Kamata sensei

At last night's practice Kamata sensei from Etobicoke came by and had a great practice with us. I hope that you got a chance to practice with him because he only comes down here occasionally and he is an outstanding kendoist. We continued to work on hitting from the tanden and did a little drill that I used to do to develop taiatari. Please keep in mind what we were working on, i.e. if you just strike men and go through the same way every time, your taiatari should be strong and effective. This is a difficult thing but if you work on it it will improve all of your kendo. Also, if you did not notice with Kamata sensei, his posture is extremely straight and his kendo comes at you much faster because of it. We all, myself included, need to work on this type of kendo. It is summertime so be sure to concentrate on working hard on one thing to improve on in the heat. See you next practice. Cheers!

Asa Geiko

As announced in an e-mail several of us are interested in practicing asa geiko - early morning practice - Thursdays from 6:00 til 7:30 or so. Perry and I practiced this morning (Amy's car died, but will be back in action soon). We were locked out of our normal gym and I didn't have one of the spare keys on me, so we went down to the running track and Bowen, right downstairs, and did kata practice instead. We left a note, so sorry we missed you if you were there, but in future if we're not there look in Bowen to see if we're there instead. Also, might be a good thing to trade e-mails prior to Thursday mornings just to make sure people are gonna make it.

Mmm, asa geiko, it's what's for breakfast!

Practice and Web site

Hello everyone, I apologize for not making last night's practice and hope that it went well without me there. If someone could update on what happened that would be great. Also, we are currently looking for a new pace to host our website because of a miscommunication with a previous student. I am trying to get space from the university but it is summer and dificult. If anyone knows of a way that we could host our site again for free please let me know. The other issue is that of a domain name, this student has the name easternkendo.com registered and we can not get a hold of him so if we can get some free space any suggestions for a website name would be helpful. As of now the name would probably be something like easternkendoclub.com Anyway, see you all at next week's practice. Cheers!

Whose Got Family Tournament Pics?

Guys, this is my only pic from the Family Tournament. We forgot we had even brought the camera until the last minute, and then we just snapped a quick one at the banquet. (From left to right, Mica, Jason, Tim, Me and Rappaport - Louie's duck.) I know more will surface but in the meantime - anybody got any?

Update: Wait a sec, UM has some up!

Jodan at the Family tournament

This year the tournament was great. I felt very good with my jodan at this event and had pretty good success again. Apparently though, my hiki waza is improving as well, beacause this is the second straight tournament that I have scored an ippon from tsubazereai. I scored with a hiki gyaku do on Akamatsu san after she felled me with a shot to the groin area. I really have not had that happen ever before and went down hard and fast. Kan sensei then helped me out and all was well. As for jodan, I did feel confident and went up against last year's champion in the second round. The match was good, I thought that I scored a kote on him but only one flag, the play for control was very strong and as soon as I started thinking again he got my kote. From that point on it was too much thought and he got a kote nuki men on me and ended the match. Overall I was pretty happy with the two matches. The highlight of the day though was the godo geiko when I went against Tagawa sensei. I started in chudan, out of respect and then went into jodan. He really helped me with my kote and I managed to get his kote, becasue he let me of course, and then I was destroyed. It was amazing and after the tournament I spoke with him about jodan and he helped me continue to develop and work on the kamae with more confidence. This I am extremely happy about and look forward to working with Tagawa sensei to practice this kamae more in the future. Until next time. See you at practice. Cheers!

Family Tournament

Thank you to everyone for helping to create such a great tournament again this year. It was another resounding success, with a very smooth flow to the day. Everyone had a geat time and hopefully we all learned something about our kendo too. As for Eastern, nice work throughout the day. Congratulations goes to Ken Ichiki, who claimed the shodan/nidan championship, Jack Ponchart, who claimed second place in the Junior division and Amy Dawson who acheived third place in the Women's division. Overall everyone fought well and I was proud to be a part of Eastern Kendo once again. I must say thank you to Joe and UofM for their help supplying things, setting up and tearing down. The tournament would not have been able to happen without you. Also, to Tagawa sensei and Detroit kendo for suplying the flags and stopwatches. The results are as follows:

Junior Division 16 and Under:
1st place Akamatsu Detroit
2nd Place Ponchart Eastern
3rd place

Women's:
1st place Akamatsu Detroit
2nd place Vanderhoof UofM
3rd place Dawson Eastern

Mudansha:
1st place Hill Battle Creek
2nd place Akamatsu Detroit
3rd place Morabito UofM
3rd place Palmer MSU

Shodan/Nidan
1st place Ichiki Eastern
2nd place Yamauchi Detroit
3rd place Tanabe Detroit
3rd place Kim MSU

Sandan and up:
1st place Matsuura Battle Creek/Grand Rapids
2nd place Murakami Detroit
3rd place Takahashi Detroit


Thanks to everyone for coming to a great event. See you on the floor. Cheers!

Hiki Waza

At last night's practcie we worked hard on developing our hiki waza and doing so with the left hand. A great many people, in and out of our dojo, use too much right hand in this waza. It is extremely important not to do this. We have all felt what it is like to be on the receiveing end of this type of cut. So continuing to do hiki waza slowly with only the left hand will develop this skill. Also, as it gets warmer please remember to push yourself one more step and to improve your physical condition outside of kendo, even a little bit. As stated at practice, if you are tired before the first jigeiko there is something that needs to be worked on outside of the club as well. Kendo is about improving yourself and this is also meant in a physical way. It was a good practice and we are gearing up for the family tournament. Please be on the lookout for e-mails and announcement for club responsibilities as it gets closer. See you all on the floor.