxing, seme etc. were concepts covered before by our sensei. So we should not forget that we have two great teachers (8th Dan between them ha ha) here at WKC. The fact that almost everything we learned in the weekend by a 7th Dan sensei were already taught before by Sam and Marleen illustrates this.

One particular part of the seminar that stood out to me was the point put forward by Morioka Sensei, Well Sensei, and Bennett Sensei, that good kendo begins with good kamae and posture. Like a fault in an aeroplane that leads to a disastrous crash, bad kamae leads to bad kendo and irreversible habits. Therefore it is one of my goals to improve on my posture and position both in kendo and my life. Simple things like maintaining a good posture when wearing or removing our men, or keeping my chin in and holding the shinai properly will hopefully make my kendo more beautiful and correct. Special thanks goes to Ian Senpai from Christchurch, who showed me that correct kendo is better and more beautiful than anything else. His cuts were so elegantly simple and straightforward. No difficult waza to confuse me. In fact, he scored more cuts on me than anybody else on Friday’s ji-keiko. So my inspirations for a more correct kendo came partly for him as well.

Finally I’ll like to say how impressed I was with the Morioka tournament on Tuesday. You could tell that all the beginners who took part in the weekend seminar have improved significantly! Sanjiv’s kendo has become more aggressive than before, unleashing more attacks instead of his usual defensive style. Henry’s kendo has become more agile and flexible, with more accurate cuts and wonderful zanshin (apologies for my bad shimpan ha ha). Even when I was doing warm up with Debbie, I could feel her kendo has become more focussed. Everyone has improved since then, and it is a great sight.
So all in all, the seminar was a great success! This experience has convinced me to attend as many seminars as I can in the future. Watch out 2010 NZKF National Seminar, here I come!

Clement =D

Oh and congratulations to all our members who successfully graded (the Dan line looks strong, but we could do with a few more! Ha ha)

URL: Waikato Kendo Club Forum

Update from Sumi sensei seminar in Auckland

2010-03-01T16:32:00.000-08:00

Dear Teams,

I hope you had a good training over the weekend with Jeffrey.

Sorry for I didn't have time to inform you about the change in advance.
But I do believe you will enjoy it ^^

We have a very fruitful weekend regarding Sumi sensei's seminar.
Everybody learned heaps.

Our senpai have a very successful grading at the seminar as well.
Here are:

We have Robin and Clement been graded to 2nd Dan; Douglas 1st Dan, Annie 1st Kyu and Adam 3rd kyu.

Alan sensei will organize a panel (grade to 2nd Dan) to Hamilton in 3 month time for people who cannot make to Sumi sensei's seminar.

Another good news to tell is, we will have a PE professor to help us increase the fitness, flexibility and strength we need to lift up our Kendo level. I will introduce her to you tomorrow night before training.

BE READY, there is only 8 weeks toward 2010 New Zealand Open Championships.

All the best
Marleen ^^

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Living your daily life with 100% effort,
you won't feel regret in the end of the day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2009 NZ Novice Champs and Referees' seminar report

2009-12-01T20:58:00.001-08:00

Report of 2009 New Zealand kendo Novice Championships & Shimpan Seminar

Congratulations to Waikato teams for the fruitful weekend. It was a great feeling to see you all trying best in each match and still having fun with it. Still, we would like to express our gratitude to all the friends, families and Kendoka who came along to support the event.

Part I. People who work in the background:

Thanks to people who kindly gave their time to help making me can completing the preparation. Here they are:

l Debbie – for WKC members' enrolment.

l Clement & Sam – finalized the info pack & certificates designation.

l Awatea, Omar – printing certificates and match draw, and tapes preparation.

l Dabao & Clement – shipping all the food supply and equipments.

l Sam Tsai – trophy and medal order.

l Awatea, Clement, Omar, Dabao, Adam, George, Jeffrey, Amigo, Chui, Gaelle …teams – shiaijo organization before and after.

l Clement & Adam – shinai weighting.

l Lance , Marilyn & William – lunch sidtribution.

l Kobe café – referees lunch supply.

l Do-Hun, Henry P., William, Awatea, Clement, Annie, Ya-Yi, Chui, Gaelle, Ruby (TSKD) and Il Soo (AKC) – score board keeping.

l William, Jihoon & Joyce – time keeping.

l Lance, Leo, Marleen -- On site photographers

l If anyone I lost memory of your contribution, please forgive me J

l Thank you for each one of your participating.

