Volume 6 Issue 7

 Editor:  Dave Christman

Oct/Nov. 2004

All Photos by D. Christman unless otherwise noted  (copyright 2004)

Photo by T. Yoshida
WMU Demo, 10/7:   On October 7th we had an excellent turnout from our dojo to help me do a nice demo for Terry. His teacher at WMU had asked if we were interested in doing a demo right after a free showing of the film "Last Samurai" on campus. Mr. Takashi Yoshita was a delightful host. He is an assistant professor of History. We had a good time demonstrating for about 40-50 students. Participating was Terry, Big Bob, Aaron and myself. Bronson came to do iaido, and Steve was there for support.  Afterwards we all went out to the Roadhouse, and nice place, just down the road from the Bernhard center for drinks and food. Big Bob's wife and his mother (visiting from Ann Arbor) came along too. Aaron and I lingered till after 11:00 pm yapping with sensei Yoshida. More info & Photos

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by S. Molnar

Dojo visited by Tibor Barany, 10/17:  On Sunday October 17, a slight, thin, fair haired gentle man not 5 foot 8 dropped in to practice with us. He had called me earlier in the week and very politely requested to practice with us. I knew of him, as he had been practicing with my friend Ron Fox at MSU Kendo Dojo, and he had spoke of him pretty highly. By the end of the class I knew he was every inch the godan at which is his ZNKR rank. I was very impressed, and re-invigorated about kendo after his visit. It was a bad night for him to visit attendance-wise, as Terry and I were the only ones there in bogu. But we did our best.

I visited the Buddhist Temple Chicago Iaidojo, 10/23-24:  On the weekend of October 23rd, two very important visitors from Japan visited Chicago. Toshihiro Shimizu, the president of Nippon Iaido Renmei, who is the top man for the renmei's Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu, and Nakatani sensei who is the top man there for Mugairyu. I traveled solo down to meet and watch and possibly practice iaido with Shimizu sensei. I arrived just in time to see their demonstrations, they were awesome. The people in attendance were about 8 from the BTC Iaidojo, and about 18 or so from the Chicago area dojos opened and run by Ken Pitchford sensei, a 6th dan in Mugairyu. After the demonstration, we are split into two groups, the MJER people with Shimizu sensei, and the MGR people with Nakatani sensei with Pitchford sensei assisting him. I went with Shimizu sensei, as MJER is more like Muso Shindedn Ryu, the kohryu I have the most knowledge of. The next day, I witnessed a dan exam for the students. I was later invited to attend a private dinner party with the sensei at an exclusive venue. Thanks to Rev. Ashikaga, and J. Morishige, I really enjoyed meeting the sensei from Japan.

 Dr Deb visits EMU, 11/6:  On Saturday, November 6, EMU hosted Dr. Deborah Klens-Bigman (New York Budokai) for an annual seminar on all things Muso Shinden Ryu. Charles Ham usually spear heads this event, but he is gone to China. This visit she decided to teach us the Tachi Uchi no Kurai, this is a two man kata not unlike the kendo no kata. There is a uchidachi and a shidachi, you use bokken. But it is a bit more aggressive. It was fascinating, and  it adds a new dimension for a training program for iaidoka. Peter Boylan "the budo bum" helped her, as he has learned this same exercise from a different source in Japan. We got through six kata, which is good for a four hour long session. I was disappointed with the turnout, as far as bodies were concerned. We enjoyed a meal at a Vietnamese restaurant in downtown Ypsilanti afterwards. I had only been to one once many years ago in Chicago. Peter had spotted this one and had already checked it out, it was great....we had to order "33"s  (that is the Vietnamese beer) from the beer menu to check it out.....very good, a little like Tsingtao. I left my camera in the car again, so I have no pictures of the five of us who practiced.

16th Annual MWKF Tournament, 11/13  On Saturday, November 13th, the Choyokan dojo hosted their 25th Anniversary, and the 16th Annual Federation tournament. Competing from our dojo was Aaron, Terry, Steve, Bob, Craig, and Matsuura sensei. Also we had Blaine Feyen and three other young people from the Toyoda Center in Grand Rapids on our roster. But the good news is they have been accepted as a non-voting dojo, on probation, in the MWKF for one year. After that, they will become a full fledged voting member with a dojo representative at the yearly board meeting. 

 I was very busy on court A with Ariga sensei (our court's head judge) refereeing, but every 30 minutes or so, we got a chance to have a small break, on these opportunities I tried to get around to taking pictures of our club members. Here on the left is a shot of Osamu Wada collecting himself right after Big Bob Mack knocked him out of the shiai-jo. Then the picture on the right is Wada collecting up his shobu-ari, after defeating Big Bob with a huge men. Bob may not win trophies, but he makes sure his presence is known in the ring.

Here is a couple of photos I got of Blaine, he was the only one who brought home some "glory" so to speak, receiving a Fighting Spirit award in the Mudansha division. He definitely has the right stuff for competition. 
This tournament is used to 150 to 180 participants, but this year they had closer to 230 people, the gym was hardly big enough to accommodate the people who wanted to participate. This means we (MWKF) are growing and the membership is getting larger. Here the overflow is sitting down between the shiaijo. Matsumoto sensei (past president) was a bit upset by this, as he feels the shinpan (judges) and the players should not feel inhibited in anyway. 

Here is a photo I took of Sunohara Kazumi sensei 7th Dan, he is now in the Chicago area, practicing with the Choyokan Dojo. This was Sunday at the practice session after the examination.

CONGRATULATIONS to Tetsuya "Terry" Tokuhiro for passing the exam for Ikkyu.

Here is a photo a couple of good photos Steve Molnar took that weekend, interesting effects that motion makes to the photo on the right.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS
Class cancelled Sunday: 12/26 This would be a great time to spend with the Family, so please relax and stay at home and enjoy the Holidays.....Merry Christmas.
Detroit Tournament: Rumor has it, Tagawa sensei is leaning toward the Presidents Day holiday weekend which is February 19-20, 2005
July: 2-3 The United States Championships will be held right here in our backyard !  The Detroit Kendo Dojo along with the University of Michigan Dojo will host the Championships right here close by. No excuse for not being a spectator, and all our members with at least some experience should volunteer to help run the tournament. 

 

                           New Monthly Feature

I've collected a lot of stories, quotes, koans, poems and haiku. Here is one I really like:

There is an old Japanese saying: "When the nail sticks up, knock it down"

When a budoka gets good, getting better than his fellows, his pride must be

destroyed, he must be driven without mercy by his seniors, so that his spirit and

skill will not suffer from conceit.

                                                                                    (C.W. Nichol) Author

e-mail the editor: let me know your comments at:  dtc12(nospam)@comcast.net to reach me just remove the (nospam) from previous address.

[go back]