ANU Kendo Club

Kendo Christmas party, Saturday December 13 2008

Held at Joe's, the party again featured great food and great entertainment. Much fun was had with the simplest of items: a bokkuto, a tyre, and a rather short-lived shinai, the kensen of which was last seen soaring gracefully over Joe's roof.

Various competitions ensued - The Most Suburi in 2 minutes, Most One-handed Suburi in 2 minutes, Longest Continually-Accurate Tsuki Strikes. While the winning scorers generally correlated negatively with alcohol consumption, the reverse was true for most entertaining attempts, preserved for posterity, right.

NSW Championsips, Saturday December 6 2008

This event was attended by Joe Semmler, Akio Maruyama, Shiori Kurahara, Martino Ellero, Darren Boyd, Sharyn Wragg, Rebecca Marshall, Brendan Kee John Larkings, Gordy Lau and Liam Wilson.

While few members made it out of their pools, Liam Wilson was Runner's up in the Under 16 division, from a pool of two, and Akio showed his staying power with a remarkable sweep of matches, making it into the semi-finals with after a long encho, which he won with patience, determination and a swift kote. It may not have won hima place, but Akio was presented with a Fighting Spirit award.

New Shinzen for ANU Kendo Club
November 11, 2008

Joe Semmler reverently unfurls ANU Kendo Club's new shinzen, a hand-painted gift from Matsuda Sensei. The new shinzen reads "Heijo-shin" or "Everyday mind" or "Tranquil mind", and is beautifully presented.

The club thanks Matsuda Sensei for this beautiful and thoughtful gift.

Nara-Canberra Candle Festival, September 27 2008

The ANU Kendo Club again participated in a demonstration for the Nara-Canberra Candle Festival (Joe Semmler, Martino Ellero, Darren Boyd, Rebecca Marshal, Brendan Kee, and Jun Tang, with Sharyn Wragg narrating. Brendan and Darren also participated in an Iaido demonstration representing Kuroyamakai.

Kounoike dojo visit - Matsuda Sensei and Ozaki Sensei

Matsuda Sensei and Ozaki Sensei from the Kounoike dojo in Nara, confirming and strengthening our relationship with our sister-city dojo with Matsuda Sensie's second visit. Matsuda Sensei and Ozaki Sensei were hosted by the ANUKC from September 17-23, providing valuable instruction to club members, and to kendoka from NSW during an open seminar on the 20th and 21st.

Matsuda Sensei and Ozaki Sensei arrived in Canberra on the 18th, and breifly visited Mt Ainslie and Parliament House before observing our regular Thursday night training and making some comments on how to improve, such as making sure our kiri-kaeshi strikes are large, and incorporating koshi-ware suburi.

From Friday 19th - Sunday 21st they instructed a three-day seminar in the New Gymnasium, with the Saturday and Sunday available to kendoka from interstate. Jonathan Cross was a great aid, translating the Sensei's teachings over three long days.

There was also some time for shopping, Floriade and sight-seeing, with a BBQ at Joe's on the Saturday night, during which Matsuda Sensei drafted a new Shinzen for the club; although he said he would prefer to prepare the final version from Nara, and post it to the club. The visit concluded with dinner at the Turkish pide house and a sad farewell at the airport the following morning.

The club feels very fortunate to have received such dedicated instruction, and hopes to further the relationship with future visits from Matsuda Sensei and other Sensei from Nara.

Squad training weekend, October 11-12 2008

Martino and Sharyn attended National Squad training at Flinders University, Adelaide.

University Games, Melbourne October 01 2008
Report by Minsun (Jess) Kim

The biggest Kendo competition in the history of AUG started on 1st of October. Because the game was during uni break, many of uni students were able to participate in AUG. Participants were Jae, Bec, Jun, myself, Intaek, Chuah, Richard and Linda. We arrived in Melbourne on 31st of September and settled in YHA. People who arrived early in the morning went out for sight seeing then headed to meeting at Victoria University. It was so difficult for us to get there simply because the venue was hidden in a small suburb. After that, all of us went out for dinner and had Korean food. During the dinner, Chuah showed us an incredible ability of eating so spicy food. Except him, most of us knocked down because of the tearful spiciness including myself (not so Korean after all…).

