September 2009
Kenkyu kai practice is on Friday, September 4th from 7:30PM at JCCH dojo. Mililani Youth Kendo Trip to Japan in July was successful. They enjoyed the trip very much thanks to Sasaki sensei and his group in Akita Prefecture and Toyomura sensei and members of Tohkyo Kendo Club in Tokyo. Their hospitality was so great that one student said, “They treated us like royalties.” Children’s motivation level toward kendo was significantly up after the trip. Kaifukan Kendo Club participated in Independence Day Parade in Kailua on July 4th. It is good have some exposure in public as free advertisement. World Kendo Championship was in Brazil in the end of August. The result is not quite available in details. Mr. Fumio Ikeda from Hyogo Prefecture practiced at Myohoji Kendo Club on Tuesday, August 25th and Thursday, August 27th. We thank him as an annual kendo visitor. About 20 Kokushikan University students lead by Professor Kinji Baba will be in town from September 7th through 12th visiting some dojo’s Mr. Kazuyoshi Inoue as Chuken of Fukuoka Group and Mr. Susumu Sato as Fukusho of Fukushima Group will participate in Senior Tournament in Hokkaido in Septermber. Mr. Hisao Imazu and few other teachers from Tokyo will come to Hawaii in October. Their schedule has not been finalized yet. Our club is doing annual fund raise of Zippy’s Chili Sale. We are exhausting our fund by donating to Team Hawaii for Brazil, Mililani Youth Trip to Japan, kendo scholarship to some dedicated kenshi’s besides our regular expenses. We need your help by selling and/or buying some tickets. One pound and half chili is $7 per a ticket. Tickets are good from now to November 18th. Contact me for tickets. If you want to get better, you must ask for practices from higher ranking, better kenshi’s. You can hit or strike lower ranking persons easily and rather fun to be able to hit and strike constantly. However, if you go to better ones, you will have harder time to hit them. During my stay in Fukushima in August, I practiced with Ryobukan dojo members in Fukushima. Many of them were older than I. I had difficulties to hit or strike them. During the practice from 6AM to 7AM, I got exhausted and realized that I needed more practices to improve myself. If I practice only lower ranking persons, I may not come up with the idea that I need to improve myself.
Iwao Sato, Chief Instructor, Wahiawa Kendo Club