CKF NEWS
A official publication of the Canadian Kendo Federation, supporting Kendo, Iaido and Jodo	Issue 11 May 2001  http://kendo-canada.com

AT FIRST LOOK

Wow, the more I look around on the internet, the more I appreciate being in the Canadian Kendo Federation. Take a look at some of the sites I mention here and see if you don't come to the same conclusion. There are several places on the net to participate in sword-related discussion, some of them include: Swordforum.com and e-budo.com. These are probably the most widely-known and both offer a variety of discussion topics, Swordforum concentrates on all forms of edged weapons, specifically swords, and e-budo, while mostly a ninja forum, includes several other Japanese martial arts. Other sites include
    http://www.swordforumbugei.com/ubbcgi/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro
    Edged weapons, non-Japanese: http://www.vikingsword.com
    Japanese martial arts: http://www.e-budo.com
    Knives: http://www.knifeforums.com
    Medieval weapons: http://www.netsword.com
 

CKF NEWS and EVENTS
Due to time constraints, some articles and reviews don't make it to the newsletter before it is published. The following are articles from Bill Mears that discuss events that occurred near the beginning of the year.

Iaido Seminar with Namitome Sensei and Nakaima Sensei. Old JCCC (November 2000)

As I understand it Namitome Sensei was in Canada to add momentum to the newly emerged Jodo section of the CKF, but not only were we treated to an evening of Iaido with Namitome Sensei, but his guest visitor, Nakaima Sensei of Okinawa, led the instruction at the old JCCC building (unheated for quite some time and freezing!)

This was a real treat for two reasons. Firstly, I believe this is the first time Nakaima Sensei has been to Canada and secondly because he speaks almost perfect English, we didn't have to rely on interpreters to tell us what they think we need to hear!

Instruction was in Zen Ken Ren Iai (formerly ZNKR Seitei Gata) and as usual, we were exposed to some exceptional teaching; I'm constantly amazed at how lucky we are when it comes to visiting sensei. I was part of the "seniors" group and it was apparent from the exchanged glances with the group that Nakaima Sensei was showing us some extremely novel approaches to an "old friend". Every single kata contained something new that I was able to take back to the dojo. In particular I found watching his noto especially enlightening. Sensei uses a much "softer" noto than I usually do but there was no suki (opening) in it at all : in fact I felt the opposite because the technique was so carefuly performed. The seme (pressure) was palpable and with my new shinken highlighting my own poor technique, I have since made changes based on what I learned from Sensei.

As an added bonus, we also received instruction in the two newly proposed kata to the ZNKR curriculum ; So Giri and Nukiuchi. Kim Taylor, Sandra Jorgenson and myself were called out front to perform them for both sensei and to our surprise we were not too far off the mark. Hopefully if the time comes that these 2 kata are officialy adopted we can continue to do them justice.

I would like to thank all those involved in arranging such a splendid night of Iai for those of us who braved the frigid temperatures. Special thanks go to Kimeda Sensei, Kim Taylor and Patrice Williams who were resposible for putting the trip and evening together and above all, my gratitude to Namitome Sensei and Nakaima Sensei for a genuinely wonderful time.

Oh yes; at the end of the night, Namitome presented me with my Godan Menjo - what a marvellous surprise!

Bill Mears. Yugenkan Canada.
 

Toshi Goshi Keiko - Ohmi Sensei's Christmas/ New Year Celebration (Dec. 2000)

Every December, Ohmi Sensei puts on a special training session at Kimeda Sensei's Yoshinkan dojo in Toronto. 2000/ 2001 was no exception and despite the cold weather (and a freshly exploded radiator) I was able to make it up to Yonge and Gerrard to enjoy the annual get-together.

The format of the evening is that we all have a normal, truncated practice, followed by everyone performing a demonstration of 5 kata and then the floor is cleared for a meal of gargantuan proportions.

The practice consisted of all the Zen Ken Ren kata, followed by all the Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu forms and Ohmi Sensei was rightly disappointed that so few of those attending knew enough ko-ryu to complete the full session. Although ZNKR Iai is the core of the curriculum for the purposes of international grading and competition, it's important that we don't lose sight of our discipline's historic origins and the ko-ryu provide us with the perfect opportunity to revisit the techniques which formed the basis for training through the ages. Anyone who reaches Shodan should make an effort to receive instruction in a ko-ryu and the higher ranks should make special attempts to incorporate as many of the older forms into their training as possible.

