March 2010
Kenkyu Kai practice is on Friday, March 5th from 7:00PM.
Tokai University students are in town and staying till March 3rd. These 20 students, 15 male and 5 female, lead by Mayumi Ohtsuka Sensei, Women Champion multiple times and Satoshi Amano Sensei, Teacher's Champion multiple times, are very good. I practiced with them Thursday, Feb. 25th at Myohoji Kendo Club and Sunday, Feb. 28th at Kaimuki Honbu dojo.
American Zone Shiman Seminar will be held in Vancouver, Canada on March 27th and 28th. I will represent Hawaii there.
Mr. Takeshi Kudo, Kyoshi 8 dan, from Tokyo has extended his stay in Hawaii till April 9th. He has been teaching us almost every day since his arrival in January. Many 6 and 7 dan candidates are pointed out where they have to correct or improve themselves and they seem to be gettinng better. I am hoping that some of them would pass examinations in near future. We are fortunate to have Sensei like Mr. Kudo who is eager to teach us while he is in Hawaii.
Stevenston Tournament this year was changed from 1st Saturday in February to May 8th because of Winter Olympics in Vancouver in February. Let me know if you are participating.
Pacific Northwest Kendo Federation sponsered Women's Tournament will be held on Saturday, June 26th in Renton, near Seattle, Washington. They host one every 3 years. I am hoping that Hawaii can form one team to participate there.
Those who have not submitted Club and HKF dues, please do so as soon as you can. Our club has paid HKF dues for you already.
Jay Park, 10 year old boy, participated in Pacific Northwest Kendo Federation Tournament in Kent, Washington, in November, 2009. Jay's motivation level toward kendo seemed positively impacted. Though this was his first participation in the tournament, he did well and made friends who came from Canada to participate and became Jay's teammates.
As teachers who involve in bringing up young kenshis, we should take them out to other kendo world to have them see and experience. I see positive things come out of kids when we take them outside of Hawaii. We should make regular trips for kids to Japan, Mainland and Canada. They will certainly learn valuable things out of their experience.
Iwao Sato, Chief Instructor, Wahiawa Kendo Club