Very special thanks to:

l Alan Stephenson sensei who led us to overlook the Kendo shimpan's job and work it through with us. This invaluable lesson ensure us have better understanding in each aspect regarding our Kendo journey.

l Ms. Karen Carmichael & Mr. Sunil Singh bring their professional knowledge to share with us in the work shop which indeed opens our view regarding preventing injury from Kendo training.

l The trainee referees group: Thomas Hong (AKC), Philippe Gianni (AKC), Jeffrey Ke (WKC), Walter McCahon (Rembuden).

Part II. Individual achievement @ 2009 Novice Champs

² Juniors demonstration match

Ø 1^st: Joyce Tsai (WKC, 8 years old)

Ø 2^nd Peter Ho (WKC, 11 years old)

² Youth Division (15^th years old and under)

Ø 1^st place: William Chuang (WKC)

Ø 2^nd place: Peter Ho (WKC)

Ø 3^rd place: Jihoon (Jason) Park (WKC)

² Women's Kyu Division

Ø 1^st place: Annie Ko (WKC)

Ø 2^nd place: Lia Yosaamadtji (AKC)

Ø 3^rd equal: Chui Suan Low (WKC) & Medea Pai (Rembuden)

² Women's Dan Division

Ø 1^st place: Tammy Lin (AKC)

Ø 2^nd place: Ayako Murakami (WKC)

Ø 3^rd place: Ya-Yi Huang (WKC)

² Men's Kyu Division

Ø 1^st place: Walt Kim (DMK)

Ø 2^nd place: George Liu (WKC)

Ø 3^rd equal: Adam Ward (WKC) & Simon Evans (WKC)

² Men's Dan Division

Ø 1^st place: Clement Guo (WKC)

Ø 2^nd place: Amigo Huang (WKC)

Ø 3^rd equal: Robin Parrington (WKC) & Awatea Williams (WKC)

² Inter Club teams matches

Ø 1^st place: Waikato team 7 including Sanjive Singh, Adam Ward, Do-Hun Kim.

Ø 2^nd place: Waikato team 3 including Tei Pelant, Leo Lin, Amigo Huang.

Ø 3^rd place: Waikato team 6 including George Liu, Clement Guo, Awatea Williams.

The 2009 Novice seems over but next Championships just begin J

More photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=1&aid=126616&id=537476157#/album.php?page=1&aid=126616&id=537476157

http://www.wretch.cc/blog/llnz/20840362

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Living your daily life with 100% effort,
you won't feel regret in the end of the day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marleen Charng
President/ Chief Instructor
Waikato Kendo Club
http://www.waikatokendo.org.nz/

http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/marleen-charng/

An invaluable speech about Education

2009-11-02T14:34:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

Here is a YouTube linkage to share with you.

15 years ago, by chance, I had an in-depth conversation with a scholar from Cornell University who does research on the area of Anthropology. What I learned from him from the conversation is about: an individual is the product of a collective culture, on the other hand, an individual helps forming the collective culture.

Year by year, I make more sense about his theory.

Regarding education, we all play certain part in our daily live as a brother, sister, uncle, aunt, mum, dad or grand parents...even Dojo team mates.

I do hope if any of you made your mind wanting to be a teacher in any school level, please spare your time to watch this film. Thank you.

Again, the linkage is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

Marleen
Your Kendo coach

An awarding evening -- 2009 Blues Award

2009-10-19T00:59:00.000-07:00

Oh, what a night!!!

Just before Rembuden Taikai, I received an official letter from University Waikato informing me that I have been nominated to the WALLACE CORPORATION UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO BLUES Award, and will accept the award on 9th October, 6.00pm.

I published this news to our emailing list and gave invitation. Thanks to Jeffrey and Ya-Yi, Annie, Amigo, Leo and Amy, Awatea, Clement, Adam and Debbie making themselves available for me to make me have a real awarding evening.

