January 2009
The usual Kenkyu kai practice on 1st Friday of the month, which is January 2nd is cancelled replaced with the practice with the group from Akita Prefecture . Mr. and Mrs. Hiroshi Sasaki are bringing 2 women kenshi’s with them from Akita Prefecture from January 4th through 8th. They are Ms. Chiaki Miura, 5 dan and Ms. Junko Nakazawa, 4 dan. Their schedules are Sunday-Kaimuki, Monday-Mililani, Tuesday-JCCH dojo under Kenkyu kai, Wednesday-Wahiawa and Thursday-Myohoji. Please join and/or observe practices. We always learn from Sasaki sensei’s group. American zone shinpan seminar will be held in Gardena , California on January 24th and 25th. I decided to participate since no one from Hawaii was available to go. Hawaii Kendo Federation will have Senior Sensei’s Taikai on Sunday, February 1st at Kaimuki dojo honoring Mr. Yoshinaga, Mr. Okaji, Rev. Ikenaga and Dr. Akagi. Steveston Tournament is on Saturday, February 14th. Those who are thinking about participating should make up your mind quickly whether going or not. One of Hawaii Kendo Federation honorary members, Mr. Shintaro Onuma of Tokyo , had passed Iai-do 7 dan examination on November 14th in Tokyo . Congratulations to him. I hope that he can come to teach both kendo and iai-do in Hawaii in the near future. Hawaii Kendo Federation is selling T-shirts to raise fund for Hawaii Team for this years World Kendo Championships in Brazil . Please support them by buying some. We will collect this year’s club dues and Federation dues. As I say every year, the best support you give to organizations you belong is to pay dues and attend their activities, in our case, practices. If you have used vehicles you want to get rid of, donate them to Hawaii Kendo Fed. If you need your bogu repaired, contact Mr. Franklin Chong. He does a good job with reasonable fee. He repaired my kote’s repeatedly last year. Mrs. Atsuko Kimura of Hokkaido , Japan , visited Hawaii and practiced with us many years ago. Since then, she kept in touch with me and I was faxing our club bulletin every month. In November in Tokyo she took 6 dan examination and passed. It was a hard examination, as many of you know. She is a good model and mentor for other kenshi’s particularly for little girls and ladies. Her persistent efforts have been paid off. She will be working for 7 dan from now on, while assisting others’ kendo improvement. Congratulations, Mrs. Kimura.
Iwao Sato, Chief Instructor, Wahiawa Kendo Club