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Until recently I found the end-of-class ritual in kendo of lining up in seiza and bowing to the sensei(s) to be a polite formality. When we bow (head down to just above hands placed palm-down on the floor) we all say, “Thank you very much” (どうもありがとうございました).

Now when I do this, I feel a sense of true gratitude and it has been making me look forward to practice because I know that I will end with ...

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I passed my nidan (2nd-dan) exam on March 2nd. I’d been training for this since August and I went in with a feeling of comfortable accomplishment. Whether or I would pass or not, my sense was that I was in a comfortable nexus point, between wanting to pass and also seeing this as a single way-point on a longer journey.

My preparation for the exam was a return to the basics of kendo. An emphasis on posture, introspection, and commitment to every strike (well, mostly…that last point ...

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Blooming heck. Six years it took, but I finally finished my second PhD thesis, and submitted it yesterday to the University of Canterbury. The title: "The Cultural Politics of Proprietorship: The Socio-historical Evolution of Japanese Swordsmanship and its Correlation with Cultural Nationalism". I finished my first one at Kyoto University about "bushido" in 2001 which can be bought here if you can read Japanese. The one I just finished is all in English (much easier to write) ...

The Chuseikan Dojo in Christchurch, New Zealand

See Chuseikan Video Here!!

The earth didn’t rock, it exploded under our feet. That was the February 22 earthquake in Christchurch last year. Not long after that, when I had arrived back in Japan, the March 11 Great Tohoku Earthquake happened, followed by a massive tsunami and the unnerving nuclear disaster. In terms of scale, the Japanese earthquake was far bigger, and the casualties inconceivable. How do you come to terms ...

As usual I wrote ahead and set an itinerary down for myself for the 14 day trip... 7 days training at Seinen no Ie Ozu, down to Kannonji to visit sensei's grave, then back to Kyoto for a bit of iai related shopping/touristy stuff, with night time training...
The original plan was to hammer away at the partner work with Neil after the days' main training was over... That went out the window as Dirk, Neil and Yuriko were translating Iwata senseis notes every evening! Fortunately Chin san from ...