We started very early day to get to the venue before rush hour. Martino who were invited as an official Judge joined us in the morning. Many judges were from National Squad team; Brett Smith, Andrew Lam, Chiaki Kobayashi and Martino. About 70 students from 10 different university participated in the competition. The competition started with Women’s individual – Linda and I were in. Linda showed us a good kendo spirit during all her matches. Not like other beginners, she went to encho three times. I met the winner of kyu women event at the second match and was able to get only one point from her. We went to encho and she got the point. The second event was men’s kyu individual. With a very fast men cut skill, Jun was able to beat up many opponents and got 4th place! Intaek, Chuah and Richard also showed us a good kendo sprit. Since this competition was the first one for Chuah and Richard in their Kendo life, they did so well and got points from the opponents throughout their matches. Bec and Jay faught so well in the pool but unfortunately, they couldn’t get into next round. Especially, for Jae, his pool was the toughest match for the day. He had to fight all again because all competitors got 3 points each. For team match, it was tough for both open and kyu team. We met the winner at the first match.

Overall, kyu team and open team champions were from University of Melbourne.

ANU Open Day, Saturday August 10 2008

Founder's Cup weekend, August 2-3, 2008

The 2008 Founders Cup was hosted by the USYD Kendo Club on the 2nd and 3rd of August at H.K. Ward Gymnasium, Grose Farm Lane, University of Sydney, Camperdown. Long-time club friend Yuko Tanaka participated as per tradition.

The Dan team, John Larkins, Brendan Kee, David Cunningham, Darren Boyd, and Martino Ellero were runners-up in the Dan Team final, and Darren Boyd won the highly-coverted Fighting Spirit Award.

Squad training, Saturday July 26-27 2008

The ANU Kendo Club hosted the July Squad training.
During the open session, ANU Kendo club members took advantage of the opportunity to train with the elete of Australian Kendo.

Ryuji Nakamura Sensei visit, April 2009

The ANU Kendo Club was very fortunate to have Ryuji Nakumura (5 Dan, Kendo) visit Canberra for 3 weeks. Although in a cast, having suffered the misforunte of severing his achilles tendon during training in Sydney, Ryuji practised suburi with one leg propped on a chair, and provided much-welcomed feedback during sessions. His persevering spirit was inspiring to all in the club, and he was an accepting and perceptive teacher. He was especially adept at conveying a deeper meaning of the fundamentals of kendo to a western, adult class. Ryuji visited the torch relay, Parliament House, Tidbinbilla, and the Canberra Zoo to name a few, all on crutches.

Australian National Kendo Championships
March 21-25 2008

Report by Steve Ellis

The 33rd Australian Kendo Championships were held over the Easter long weekend in Sydney. The national championships are always a mix of pressure, excitement and fun, and this year’s competition was no exception. So, without further adieu, let me tell you about some of the highlights of the Kyu and Dan individual and teams.

As the majority of the ANUKC’s competitive Kyu players all progressing into the Dan-grade competition, we found ourselves this year with a slight shortage of Kyu representatives. A consequent this was we could not enter and defend the Kyu Teams title. With that said, our two Kyu competitors - Charlie and Adam – were both experienced and keen to give the tree a shake. Both showed skill and spirit, but despite this, neither progressed through to the knockout rounds. I think it is appropriate to note the fact that for the first time in a number of years, the club has a number of positions open in our Kyu team. I encourage all junior and senior Kyu club members to take this opportunity to represent the club. Asides from being fun, it will improve your kendo and may even give you the chance to compete at a national level. If you are keen or possibly interested, please speak to Joe Sensei, or any of the clubs senior members.

