by Mark Kawabe | Nov 17, 2015 | Uncategorized
On my most recent visits to the JCCC, Tsumura Sensei has been teaching me how to strike men properly. That might sound odd to you. After all, someone with a 5th dan should know how to do this already. And, of course, you’d be right in thinking that. However, the...
by Mark Kawabe | Nov 15, 2015 | Uncategorized, Unwritten Rules of Kendo
There’s an “unwritten” rule of kendo that one shouldn’t ask one’s sensei if you are ready to grade. If you have to ask, you probably aren’t. If you were ready, your sensei would have told you to get your registration in. Or...
by Mark Kawabe | Nov 15, 2015 | Uncategorized
Over the past two weeks I subjected students at our dojo to one of the most challenging things in kendo. I asked them to watch videos of themselves doing kendo basics. Ooooh – scary!! Watching yourself doing basics is often an eye-opener. Thought your ki-ken-tai...
by Mark Kawabe | Sep 27, 2015 | Uncategorized
When you think you know something and then you get information that changes the way your perspective about what you thought you knew, that’s a valuable experience. To everyone who thinks they “know” their kata, you missed a valuable experience...
by Mark Kawabe | Sep 13, 2015 | Uncategorized
Congratulations to everyone who participated in yesterday’s SWORD Tournament! It was a great little tournament. Regrettably I wasn’t able to stay for the godo keiko afterward or attend the after party at Tremendous, but I’m confident a good time was...
