ANU Kendo Club

Australian National Kendo Championships

Report pending. In the mean time, enjoy the slideshow.

Results available here.

33rd Australian National Kendo Championships

Videos:

Ron Bennett vs Darren Boyd [~62MB AVI]
Joe Semmler vs Paul Rixon kote [~8MB AVI]

ANU Market Day

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.

Brendan's Picton Wrap-up

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.