August 2011
We were sad when Nakashima Family notified me that long time our club member Mr. David Nakashima had passed away on June 27th at the age 94. I was the one practicing with him when he took a few steps back and fell almost 10 years ago. He was not breathing when we took his men and do off. He had a heart attack. We called 911 and started CPR on him. Paramedics came and revived him then took him to the closest hospital. A doctor at the hospital told me that he would not have survived if we did not perform CPR. Nakashima Sensei loved kendo as his family said, "Kendo was an important part of his life." He continued to practice well into his 80th to inspire young ones. He was very supportive of our club and Hawaii Kendo Federation. We will miss Nakashima Sensei. We will succeed his will to perpetuate kendo in Hawaii. Thank you, Nakashima Sensei. Rest well. Andy Fujimoto and Mark Miyamoto will attend Foreign Kendo Leaders Seminar in Kitamoto City, Saitama, Japan from July 29th till August 5th. It is very hot and humid in Japan. We wish them good luck and enjoyable experience there with kenshis all over the world. For me it was awesome experience to dip myself deep in kendo atmosphere, doing and thinking about kendo from morning to night everyday. I hope that someday you can experience that also. Hawaii Kendo Federation had a visitor from Idaho, Dr. Steve Roosevelt on Sunday, July 17th at Kaimuki dojo. It is very nice of him to bring kendo equipment to practice with us in vacationland, Hawaii. Other expected visitors this year are Mrs. Atsuko Kimura, 6 Dan, from Hokkaido in October and Mr. Kazuyoshi Inoue, 7 Dan, from Fukuoka in December. We are selling our club T-shirts $15 each. Sizes S through XXL in block or white color. At the end of August, we will start Zippy's ticket sale as our club fund raising. Thank you for your support by buying and selling tickets every year. Our club operation is much depending on this fund raise and donation from you besides club dues. Back of Wahiawa Kendo Club T-shirts says, "Kendo will make it better." My son Ken and his wife Corinna created T-shirts. The words came from the story I told them. When I was small, I had a headache before going to kendo practice. I asked my father if I could be excused from going to kendo practice. His answer was, "Kendo sureba naoru," "Kendo will cure it." Ken interpreted "Kendo will make it better." After practices I had experiences such as backaches gone and runny nose stopped running. Besides health benefits, kendo should help you with communication skills, friendship creation, perseverance, endurance, determination, caring hearts and so on.
Iwao Sato, Chief Instructor, Wahiawa Kendo Club