I can't remember what kata I chose for my demonstration, but I do remember the wonderful effort made by the handful of raw beginners - their determination and bravery in such tough surroundings were a real inspiration.

The food was as excessive and as tasty as ever. The beer was plentiful and chilled to perfection (thank-you Kimeda Sensei!) and I finally got home around 5.00am after stopping to take nap.

Christmas comes but once a year,
When we drown the turkey in wine and beer.
So let us all be hale and hearty
And take our swords to Ohmi ?s party

Ko-Ryu Seminar with Ohmi Sensei at the new J.C.C.C.
(February 17, 2001)

Since the new JCCC opened and the larger, improved dojo became available, there are a number of extra iai events being arranged for 2001. The first of these was a ko-ryu (Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu) seminar with Ohmi Sensei (Iaido, Kendo 6 Dan).

One of the most gratifying things for me (other than the chance to receive ko-ryu instruction from my sensei) was the fact that there were people in attendance from non-CKF organizations. Unlike many other martial arts, iai seems to be remarkably free from the political nonsense that so often gets in the way of training and those who came to the seminar did so in a wonderfully open minded way- in fact they went out of their way to train really hard and dig deep to understand the kata.

Sensei started by pointing out the significant differences between not only MJER and ZNKR iai, but also between some of the individual lines as taught by various senior sensei and at certain dojo in Japan. This is important, because unlike Zen Ken Ren Iai, there is no "one way" that MJER should be done- when the 17^th headmaster, Oe Masamichi, died without naming a successor, a number of his students either laid claim to the lineage or were assumed to be the new headmaster. Added to that was the fact that regional and even dojo-based differences already existed, so there were a number of different ways of performing kata that bore the same name - a fact that can confuse people when they hear claims today that one way is more "authentic" than another!

We ran through all the kata of the Omori Ryu (the first set of techniques - all, bar one, done from seiza) and it was very apparent that we were all trying much to hard to be "technical" in our iai, instead of really feeling what the waza were all about- one of the side effects of focusing too much on "grading iai" I suspect. Sensei said he wanted us to try and perform the techniques in a gokai manner, which roughly translated means "robust", so apart from trying to get it right, we made valiant attempts to "beef things up"; note I said "attempts" - I'm not convinced I was very successfull!

Although there was no time to study any of the Oku Iai techniques, we were able to put in some time on the Eishin Ryu. Our tired legs got even more exhausted doing this as the set is all performed from Tate Hiza (except the last : from seiza)! Nevertheless, everyone agreed we had a great afternoon- I'm really looking forward to the next seminar and my ko-ryu batteries have been given a much needed boost!

Bill Mears. Yugenkan Canada

Kendo in B.C.
From: Bruce Campbell bruce.campbell@telus.com

Kendo seems to be enjoying a resurgence of interest for Sunrise Kendo Club. Both dojos (Hastings and Pinetree) have new members entering almost weekly. Sunday practice has over 30 members these days! It is hard to pinpoint why this is happening but I suspect some of it is due to the recent creation of the BCKF website (see www.bckf.org).

Everyone is preparing for the June 2^nd : Annual Junior Taikai. The event will again be held in the Steveston Community Center, 4111 Moncton, Richmond starting at 10AM. This event has grown nicely over the last few years and for the second year members from the Pacific Northwest Kendo Federation (basically, Washington State) will participate. In addition, there will be a barbecue and picnic afterwards. Last year's picnic was a great success and everyone had a wonderful time and chance to socialize. We look for similar good things from this year's event.

We are looking forward to a one-week visit of Japanese kendoka in August. Details are still being arranged but the hope that that we can offer homestay to some 30 youngsters and hold several special kendo practices during a week-long kendo/holiday visit. More details will be published as they firm up.

Other events in the works or this fall include a kata seminar and shimpan seminar. Both events are planned to be day-long events. Once again, details will be published as they are firmed up

Finally, We would like to congratulate Mr. Jeff Marsten-sensei from Highline KendoClub in Seattle, Washington and Past-President of the AUSKF for his recent promotion to Nana-dan in Japan. Over 1200 people sat the examinations in Kyoto and about 10 percent were successful.

