New Members joining Memphis Kendo

After discussion among the Memphis Kendo instructors, it has been decided that, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, the club will only be accepting new members the first two weeks of the following months: 

December (2011) 

February (2012)

April 

June 

August

October 

December 

 This info will be cross-posted to the Club FAQ.

22nd SEUSKF Tournament and Testing results

Unofficial results from the 22nd SEUSKF Tournament/Testing held in Murfreesboro, TN:

Shinsa:
William Thornton-Leonard, 2.dan
Lysa Walterhouse, 1.dan
Shinnosuke Taniguchi, 1.dan
Justin Reh, 1.dan
Hiro Inaba, 3.kyu
Keita Inaba, 4.kyu

Taikai (169 Participants at this year's event):
Pat Register - Kanto Sho (Senior Division)
William Thornton-Leonard - 3rd Place (Youth B Division)
Shinn Taniguchi - 3rd Place (Youth C Division)
Justin Reh - 3rd Place (Mudansha Division)

KENDO DEMO ~ THIS SATURDAY, AUG 20

Memphis Kendo has been invited to put on a kendo demonstration at the Germantown International Festival THIS SATURDAY, AUG 20 from 3:30 to 3:45pm.

If you are able to participate in this event, please contact Yasuda-sensei as soon as possible to let him know.

Venue: 
Germantown Baptist Church
9450 Poplar Avenue
Germantown, TN  38139

Congrats to MK Members at the AUSKF Nationals!

This past weekend, several members of the Memphis Kendo competed at the All-U.S. Kendo Federation (AUSKF) National Championships in Atlanta.

Yuki Kasuya took 2nd place in the Senior Youth Division (Boys)
Masumi Kamimura took 2nd place in the Senior Youth Division (Girls)
Walter White took the Fighting Spirit award in the Senior Division

Related news...
The SEUSKF Women's Team took 3rd place in the Team Division (Women)
The SEUSKF Men's Team tied for 4th place in the Team Division (Men)
Shinobu Maeda-sensei took 2nd place in the Senior Division
Michio Kajitani-sensei (Little Rock, SWKIF) took 1st place in the Senior Division

Congrats to all!

MK at 1st Atlanta Taikai

Congratulations to the group of Yuki Kasuya, Masumi Kamimura, Warren Oster, Shinn Taniguchi, and William Thornton-Leonard at the Inaugural (that's 1st) Atlanta Taikai over the Memorial Day weekend.

Competing as a 5-man team (senpo Taniguchi, jiho Thornton, chuken Kamimura, fukusho Kasuya, and taisho Oster), the group had a very tough draw in the brackets.  The team completely swept the Atlanta Kendo Kai's C Team with 5 victories, 2 pts each, but were defeated in the next round by eventual 3rd place finisher, a very physically large GKA-B team.

In the individual divisions, Yuki Kasuya took 1st place in the Sr Youth division and 3rd place in the 3.dan+ division.  Masumi Kamimura took 3rd place in the Women's division and Shinn Taniguchi took 2nd place in the Jr Youth division.

Congrats to all on a good showing!

Congrats!

Congrats to Memphis Kendo's Justin Reh who passed 1.kyu this past weekend in Dallas at the Nabeshima Cup/Texas Open Taikai and Shinsa!

Jackson (TN) Kendo Club to Open (and other news)

SEVERAL NEWS ITEMS OF INTEREST:

**OFFICIAL OPENING OF JACKSON KENDO CLUB**

Tuesday, June 7, 2011 will mark the official opening of the Jackson Kendo Club in Jackson, TN.

The address for the practice (from 7pm to 9pm) is:

160 Campbell Street
Jackson, TN  38301

For more details, please see Justin Reh.
Please make plans to attend that practice if at all possible!

...OTHER NEWS:..

SATURDAY CLASS SCHEDULE ---
Unless otherwise indicated or communicated, Saturday Class will always be from 10am to 12pm, EVERY Saturday.