It started from 5.40PM. Awatea dressed his formal suit and drove his blue pumpkin carriage arriving my house preparing to pick me up even without a notice in advance. I was so surprised by his thoughtful and lovely manner when I was expecting Debbie to meet me at my home. Because I planed to bear with my sore lower back driving ourselves to the venue. That moment, I feel myself is a modern Cinderella.

As usual, we are the only one and the strongest team in any event when we all get together.

Everybody look so different comparing with dressed in Gi and Hakama. Even myself. Haha. I would like to apply Debbie's words regarding my dress. She said, 'Sam doesn't know what he has missed'. I think her words applying to the evening as well although this is my 2nd time to have the award.

Same as Kendo cut, each strike is a unique strike in the same evening. Each day is a different day of our life.

I met my thesis supervisor from Sport and Leisure studies Dr. Clive Pop and his lovely wife, and had a very good chat. When it's about time, we all moved toward our table. Unfortunately, each table can only seat 12 people so that we have to move Awa and Clement to sit with others. However, they were seating close to us. Therefore, we didn't miss too much with each other.

Along with the progress of the night, we met so many extraordinary young and professional people from Olympic or World Champs. We feel really honored. The venue made me think of the sentence I heard in Christchurch, 'we decided to be extraordinary...'.

Thanks to Clement's mid efforts to nominate me.

I deeply believe, 2010 will be our team's year in Blues Award evening.

Mason Senpai's 'Out standing Service' award in Taiwan

2009-10-18T20:05:00.001-07:00

Many of you might not know him, Mason Ma, one of your senpai from Waikato kendo Club.

Due to his father's lung cancer, Mason choose going back to Taiwan and complete his Army service after graduated from University of Waikato.

This article from newspapers is about he has been awarded with his 'Outstanding Service' within 100 competitors who provides service with their second language background in the Amy. It's also listing many of his contribution to Church and community in his private time.

I believe you do feel proud of him as I am.

My Rembuden ... A story in 3 parts .... Part 3 by Robin Parrington

2009-10-15T18:40:00.000-07:00

Shiai over we load our gear into the cars and say our goodbyes to the other kendoka. Someone comments that although a nice city, “Wellington is far too cold for us northerners and that if we didn’t know better we’d think it was going to snow!”

Next we drop Marleen and Joyce back in the city centre so they can do some sightseeing…. More goodbyes then we’re off.

The journey starts off ok; the cars stay a little closer this time. We stop for a quick coffee … the barista is quite rude to Do-Hun. I will take this opportunity to apologize to Do-Hun for not admonishing the barista for his rudeness. Sorry Do-Hun.

We drive on. After a couple more hours its starts to get dark and we pass a sign saying Road Closed. Unsure which roads are closed we stop for fuel at a one horse town called Hunterville. The lady in the petrol station tells us that not only is highway 1 closed because of deep snow but she thinks our alternate route highway 4(national park) is closed too. Do-Hun says that now even the weather doesn’t like him. lol.

We see a coffee shop over the road so we go there to gather our thoughts, study the map and make a new plan. Its nice and cosy inside and we gather round the wood burner with the other customers. We are unable to find out more about the road closures but a young lady informs us that the local motel is full …… However she has a room and is willing to share with a certain (another) member of our group. Once more honour produces a polite refusal.

We decide that we need some accurate information as to road conditions and that the best place for that would be the police station at Wanganui. As we enter the police station Do-Hun says that as he doesn’t want to be arrested he is now Japanese named Daitaro. More laughter. Inside we are told all routes to Hamilton are closed. We can’t even go via Napier or New Plymouth.

We are stuck.

Getting hungry now, we head to McDonalds for a bite to eat and to make yet another plan. While the others are eating one of our group asks the staff if they know of any cheap accommodation. After a short pause a women steps forward from the kitchens. She is a handsome woman of mature years and a good figure. Thinking he is alone and with a twinkle in her eye she tells him that she finishes work at midnight and would give him a room for the night. As he is a gentleman he tells her that although it is a great compliment to have an offer from such an attractive lady he must decline. With a smile she then gives him directions to a nearby motel.

At the Avro motel we tell the owner/manager? Of our plight and book in for the night. As he shows us our room, which is really nice, we tell him of Do-Huns woes … he breaks into a big beaming smile a gives Do-Hun a big hug telling us that he likes Koreans. Everyone laughs.

