Dojo News: Nanseikan Kendo Club

Thank you for your assistance in helping Sean compile the membership renewal application to the VKR. Next Saturday is our last Saturday training for the term and it will be on Zoom. As we move forward please check back in to this site and also TeamApp for updates on return to in-dojo training. I hope we will be able to start term 3 back face-to-face. Term 3 : 17 Jul to 11 Sep (9 weeks) Semester 2 Beginners' Course   : 7 Aug to 11 Sep (6 weeks) Victorian Kendo Championships weekend of   14-15 Aug (to be confirmed early July) Term 4:  9 Oct to 11 Dec (10 weeks)  Shochugeiko  11 or 18 Dec (date to be confirmed) The Training Dates page for 2021 been updated to show these dates. Tomoko's new bags Here is a new range of bags that Tomoko has designed for your consideration. She has also told me that she has completed the previous order and will bring them to training once we return to the dojo.

 頑張りましょう！

It's late notice but I am cancelling tonight's online training due to weather, insufficient space in my home to run training and eye strain from too much screen time for me! Training this weekend (12/6) will stay online. Although schools are back, the Gov't is wary about gyms and indoor training. Outside groups are a maximum of ten so I think we can stay online for one more week. :fingerscrossedemoji: Sean will be sending out reminders about membership. Please respond if you haven't already. Recent beginners will have their names added to the club's nafudakake . (above)  

The Japanese experience of Kendo in school and university has always fascinated me. These four videos from Let'sKendo are really interesting. Probably only for the die-hard Kendo otaku amongst you all! The first three videos shows the regular training at To-O-Gijuku High School (東奧義塾高等学校) in Aomori Prefecture. It's fascinating to me to see their training space: the huge banners, trophies, soft arm chairs and heaters (probably for visiting old 8-dans in the colder months!), photos and calligraphy. From the amount of framed photos and certificates, I'm guessing this stadium doesn't get used for basketball all that much! What else is interesting to watch is their unique training routines. I've mentioned this in training recently, how many dojos have their own versions of kiri-kaeshi and so on. Their warm-ups are as much to do with fostering a unique identity as a club and as a team, as they are a physical preparation.  Note also how quickly and in unison the whole club

Lockdown We will be having another Zoom training this Saturday as a result of the lockdown extension. The time will be half and hour longer: 10.00 to 11.30am, using the same Zoom meeting room as usual. We will also be training next Wednesday via Zoom also. Let's hope that lockdown eases next week and doesn't get further extended! Memberships Sean will be in touch with members soon about process for joining or renewing with the VKR and AKR. Please keep an eye out for his email from "membership.nanseikan@gmail". Kirikaeshi As our newest members learned two weeks ago in the dojo, kirikaeshi is a universal warm-up drill in dojo everywhere. The standard format is 2 sets of sayu-men (diagonal men strikes) moving forward and backwards intersperse with three straight men strikes against your partner who either receives on their men or blocks with their sword.  As we learned the format is most commonly nine sayu-men: four forwards and five backwards. But sometimes different do

Of course tomorrow's training has to be cancelled due to the snap lockdown no. 4. I'm confident that this will be only a one-week hiatus. So for tomorrow only we will go back to a Zoom training format. The meeting ID is the same as last year. I will TeamApp the meeting ID to club members again. If you do not have TeamApp please email me directly. Training will go from 10.30 to 11.30am. Wednesday night training will be from 6.30 to 7pm. See you then and remember, we've done this before, we'll get through it! ____________________________________________________________________________ Below please find a message from VKR President Michael Dunn to all clubs Dear all,    As you are no doubt aware, the Victorian Government has announced a 7 day lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic effective 11.59pm tonight. In line with Government restrictions, all Clubs should cease in-person training until the lockdown has been lifted and guidelines permit a return to training.    The VKR

Training tonight has been cancelled due to the increase in numbers today, particularly in the northern suburbs. It seems sensible to take a break at this early stage when infections seem to be on the rise. Hopefully numbers will peak soon.  I'm hopeful training will go ahead Saturday but it will depend on the next couple of days.

  Training will continue at Nanseikan using masks as we have been, but we will be taking more care than in recent weeks until the restrictions are lifted. As well as the points in the poster above, please note the following instructions: Training will be limited to 30 people inside the dojo. If you feel unwell, get tested and don't come to training until you receive a negative result. If you are eligible, get vaccinated. If you have visited one of the recent exposure sites, check what the instructions are for that site and follow them. Masks must be worn properly (over nose and mouth) at all times. Bring more than one mask to training and change to a fresh mask halfway through. Come dressed in hakama and kendogi to the dojo. There will be no using the toilets or other parts of the hall. Don't share or touch equipment other than that of members of your own household.  Sanitise hands before and after touching any objects or fittings in the dojo. Training will move to a lower imp

  In the last week we've had a look at Nishimura's HIIT session  during our in-dojo training sessions. I've also trialled it at home. The app I've been using is Eugene Sharafan's Tabata Timer app . It is simple and works well. It has 'work' and 'rest' sessions which you can adjust. When you open it, it has the Tabata format of 20s work followed by 10s rest. It also has the Tabata standard of 8 'cycles', i.e. how many different drills in the session. Nishimura s. has designed his with 9 drills or cycles., so you should change that to 9.  Then it lets you specify how many 'sets'. So how many times do you want to repeat the session of drills, and then how much rest do you want to have in between?  After a bit more research, here are some extra things I've learned that you might like to keep in mind when you try it. It is an excellent home training tool. Be well hydrated in the hours before you do this workout, it will make it easier.