We will find a room in which to practice upon arrival... ALWAYS BE SURE TO BRING YOUR BOKUTO WITH YOU TO SATURDAY CLASS....  If there is no space available at the community center for regular practice, we will go outside and concentrate on Kendo Kata.

MONDAY CLASS SCHEDULE ---
Monday practice (still open only to those in bogu) will regularly take place in the main room/auditorium.

SATURDAY, MAY 14 -- KOBUDO MARTIAL ARTS EXPO (JACKSON, TN)
There is a scheduled martial arts expo taking place in Jackson on Saturday, May 14.
At this point, we don't have all the information about venue/times, but there is a good possibility Memphis will be invited to do a kendo demonstration.
VENUE:

Jackson State Community College

2046 N Parkway

Jackson, Tennessee

TIME:  12:30pm - 1:30pm (that's the window; actual length of demo to be determined)

AUSKF Member ID #

If you do not know your AUSKF ID #, here is the most-current list on record at SEUSKF:

Abidi - #005826
Barratt - #009015
Bui - #010718
Cole - #005827
Crittenden - #003271
Edge - #003258
Gossett - #003254
Inaba, H. - #010719
Inaba, K. - #011071
Kahre - #005828
Kamimura - #006323
Kasuya - #008052
Oster - #009018
Ransom, D. - #011426
Ransom, G. - #011425
Register - #006325
Reh - #011068
Schaal - #011070
Taniguchi, S. - #007904
Taniguchi, K. - #010721
Thornton, K. - #007907
Thornton-Leonard - #004123
Tribo, M. - #010724
Troyer - #004307
Walterhouse - #009014
White - #003257
Wynne (Sr), R. - #011429
Wynne (Jr), R. - #011428
Yasuda - #003255

Shinsa (Rank Testing) thoughts from Tsuyoshi Inoshita-sensei (7.dan)

Dr. Tsuyoshi Inoshita-sensei

Dr. Tsuyoshi Inoshita -- for those not in the know -- is a long-time friend of Memphis Kendo.  He is a board-certified physician, having practiced medicine for more than 35 years.  He also happens to be a Kendo Kyoshi 7.dan, AUSKF Officer (Recorder), President of the GNEUSKF, and founder of the Cleveland Kendo Association, which hosts arguably one of the largest and best-known perennial kendo tournaments in the country. 

During the weekend of the 23rd Annual Cleveland Taikai (March 26-27, 2011), Inoshita-sensei sat on the grading panel for Sunday's rank testing (up through 4.dan).  He recently offered his personal insights on shinsa, as an examiner, and has graciously granted his permission to have them re-posted here.

Kendo Shinsa - by Tsuyoshi Inoshita on Monday, March 28, 2011

Some questions were raised regarding kendo shinsa this weekend.  Although I am not a kendo expert by any stretch of the imagination, I often sit on the examining board at the local level.  My ideas about kendo shinsa are as follows:

For the shodan/nidan level, the mechanics of strikes with the shinai, body, and spirits in unison, especially with the proper posture, is the most important aspect.  For the sandan/yondan, you have to be able to apply what you have learned into an actual keiko situation.

You can call it understanding of riai of kendo (reasoning behind kendo movements).  It is essentially like moving up from the basics to applications, trivium to quadrivium, or from 教養 to 専門. 

Although it may not be appropriate, let me use the card game, Blackjack, as an example.

In Blackjack, you have to learn the basic rules of the game and be able to hit cards as close to 21 as possible without going over the number.  After this phase, however, you have to learn how to play in relation to the hands of the dealer.  If the dealer has 6 and you have 11, you have to double-down.  If the dealer has an ace and you have 12, then it would be silly to double down.  You cannot just [keep] hitting cards without paying attention to the dealer's hands.