Warm and cosy we settle down with some liquid refreshments. We talk long into the night about everything imaginable. From silly word games to boys things to the Israeli/Palestinian problem and more.

In the morning it’s a quick McD’s breakfast and check in at the police station. They confirm that highway 4 is open and we can restart our journey. Highway 4 is a twisty road so we take our time and enjoy the scenery. After several hours of driving we see Hamilton. Just enough time for Clement and I to have one more debate …. This time how to cure world hunger. We talk fast… get louder … interrupt each other.

Suddenly we are at Clements house so the result is … hiki- wake!

Exhausted, we are home.

The End.

Post script.

I have been on many trips, sporting and otherwise, over the years and have to say that his one ranks among the best. We went as club members and returned as brothers.

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition;

And gentlemen in Waikato now-a-bed

Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

The fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Apologies to W. Shakespeare.

My Rembuden ... A story in 3 parts .... Part 2 by Robin Parrington

2009-10-15T18:13:00.000-07:00

Part 2

On to the shiai.

We arrive at the venue in good time for the weigh in. All is well so Adam and George get changed. The Taikai is officially opened and the competition begins.

First to fight are the juniors and as there are only 4 competitors the action is over quite soon.

Next up are the ladies for the women’s open. We didn’t have any ladies entered so again we sat and enjoyed the action. Maybe next year? Annie? Debbie? … Or?

Now it’s time for the kyu grades and we have Adam and George competing so our adrenalin starts to flow.

The format is of pools of 3 or 4 and the top 2 from each pool go through to the next round. Then quarter, semi and then the final.

Adam.

Fight 1: Step in, bow, three paces, draw shinai, sonkyo. … Hajime! Within 10 seconds they clash and Adams opponent is on the floor. From now on Adam seems a little thrown and is not fighting like the Adam we know. Slowly Adam begins warm up and relax a little. I can’t recall exactly how the fight went but Adam lost.

Fight 2:

In his next fight Adam had an awkward opponent who did a lot of pushing. Once again we didn’t see the true Adam and unfortunately he lost again so Adam doesn’t get beyond his pool. His Kyu grade competition was over.

George.

I don’t remember too much about Georges pool matches but he fights well and progresses to the quarter finals. Then to semi’s, then the final

George must like shiai … because his fights last forever. One of his pool matches … went to encho. The semi final … a long encho. Then only a 5 minute break and it’s the final. What happens? Yet another long encho. It was exhausting just to watch. I’ll let George tell you of his fight but all I’ll say now is that no one could have come closer to winning and come second.

We now break for lunch which is a foot long subway. Mmm, very tasty but we only dare take one or two bites if we want to be able to fight.

Lunch over it’s junior dan, I lose both my pool matches, maybe I could have won if I had a little more fire in my belly? I was much too calm; I needed to be a little more nervous to help the adrenalin flow.

Do-Hun fought well in all his fights but although it looked like he scored kote several times the shinpan never seemed to give him any points. As he finished his last pool match he joked of the shinpan “I don’t think they like me”. This became standing joke throughout the weekend, more of that later.

Clement and Awa were drawn in the same pool (again) and fought well as they always do. There was even an extra fight between them to see which of them went to the next round. It was a shame because it would have been nice to see them both progress.

Anyway, Clement goes through but is knocked out in the next round so individuals are over. We watch and admire the senior Dan’s.

Now back to Rowena’s for a quick shower then on to the dinner. It’s Adams first time in a Chinese restaurant so he’s given a quick lesson with chopsticks and we all tuck in. The food is good so there’s much eating, lots of talking and a little drinking. A good time was had by all.

Back at the lodge Marleen and Joyce bid us good night and we boys decide to watch some of our fights on the video. There’s plenty of light hearted banter so when Do-Hun say again “See! They don’t like me!” there’s much laughter there’s a comment of “maybe its Koreans they don’t like?” More laughter. Eventually we tire and drift off to sleep.

Day 2 is the team event and Waikato B (Adam, Do-Hun, Robin) are first up. We fight Hutt C/D?

Today Adam fights well and wins. Do-Hun has no opponent so wins and I win mine. Were through to round 2. Waikato A win there first match and go through also.

Waikato B against Auckland A (the eventual winners). We try our best but as to be expected we lose and our Rembuden is over. Do-Hun jokes “they still don’t like me”.

