This year is my home dojo’s 45th anniversary. One of the celebration events was an Ono ha itto ryu seminar run by Harris and Blake sensei. Both have studied this form of kenjitsu for decades, itto ryu is acknowledged as one of the origins of modern kendo. Due to my cold I was unable to attend the morning session.
The second part of the day was a talk by Victor Harris sensei about the history of the dojo and kendo. Harris sensei is very knowledgeable in Japanese sword art history, one of the dojo's originators, is a retired curator of Japanese Antiquities at the British Museum, completed the first English translation of the Book of Five Rings and has made numerous appearances on history channel style documentaries. His presentation was made in one of the school’s classrooms and was very interesting, a playlist of vids can be found HERE.
The final part of the day was keiko back in the dojo. I managed 5 fights before flaking out, one was with Fuji sensei who was one of the first sensei to teach at the club during the 1960's. Keiko with Fuji sensei was fun but must have looked a little odd, i'm guessing he is about 5"1' or 2' while i'm 6"4'! I have attached a few photos of the practice below.
Men wo tsuke
Fighting Fuji sensei
Wait for turn
Enjoying the blog. I've never had the pleasure of fencing Fuji Sensei although he helped found my first dojo - Kenseikai Cornwall, now Cornwall Kendo Club. BKA member number 1! Hopefully one day I'll get the opportunity to practice with him.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dwez. I find it helpful to write down advice as I soon forget stuff.
ReplyDeleteFuji sensei a nice bloke and likes a Guinness!
I've practiced with some of the Kenseikai guys who are based in East London, seems like a friendly club.