July 29, 2008
Kendo for LIFE
Kendo-Guide.Com Newsletter, Issue #001 -- New Start and Specific Goals
Table of Content
- Article and Video of the Month -
- A New Start and More Specific Goals -
- More Kendo to the World -
- Support a Seminar out of Pocket -
- Instructional Videos Are Not Free Anymore -
- Comments or Questions -
- What Will Be in Next Month Newsletter? -
Firstly, I would like to tell you how much I appreciate you for subscribing to the newsletter and supporting me with your encouraging emails and comments. The warm words have been the source of my force to keep the site going.
I have few things to announce in this first newsletter. So please read through when you have time.
- Article and Video of the Month -
* Joge buri article and video are ready for you to read and watch.
* "Zanshin after Kote Strike" (Video) is up in the Subscribers' Only Area
Joge-buri is a very basic empty cut or suburi in kendo but I see many people do it wrong. Probably, many people see joge-buri as a warm-up exercise.
This is one of the suburi that beginners learn at the very beginning so it should be done properly.
If you do this in an inappropriate manner, your kendo will be one of those kendos that is very difficult for you to fix in the future.
I have included some points that you can use for self-check. If you are an instructor, it makes teachings easier because you know where to look while your students are doing suburi.
From this video, Kendo-Guide.Com charges a small fee. The reasons for that are explained below.
Click here to read the joge-buri article...
There are not few who have been wondering how they should take zanshin after striking kote.
Many people pass through after striking a kote even in jigeiko or shiai. It is good if you are a beginner. But if you are not a beginner anymore, you have to stop doing that.
Click here to know more about how to take zanshin after striking kote...
- A New Start and More Specific Goals -
Kendo-Guide.Com promotes kihon-based kendo.
It is a fact that we have tournaments and championships. So we have a sport aspect in kendo. However, we do not want to be competition-driven kendo-ka.
What is a shiai-driven kendo?
It emphasized on winning, thus HITTING is most important.
When hitting is emphasised, kihon tends to fall apart. It is only a tendency but has a very strong possibility to lose kihon.
Kihon here includes not only basics we practice all the time but also kendo principles that are declared by All Japan Kendo Federation.
Click here if you are not too sure about kendo principles...
We want to keep the concept of a sword or katana in kendo; otherwise, kendo becomes a stick fighting.
I agree that competition is an important aspect in kendo but we surely do not want to be obsessed by winning and/or losing tournaments.
We should know what kihon is and more importantly what kendo is all about.
Thus, the main purpose of Kendo-Guide.Com is to promote kihon-based kendo world-wide. And if kihon-based kendo can kick butt in tournaments, that is awesome!
- More Kendo to the World -
Kendo-Guide.Com's goal is to promote kihon-based kendo world-wide. But how?
It's mission states how.
- inviting senseis from Japan,
- sending people to Japan (kendo scholarship),
- providing videos and articles,
- giving seminars,
- individual tutoring and teaching at dojos, and
- kendo exchange programs.
These are my dreams and also I know they are your dreams too.
Imagine how awesome it would be if you could go to Japan on a kendo exchange program?
Imagine how cool it is to have 8th dan sensei to give you a seminar regularly?
Imagine how wonderful it is to have instructors who are specialised in kendo at your dojo?
I have dreamed about these things for a long time now.
To make these things happen, we need to have financial strength. I met an incident that made me strongly think about the necessity of the financial strength.
- Support a Seminar out of Pocket -
I happened to talk to one of my kendo fellows around Indiana. He is hosting a kendo seminar with two hanshi 8th dan. That is awesome, right?
This kendo seminar is supported by the kendo federation he belongs to and surprisingly by himself.
It is great of him hosting a kendo seminar with two 8th dan. However, he should not financially affected. The reason is simple.
I do not want anyone to stop these events because they have to suffer financially from hosting these events.
If these kinds of events are held more regularly, we will have more possibilities to increase our kendo level. And that makes us better instructors and thus we can have more good successors.
But the reality is very severe.
Two tickets from Japan to US is around US$2,600 now as of July 2008.
Depending on the length of stay, the fee for a hotel can differ but if they stay at a hotel for one week, it would cost around US$600 if two people sleep in the same room.
It easily goes up to US$4,000 because senseis have to eat, right?
Just tickets, accommodation and food adds up to $4,000 for two people.
Since I heard his story, I strongly thought I wanted to assist these kinds of events so that we can have more of these.
On top of this, we have many kendo-ka who are keen to learn kendo but due to their financial difficulties they cannot come to these events.
We have many young kendo-ka who are very good and wanting to go to Japan and study kendo. But it is hard for them because it is too darn expensive.
It is not always the money but it is one of the biggest headaches we have in our lives.
Kendo-Guide.Com wants to support these people, not only senseis but also students who will teach the next generations proper kendo.
Passing down a good kihon-based kendo to the next generation is a big mission for Kendo-Guide.Com.
- Instructional Videos Are Not Free Anymore -
I only can say, "I am sorry".
I have two main reasons why I decided to make the videos a charged service.
One: To keep making them.
Two: To support more people to learn kendo.
One: To keep making them.
The cost of video making has been increasing and time-consuming.
To be honest, I want to get involved more in kendo related tasks.
I did not want to quit video making because it started costing too much and is time-consuming.
I wanted to concentrate on KEEP MAKING videos. I shifted my focus from worrying about the financial difficulties to providing videos.
Two: To support more people to learn kendo.
As mentioned above, I would like to support kendo senseis and students. To support more people, Kendo-Guide.Com has to be more stable.
The instructional videos involve time and money consuming tasks so that it was natural for me to come to the conclusion to charge for the videos.
I hope you understand the circumstance.
- Comments or Questions -
If you have a comment and/or question, please email through a contact form.
If you do not send me email through the form, my email system does not pass through your emails. That means I never get your email.
Please do not use the email address I used to use at The Cyber Dojo either. It will not be used for communication purpose soon. This is the main website.
Thank you for reading the newsletter. I will see you in about one month!
- What Will Be in Next Month Newsletter?-
Main Topic: High School Kendo Has Been Changed: Rules on Tsubazeriai
...and more.