Demo: Colors in Harmony

Video from our demo at the 2010 Colors in Harmony get-together! Which was a great time featuring a lot of demos by a lot of cultural groups, including Indian song and dance, Mongolian dance, Korean drumming, African dancing.

This turned out pretty well. If we were short on explanation, I have to shoulder that - we had very little time (supposed to be 5 minutes) so I thought we make the main points - rei, kendo is sword fighting - and let the waza speak for themselves. Also, did something a bit different with how everyone attacked and went back to the end of the line.

We take demoing very seriously, of course, but we're still getting better at it. Thanks so much to the participants: Mike, Jonathan, Stijn and Brian. You guys look great!

Jodan at the Family tournament

So this year's tournament was great and I felt that my jodan was ok. I was up against Takashima sensei first and have never fought him before. The match was tight and the balance was also pretty well towards the center. At one point he tried to strike men and missed and I stepped in and he fell to the ground. This then caused him to be a bit rattled. After that I thought that I could easily hit men, but he stood firm and finally, I saw an opening, but he threw tsuki and I hit men. Well, my men landed and the tsuki missed. I was through to the next roudn. The next round was against Murakami sensei, who is a dear frined of mine and someone that I would loev to land just one point on. The match was tight and I did not fall for how I had lost in the past by him freezing me. He finally landed kote on me but it was a great fight. Afterward, we had a great conversation about jodan and the godo keiko was great. Till next year. See you on the floor.

Family Tournament

This year's tournament was great. We had 60 people competing. From the first tournament that is double. This was the seventh year and it was a great success. I think I may be finally getting the hang of this. Anyway, eastern did great and I was proud of everyone who participated. The theme of the day was to focus on shimpan and boy did we focus on it. Tagawa sensei was on it and helped many people. The matches were great and the banquet was alsio a great succes. Eastern is hosting the Midwest Championships this year in October and we look forward to another great event. Picture and video to follow here and on the youtube site. Keep watching. See you in the dojo.

Michigan Family Taikai Results

Non Bogu

Han 1st
Sakuma D. 2nd

Youth

Umakoshi 1st
Inoe 2nd
Niwa 3rd
Yoshida K. 3rd

Women

Mishina 1st
Wolfe 2nd
Tabia 3rd
Inoe 3rd

Mudansha

Xie 1st
Dunham 2nd
Yoshida K. 3rd
DenBesten 3rd

Shodan/Nidan

Chaffin 1st
Thompson 2nd
Holmgren 3rd
VanOsch 3rd

Sandan and Up

Yoshida 1st
Murakami 2nd
Matsuura 3rd
Morita 3rd