If I had to summarise this years Dan Individual competition in a word, it would be surprising. It seems the landscape of Australian Kendo is changing, with a number of young players all fighting hard to earn the right to be called the Australian champion. The surprises started from the first two pools of the day. Here, last year’s runner up (and 4 times winner), Kirby Smith was the first shock loss - loosing to T. Tskudaira from QLD. While Kiby managed to beat Nathan Hill, Nathan put up a good fight, and kept the pressure on throughout the match. He also scored a perfectly timed men on Tskudaira. The second big surprise was when last years winner, Nick Bartlett, was also knocked out of the competition. It hard to describe the feeling that quickly spread around the arena. Initially it was shock. This shock was then replaced by excitement, as the other Dan competitors all feeling that they now had as good a chance as any to bring the title home. Nevertheless, neither David Cunningham, Sharyn Wragg, Brendan Kee nor myself, made it out of our pools. While this fate also fell upon John Larkins, his performance deserves a special mention. Fighting Brett Smith (Australian Team captain and coach, as well as the competitions winner) and Dave Bunder, the odds were against him from the start. John however took the match to them both. He displayed determination and fighting spirit that earned him a great ippon. The highlight of the day was of course Martino Ellero who placed second in the event. While Martino has finished in the top eight previously, I think its fair to say that in the lead up to the competition none of us thought he would do as well as he did (including himself?). Little did we know Martino had a couple of surprises up his sleeve. Let me explain…

Having spent a good two hours on Friday ‘getting into the spirit’ of the weekend, we all met at the hotel to organise our sleeping arrangements. For most people this was a simple task; however, for Martino, Brendan and I, things were a little more complicated. Three boys, two beds - you do the math. As Martino was the senior kendoka, Brendan and I felt the right thing to do was offer him the single bed. But this wasn’t to be. Martino slyly declined the invitation, preferring to share a bed with Brendan. It was at this point I think we all knew Martino was going to do something that would surprise us all this weekend (ok, so maybe these arrangements came to be due to my dubious reputation and side deals with Bec to commandeer the room key – whatever). After dinner and some quiet drinks, we all retired to bed. It was at this point that Martino unveiled his other secret weapon – his super stinky keikogi. Seriously, Martino had to lock this thing in the bathroom to stop it from getting up and walking away! Now I’m not sure whether it was the smell emanating from the bathroom, or sheer fear at the sleeping arrangements, but I think I saw Brendan shedding a quiet tear just before the lights went out. While the actual events of that night will never be known (or forgotten by Brendan), Martino did wake up on Saturday morning with a spring in his step. Whether it was his possessed keikogi, or…well…something else, Martino was ready to go, and that he did.

While none of his opponents were pushovers, Martino methodically made his way threw the early rounds. In the semi-final, he came up against VIC’s Kate Sylvester (Female Individual Winner, and member of the Australian Women’s team). This was a closely contested match with a number of close calls. Martino eventually won with a beautiful kote in encho to move through to the final. It goes without saying that Martino did both himself and the club proud. Martino’s performance is a testament to the fact that regularly training and persistence always pay off.

The Dan Team event is the premier event of the weekend. With so many Dan grade representatives, Joe Sensei and Greg had a hard time picking the team. In fact,  discussions as to who would represent the club were still going late into Saturday night. The final line up (in team order) was Stephen Ellis, Darren Boyd, David Cunningham, Brendan Kee and Martino Ellero. Being drawn to play QLD, we knew we were in for a tough fight. Prior to the match the team received a timely phone call from Phil Baker who gave all present a timely motivational talk consisting of five words. I cannot repeat these words on a public forum (as anyone whose heard one of Phil’s motivational talks would know), but if anyone is interested just ask one of the team members listed above. Unfortunately, ACT lost the match 4 to 1. The one victory was thanks to Darren who, as always, stepped up to the occasion and came through with two convincing points against N. Tamura (who came 2nd in the Veterans competition). If there is anything to be learnt from this years outing it is that we still have a lot of work to do. This isn’t to say we are not heading in the right direction, but rather that many of us (lower Dan players) need to step up at training and get more experiencing playing at the top level.