FEBRUARY

RESULTS from the 39th ANNUAL STEVESTON KENDO TOURNAMENT
February 10, 2001
 

10 Years and Under 1st place - F. Michioka, NCKF 2nd place - H. Yamada, Vancouver 3rd place - B. Fukutomi, Hawaii 3rd place - R. Murao, Steveston	11 TO 13 Years 1st place - R. Nakata, Renbu 2nd place - N. Negishi, Youshinkan 3rd place - J. Lee, Steveston 3rd place - R. Marumo, Sunrise
14 TO 15 Years 1st place - J. Brown, SCKF 2nd place - J. Marsten, Highline 3rd place - J. Inouye, Youshinkan 3rd place - K. Negishi, Youshinkan	Non-Degree 1st place - C. Park, NCKF 2nd place - T. Kono, NCKF 3rd place - M. Rinaldi, Bellevue 3rd place - J. Syring, Bellevue
Ladies 1st place - Y. Koriyama, Ontario 2nd place - W. Nakano, Steveston 3rd place - R. Barr, Bellevue 3rd place - M. Sakae, NCKF	1-3 Dan 1st place - D. Yang, SCKF 2nd place - N. Nakano, Steveston 3rd place - T. Yamada, Vancouver 3rd place - Y. Maruyama, UVic
4th Dan and Above 1st place - C. Yang, SCKF 2nd place - M. Yoshimura, SCKF 3rd place - D. Taguchi, Sunrise 3rd place - M. Minami, NCKF	JUNIOR TEAM 1st place - Youshinkan 2nd place - NCKF
SENIOR TEAM 1st place - SCKF 2nd place - Steveston

MARCH

New JCCC Kendo and Iaido Website
From: Catherine Thompson catherinefiain@!mac.com

I thought that I would send off a short note to let everyone know that the web site for the JCCC Kendo and Iaido Clubs is up and running and just aching for a visit or two..

You can find the site at www.jccckendo.com

Any Thoughts? Please email me and let me know what you think. I am interested in hearing positive and negative comments, so let 'em rip!

University of Toronto 2001 Kendo Tournament results
From: Raymond Gallardo <raymond.gallardo@sympatico.ca>

We'd like to thank everyone who participated in our largest tournament to date -- about 160 competitors. We were quite pleased by the number of people outside of Ontario who competed, such as Quebec, Calgary, Chicago, and Halifax. We also like to thank the large contingent of senseis who judged the large number of matches. Special thanks for the volunteers who helped make the tournament run more smoothly.

Hope to see you next year.

2001 Tournament Results
 

Mudansha 1st: Minwoo Park, Il Kum Soon Do Kwan 2nd: Paulo Gaspar, Toronto Kendo Club 3rd: Joe Clavero, UofT Kendo Club;  Edward Chau, University of Guelph	Women's Individual 1st: Yukiko Koriyama, JCCC 2nd: Keiko Shimizu, UofT Kendo Club 3rd: C. Hao, JCCC;  Hitomi Hino, Toronto Kendo Club
1st and 2nd Dan 1st: N. Ichiki, JCCC 2nd: Andrew Kimura, Toronto Kendo Club 3rd: HJ Choi, University of Waterloo;  K. Miura, JCCC	3rd Dan and up 1st: Eddie Yamashita, Etobicoke 2nd: Robin Tanaka, University of Waterloo 3rd: Bryan Asa, JCCC;  Matthew Raymond, UofT Kendo Club
Team 1st : University of Waterloo A :  Sum Yong Shim HJ Choi Kay Hao Young C. Yoon Robin Tanaka	Team 2nd : Etobicoke A :  Yuhiro Chavez Man Kwan Ma Kiyo Kamata Eddie Yamashita Rob Perry
Team 3rd : York A :  Hyo-Joon Kim Jun Jung Jang-Man Hong Kun-Won Park Jin-Whan Lee	Team 3rd : McGill A :  Jiro Hidaka Andrew Taylor Manabu Ito Oliver Nguyen Loic D'Orangeville
Fighting Spirit Award Trevor Ryan, Halifax	Danny Saruyama Award Zarah Batulan. McGill

