Luciano Pavarotti.  This is Luciano Pavarotti. You may perhaps be wondering why there is a picture of Luciano Pavarotti on this Kendo blog?  Read on to find out why! Recently I was told by a visiting Sensei to be more mindful of my

The 61st All Japan Kendo Championship will be held in just 3 days time! Here's a little something to get you in the mood!! Competitors and spectators from across Japan will gather in the Nihon Budokan on November 3rd for the 61st installment

In this post I will detail an uchikomi pattern that is being used in our dojo to prepare members specifically for grading exams. It's and excellent exercise and you can adapt it to use for your own grading (or even shiai) preparation, or

Part three of the series, Kendo Stores of Tokyo. In this post I will be giving an introduction to Shokodo, a Kendo and martial arts equipment shop located right in the heart of Tokyo's Shibuya district. If you are planning a visit to

I had my first session back from my summer vacation on Thursday night, after almost 6 weeks away from kendo it was a challenging session both physically and mentally! It was a good kihon session led by T Sensei and Michi no Ko,

In this post I will be reviewing the new Waffle-gi from Shogun Kendogu. I was sent one of these gi recently by the guys at Shogun and asked to try it out, and I must say I am very pleased. Waffle-gi from Shogun

Part two of the series Kendo stores in Tokyo.  This time ill be taking a look at Tokyo Shobudo, located in Gotanda. Shobudo home page. Tokyo Shobudo has become a big name over the years due to their extremely high quality kendo equipment. The

In this blog post I'll be reviewing All Japan Budogu's Ran, a Deep-Smoked Madake Super-Jissengata 'BIO' Shinai.  All Japan Budogu is no doubt by now well known for supplying top quality bogu and customer service from Kumamoto Japan. British national team member Andrew Fisher

On Saturday the 18th I went to morning practice at Konnoh Dojo right near Shibuya Station. This isnt my usual dojo so going to this kind of practice is called "Degeiko (出稽古)" literally going out practice in Japanese! Practice starts at 10:15 every

My recent shiai performance reflected these wise words perfectly. I took part in the Shibuya Taikai again this month, competing in both individual and team events. In both, my performance was less than satisfactory, losing both of my fights. I was lucky enough to get

Part one of the series Kendo Stores in Tokyo. This is the first in a series of blog posts I hope to do over the next month or so, in which I will introduce some of the bogu stores around Tokyo. Ill try get to

Been a while since I last posted! So an update is necessary!! Starting from April of this year, I have moved on from teaching Elementary School, and will now teach at Junior High School. I have been assigned to just one school here

Ichi byoshi, refers to cutting in a single motion, in the timing of one. Nagashima Sensei has been focusing on this kind of men cut for well over half a year now at Michi no Ko. Id like to introduce the idea and talk

S. Sensei, Kendo Hachi Dan joined practice at Michi no Ko yesterday, this was the first time in the dojos 40 year existance for a Hachi Dan sensei to join practice. He was invited by Abe Sensei to help some of our dojo

One of the weakest points in my kendo is hiki waza. I rarely use them in keiko, mostly because I feel my dojo is too small to be zipping around in all directions and also because I rarely get the chance to practice

I asked a Senpai to take some photos of my Kamae last night. I'm not sure the left hand is in the position Yanai Sensei wanted it. But if I push it any lower it feels unnatural and too forced. With the hands

I've been practicing more regularly now that the Christmas holidays are well and truly over and that work has settled back down. Unfortunately my laptop is broken and I've not been able to buy a new one just yet. I've borrowed an old

At a recent practice at Mitsubishis kendo dojo, I was extremely lucky to get an extended keiko with a Sensei and received a ton of advice and feedback from him. We began by exchanging a few cuts, Sensei taking first chudan and then

One of my biggest faults is that I step back far too much. I have tried to make it my new years objective to step back less. I think it's a common thing among kendo players at certain levels, the fear of being

Wow. Nearly a month since my last post!! I'm extremely sorry! In December I've been busy with the end of school term, Christmas and relaxing on my winter holiday. So haven't had much to post about. I'd like to say a massive thanks

I joined a junior/senior high school keiko kai this month where students from both schools practiced together with past graduates and the high school kendo teacher. My Japanese Senpai from Ireland, Takenaga San asked me to join in with his high school Sensei

Happy new year to one and all, I hope you all had a great last practice in 2012 and have an even better first practice of 2013! I worked off my holiday belly this morning by joining Kangeiko at Komazawa University. Since its