All our attention turns to George, Awa and Clement. They win their next match and are guaranteed a medal. Now they are up against Rembuden A, They fight valiantly but are defeated so have to still for bronze.

To close the event there is an invitation shiai, 12 in each team, between Rembuden and Rest of NZ. Clement and Do-Hun are chosen for the NZ team. Clement fights well then its Do-Hun. Do-Hun fight is the best that I have ever seen him fight and it’s against a quality opponent. Do-Hun wins! Hooray! We all give him a pat on the back and say “see! The shinpan do like you.”

Rembuden is over … Let’s go home.

To be continued ……

My Rembuden ... A story in 3 parts ... by Robin Parrington

2009-10-15T17:51:00.000-07:00

Part 1 ....

I must start by saying that this report may not be 100% accurate and may be a little embellished in places but it is how I will remember our adventure.

Our journey starts with a rendezvous at Marleens house at 07:45 on a cool but sunny Friday morning. We all arrive and load up our gear into the cars and as previously arranged we set off at around 08:10. Awa’s car leading a loose convoy we have agreed to meet up for morning tea at Taupo.

After a couple of hrs driving my car arrives at the meeting place and to our surprise we are the first there. A quick phone call to George and we learn that Awa’s group has decided to show Do-Hun a little of New Zealand and have made a quick detour to Huka falls. It’s not a problem; we just rearrange to have our next meet up in Wellington.

Another 6hrs of tiring but uneventful driving sees us arrive at Rowena’s lodge (our backpacker accommodation) at around 16:00hrs. Awa is now about an hour behind us.

Wearily I ring the bell and am greeted by the most miserable and grumpy old man imaginable. After checking in and swiping our visa cards he points out where the facilities are and gives me the keys to our rooms. As we make our way to our rooms I notice a group of guys lounging about in the TV room. In the dining room is an old grand piano.

The boy’s room is not the nicest room in the world but it will serve our purpose and was not expensive. Next door is Marleen and Joyce’s room. It is not a very nice room. It is dark and smells of damp.

I now start to worry. Marleen and Joyce have booked to stay here an extra night after we boys have gone home. While we are there we can make sure they are protected but what happens when we leave? Will they be OK? Will they be safe?

After unpacking and having some refreshments Marleen assures us that she and Joyce will be alright and that as we have paid we will stay here as planned.

Awa arrives and as a group we have some tea and talk of the journey down

At about 19:00hrs we all go for a walk into Wellington centre. It’s a little cold and windy but Wellington looks like a very nice city. An hour or so later we pick up some pizza and some beers and make our way back to the lodge.

Into the dining room we go and take command of a table. We set out our “feast” and make ourselves comfortable. The food and drink goes down well and not too much later an Italian lady enters with two young children (about 2 and 4 yrs old), immediately I feel a little easier about leaving Marleen and Joyce alone.

All of us now warmed up and with full bellies, we ask Joyce if she will entertain us on the piano. Reluctantly she agrees, she sits down and slowly makes herself comfortable, she gathers her thoughts. She starts to play … Wow! This girl can really play the whole room goes quiet as we all listen to her. It’s not just us but I can see the other guests are mighty impressed too. The Italian children are drawn to the piano by Joyce’s music recital, their mother comes too. After a faultless performance the whole room applauds.

Next, Awa gets up and sits at the Piano … He too can play. I’m learning so much about my fellow club mates.

While Awa and Joyce continue to play piano I take the opportunity to talk to the Italian lady. She quickly puts my mind at ease and tells me that, although Rowena’s lodge may not be the nicest place she has stayed in, she has never felt threatened and says everyone(except Mr Happy the Manager) is very friendly.

It’s getting a little late and we have competition in the morning so we go to bed.

We wake early and one by one make our way to have a shower. We hit the showers just as some beautiful young ladies are coming out dressed only in towels … A girls hockey team are staying here too. Suddenly Rowena’s lodge is looking a little nicer.

Over breakfast, we learn that one of our party has an admirer from the ladies hockey team. He is a man of great honour and politely declined the advance.

To be continued…….

2009 27th September Kendo promotion in Ethnic Soccer Festiva

2009-10-15T17:37:00.000-07:00