  The National Sports Science University Tokyo (Nittaidai) has had a long association with Kendo in Australia and especially Victoria. This year because travel is restricted, there will be an online seminar run by these three illustrious sensei (l to r): ·    Furusawa Nobuaki ,  Kendo Kyoshi 7th Dan, Director and Men’s Manager of the Nippon Sport Science University Kendo Club. ·    Yagisawa Makoto ,  Kendo Kyoshi 8th Dan, head instructor of the Nippon Sport Science University Kendo Club, Vice President of the Nippon Sport Science University. ·    Shinzato Chikano,  Kendo Kyoshi 7th Dan, coach of the Nippon Sport Science University Kendo Club women’s team (l-r. Furusawa sensei, Yagisawa sensei and Shinzato sensei) who all teach at Nittaidai. All of them have visited Australia for seminars on multiple occasions in the past. The seminar will be via Zoom on Saturday 5 June from 10am to 11.30am. We will take part in the seminar at our dojo as if it was a normal training.   The following inf

Hi Everyone This one is for young and old. I am sure Sensei will discuss this on saturday The 2021 Victorian Kendo Championships will be held on 14-15 August at Victoria University, Footscray Campus. To support VKR planning for this event, the VKR requests that each club complete the following Expression of Interest Survey by 17 May 2021: https://forms.gle/uWyXxt126CeUtUYy5 Kind regards, Michael Dunn President Victorian Kendo Renmei

Hi Everyone For all of us older folk the Masters games are on in Perth Please find attached a poster for the promotion of the Kendo Event at Australian Masters Games 2021 and a draft schedule. Please note that at this point since the organisers do not know how many people will be coming to the AMG, the schedule remains a draft and may be modified closer to the date. Masters Games Kendo Competition Schedule DRAFT Saturday 9th of October Time Event 8.00 - 9.00am Shinai check, competitor warm-up, Shinpan and volunteer meeting 9.00 - 9.30am Opening Ceremony 9.30 - 10.00am Women's 30-39 Individual event 10.00 - 10.30am Men's 30-39 Individual event 10.30 - 11.30am Women's 40-49 Individual event 11.30 - 12.00 Men's 40-49 Individual event 12.00 - 1.00pm Lunch 1.00 - 1.30pm Women's 50-59 Individual event 1.30 - 2.00pm Men's 50-59 Individual event 2.00 - 2.30pm Women's 60+ Individual event 2.30 - 3.00pm Men's 60+ Individual even

This is Tomoko san's "Great waves" bag in two sizes. Now that the beginners' course has finished and many of you have got your own shinai, you'll be wanting a bag to transport it in. Tomoko Fujiie is a kendoka who lives in Benalla and she makes beautiful cloth bags that are functional and strong. She uses traditional Japanese designs in her choice of fabric and each bag can fit two shinai and a bokuto. There is also a separate pocket for the tsuba (sword guard).  She also makes great general purpose bags in the same way. I own several and they're great. This is a link to her ebay page where you can see all her designs. The best way to order is to decide as a group and I can submit a single order. Tomoko-san will then deliver the bags to the dojo when they are finished (about 8 weeks). You can then pay her on delivery. Please have a look at her eBay page and let me know.

Former All Japan champion, and star of his own NHK documentary , Nishimura Hidehisa produced this workout routine for the All Japan Kendo Federation last year during the early stages of lockdown. It's an excellent HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) routine, sometimes called Tabata Training after the coach who invented the idea. Basically it has been theorised that you get better results in terms of fitness and overall body strength from short, intense and focused workouts, than you do from extended workouts. Some say it is also beneficial for improving endurance and longevity . There is even some evidence to support that it kickstarts mitochondrial function , that you're exercising at a cellular level. That's pretty amazing. Whatever the research says, it is very easy to feel the positive effects of interval training and it has several other benefits: PROS It doesn't take long, so you can fit it into a busy schedule   You can do it by yourself   You can do it almos

Welcome back!   Term 2 starts tomorrow Saturday 24th April and goes until Saturday 26th June. This makes it a 10 week term. For beginners it is a 9 week term because the first week is technically their last beginners' course class. The number of weeks is just for calculating term fees. So for senior members, term 2 will be 10 x weekly fee (or 20x if you attend Wed night trainings as well). For beginners term 2 will cost 9 x weekly fee. From now on, Wednesday classes will start after the first Saturday in each term, and the last one will be after the last Saturday in each term. That way there are the same number of Wednesday trainings in each term as Saturdays. Waza This term we will continue to look in depth at all forms of kaeshi waza, but as well, we will work on improving our suriage waza . Other key points to work on are: sliding on the balls of the feet when going both forwards and backwards, never rocking back onto the heels eliminating any kind of pause in your swing, whethe

  Currently for sale on eBay .

There's a new article on Shugo-Nanseikan, the first for more than 12 months. Have a look, I hope you enjoy it! http://shugo-nanseikan.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-three-stages-of-kendo-development.html#more

Kendo term one finishes 27 March. We recommence for term 2 on 24 April. Term two goes through to 26 June which is 10-weeks. See  https://www.kendo.org.au/p/2021-dates.html for more details and updates.

Takanabe Susumu is one of Japan's most successful kenshi in terms of competition. This great video has two parts. In the first half it shows his shiai skills and the second half he demonstrates suburi. The shiai was a recent 7th dan tournament where you can see his speed, his ability to dominate his opponents mentally, and then how is able to execute a wide range of waza. In the suburi section you can watch his posture and there are also his points on what to aim for in each exercise. The important thing in this video is to see that even someone who is so agile, fast and good at small techniques also focuses on large, basic movements in their own training. Speed comes from relaxation, and relaxation comes from doing lots and lots and lots and lots of practice!