On behalf of us students, I would like take this opportunity to thank the club for its generous financial support. Without this support, it may not have been possible for us to attend and learn from this experience. I would also like to thank NSW for hosting this years event. In particular, the NSWKR President, Andrew Tan, and all those who volunteered their time and efforts to make the weekend an enjoyable one.

Results available here.

33rd Australian National Kendo Championships

ANU Market Day,
February 19 2008

Our stall again attracted many students - thanks to the charms of Bek, Steve and Garath, and Bek and Brendan for demonstrating, MC'd by Darren.

Members of Kuroyama Kai also demonstrated Iaido and Jodo.

Squad Training, February 16-17 2008

Brendan's Picton Wrap-up
February 2-3 2008

As always, the Picton week provided many of us with good training and great fun.

The first day started for many of us at about 5:30am, with Picton being only a casual two and a half hours away, allowed for us to sleep in an extra hour or so before having to depart from the ANU. For the most part, the trip down to Picton was uneventful besides the usual stop-off at Macca's.

Day one began with some light warm-ups taken by Dave Bunder from Wollongong. We then proceeded with preparation for the next day's grading breaking into groups, I was part of those going for ikkyu(1K) or above, being taken by Takashi Itakura from Sydney Kendo Club, the training was quite intense leading up to a shinsa-geiko practice session, after which grading candidates received feedback.

After lunch, we recommenced with another warm-up conducted by Dave Bunder beginning with a light run and ending in haya-suburi. The training group split into a Senior group and a Junior group, with Juniors practicing Shikake-waza(attack techniques) and Seniors practicing Oji-waza(counter-attack techniques). The Senior group was headed by Takashi Itakura, which began with the practicing of the attack followed by deflection without executing the cut in order to get used to the motion. After a few rotations, once the group was familiar with that section of the waza, the waza was then performed completely. This session in the kote-ni-tai-suru and men-ni-tai-suru, in which one side executes an attack for men and kote, and the other side chose which oji-waza they wished to practice as each attack commenced.

The day culminated in a Red-vs-White team challenge, the dojo was split into two sides with all those able to play, being equally divided by skill level. This team shiai took the format of an Ippon Kachi-nuki-hou, where each match was for ippon, and the winner would stay to face the next opponent from the opposing team, where a draw occurred both players would be eliminated. The level of competition and team support was immense throughout the shiai, especially given the stake: the losing team had to do One Hundred Haya-Suburi. The matches progressed down to each team's taisho... the tension was immense as the outcome was being decided. The final match ended with a draw, and as both teams did not win, it was determined that technically both sides lost, therefore each team had to do haya-suburi, and since haya-suburi had to be done together, the entire group performed one hundred haya suburi for each team, meaning a total of two hundred haya-suburi. The day then concluded free ji-geiko and an ending rei.

After re-supplying at the local supermarket, the ANU horde descended upon the Wirrimbirra Sanctuary, once again joined by Wollongong and USyd representatives as well as Duy(UNSY) and Dave(SKC) being the sole representatives of their clubs.

The night progressed with lots of chatting and light drinking, with a review of the NSW State Open championships. For most people, this was an early night due to the following day's grading...

The next day's grading commenced well for the ACT, with Long, Charlie and Ian Flint providing strong performances in each of their respective gradings. A mention must also go to Martino for once-again breezing through the kyu-grades, though this time as moto-dachi. A highlight of the kyu gradings was the appearance of the Mysterious Orange Lighter which was found in the middle of the dojo floor in front of the grading panel. Next up was the dan-gradings with, in ANU order, myself, Nathan, John and Ian Laird. Nathan put up an admirable performance having to fight both myself and john for his grading, and Ian Laird put up a stellar performance with incredibly clear, crisp and well-defined cuts against both his grading partners. Once the shinsa-geiko was finished, all four of us were called upon to perform kata. The prior weeks of kata preparation with good performances by all.

Once the grading had finished and the results were called, free ji-geiko commenced, with many interesting match-ups across ANU and NSW clubs. The Picton trip then informally ended at the pub with a light lunch and a few drinks, before the trip back to Canberra.