The same thing can be said about kendo.  You have to learn the basics of kendo strikes, but eventually you have to know when and how to use those strikes in relation to your opponent.  Although we cannot overemphasize men strikes -- as they say, kendo starts with men and ends with men --, you cannot keep hitting men.  You have to look at the situation and may have to react accordingly with ojiwaza [counter-attack].  Of course, ultimately we want to reach the level where you make your opponent move with your strong seme and strike your opponent accordingly.

The other important aspect of kendo is that it is an art -- you have to show grace, beauty, elegance, and composure as well as strength.  Incessant, brutal strikes would not make you a sophisticated kendoist.

Let's practice kendo more and harder to make ourselves better kenshi!!

____________________________

Memphis Kendo gratefully thanks Inoshita-sensei for allowing his insight to be posted here for thought and reflection, and congratulates him and the Cleveland Kendo Association on yet another successful taikai!

2011 SEUSKF Members

Well, Kendo is obviously growing a little bit in the SEUSKF...

434 members representing 29 different dojos/clubs over 7 states have signed up for 2011.
This is an increase in 15 members since this time last year.

The Top 10:
1. Georgia Kendo Association -- 44
2. Nashville Kendo Club -- 36
3. Gulf Coast Kendo Club -- 35
    Northern Virginia Budokai -- 35
5. Atlanta Kendo Kai -- 31
    MEMPHIS KENDO  -- 31
7. Baltimore-Annapolis Kendo -- 24
8. Triangle Kendo and Iaido -- 23
9. Koryo Dojo -- 22
10. Knoxville Kendo Club -- 16

Memphis Kendo Members make All-SEUSKF Team!

The All-Southeast U.S. Kendo Federation (SEUSKF) Team has officially been announced.  With 35 total Team Members, almost a full 1/4 of the Team consists of members of Memphis Kendo.

Congratulations to the following Memphis Kendo members who were selected to compete at the AUSKF National Championships this Fall in Atlanta:

Masumi Kamimura (Sr Youth Individual and Women's Team)
Warren Oster (Mudansha Indvidual)
Justin Reh (Mudansha Individual)
Yuki Kasuya (Sr Youth Individual and Sr Youth Team)
William Thornton-Leonard (Sr Youth Individual and Sr Youth Team)
Lysa Walterhouse (Sr Youth Girls Individual)
Shinn Taniguchi (Jr Youth Boys Individual)
Walter White (Seniors Individual)

This is the largest contingency of Memphis Kendo members to be selected to the SEUSKF Team at one time.

The SEUSKF is a regional federation of the All-U.S. Kendo Federation (AUSKF) and consists of 29 different clubs/dojos covering 7 states (Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Maryland, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia).

Best of luck to all of our club members in representing not only the SEUSKF, but also the Memphis Kendo Club and its instructors!

Memphis Kendo members selected to previous SEUSKF Teams:
Kazuto Yasuda (Los Angeles, 2002)
Patrick Register (Cleveland, 1996 and Las Vegas, 1999)
Rogers Gossett (Cleveland, 1996 and Las Vegas, 1999)
Masumi Kamimura (Las Vegas, 2008)
Yuka Kamimura (Las Vegas, 2008)
William Thornton-Leonard (Las Vegas, 2008)
Jeremiah Mazurek (Las Vegas, 2008)
Valera Vulfson (Ann Arbor, 2005)

UPDATE ~ American Kitamoto Camp (Seattle) ~ Sept 1-5, 2011

There is still a limit of 30 participants for the camp.  If more than 30 people are interested in attending, there will be a selection process (out of necessity).

Visit the website:
http://americankendo.com/

...which includes a registration form if you are interested in participating.

There is also a Facebook page for this event:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=186075221406744

Jackson (TN) Kendo Club

Memphis Kendo's Justin Reh (2.kyu) is in the very early stages of trying to start a kendo program up the road in Jackson, TN.

A Facebook page for the program was recently created, so if you're on Facebook, please check it out and consider clicking on the LIKE button to show your support!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jackson-Kendo-Club/176038672433187?v=wall