I.K.F. Referee Seminar for the American Zone
From : Roy Asa - President of the CKF

We are pleased to announce that the following people participated in the I.K.F. Seminar, from March 31^st to April 1^st , 2001 in Santa Clara, California, U.S.A. :
 

Mr. K. Kobayashi Mr. S. Park Mr. Y. Taguchi Mr. T. Uyegaki

Mr. R. Murao Mr. R. Asa Mr. S. Kamata Mr. S. Kimura

APRIL

Kendo McGill Taikai 2001 results
From: Olivier Ngyuen oliviernguyen@yahoo.com

Here are the results of the McGill 2001 Taikai (March 25, 2001)
 

Women's Individual 1st: Yuka Watanabe, Montreal Kendo Club  2nd: Akiko Sakashita, Tateyama/Takahashi  3rd: Louise Bertrand, Isshin  3rd: Jacinthe Comtois, Universit de Montréal	Mudansha (Non-Dan)  1st: Patrick Drolet, Isshin  2nd: Loïc D'Orangeville, McGill  3rd: Richard Fréchette, Kebekendo  3rd: Jonathan Marsan, McGill
Dan  1st: Hak-Bong, Kim McGill  2nd: Martin Doré, Québec Kendo-Kai  3rd: Yasuhiro Mori, Tateyama  3rd: Hughes Renaud, Takahashi
Team  1st: Tateyama/Takahashi  Michael Attard, Atsuko Usami, Noel Deschenes, Hughes Renaud, Yasuhiro Mori	Team 2nd: Mcgill Jiro Hidaka, Hak-Bong Kim, Manabu Ito, Andrew Taylor, Olivier Nguyen
Team 3rd: Université de Montréal Patrick George, Robert Viengkhou, François St-Germain, Jean-Philippe Bélanger, Juan Schneider	Team 3rd: Montreal Kendo Club Yuka Watanabe, Ricky Couto, Tan Quoc Pham, Yongsin Swang, David Stankaitis
Kata  Yasuhiro Mori - Hughes Renaud (Tateyama/Takahashi)	Spirit  Claudine Verstraelen, Université de Montréal

UPCOMING EVENTS

MAY

2001 Canadian Open Iaido Championships.

Date: Sunday May 20, 2001 1pm starting time.
Sponsored by the Canadian Kendo Federation
Cost: $25
Location: Main Gym. University of Guelph, Guelph Ontario.

Divisions:
Mudansha
1 and 2 dan
3 and 4 dan
5dan and up
Team (3 people per team)

The 5dan and up division will be competing for the CKF President's Trophy.

This is an open tournament and anyone is welcome to compete. Canadian competitors must have their CKF dues paid up to date. Non-Canadian competitors may, if they wish, purchase an honorary year's CKF membership for $15.

Contact Person: Sandra Jorgenson (Tournament Director) email: SANDRA.JORGENSON@ROYALBANK.COM
Contact Person: Kim Taylor email: kataylor@uoguelph.ca

Those interested in competing should contact Sandra or Kim for entry forms which will be available soon.
This event will be held in conjunction with the annual Spring Seminar, for details on the seminar go to: http://www.uoguelph.ca/~iaido/iai.seminar.html

JUNE

2001 All US Kendo Federation Iaido Camp
From: Robert Stroud

DATES: Friday, June 29 to Monday, July 2, 2001

EVENTS: Iaido Training, Seminar, Shinsa, and Taikai
Open iaido and kendo practice Friday and Saturday evening
Sayonara Party Sunday

LOCATION: Linfield College, McMinneville OREON about 60minutes from the Portland Airport

ACCOMMODATIONS: Campus House (Brand New Construction), at very reasonable rates

COST OF CAMP (AUSKF Members): $100 for full seminar
$50/day, fee for partial attendance
non-AUSKF rates available with registration packet

TRANSPORTATION: Transportation will be available for participants arriving Friday, June 29 and departing Monday July 2.

SPOUSE/GUEST/FAMILY ACTIVITIES: Portland Rose Festival events, Yamhill Winneries, local micro-brews, Oregon Coast, local shopping, and more. Registration Packet contains a detailed list of events and opportunities for guests wishing to extend their stay in Oregon.