The big news on the block is that the Waseda girl's team won the All Japan University Women's Team Championship held in Kasugai City near Nagoya on Sunday 14 November, 2010. After a hard fought battle with Hosei in the semi-finals that went to a daihyo-sen, they then went on to beat Ryukoku University of Kyoto to take the championship for 2010. Chukyo and Hosei came in at third place. This is the first time the Waseda girls have won the championship, and finishes a fantastic year for Waseda University's kendo club following the men's success in winning the national tournament a few weeks ago. ...

On Sunday, October 31, the 58th All Japan Students' Kendo Championship Tournament was held in Osaka. Some of the traditional powerhouses such as Kokushikan, Chuo Univ. and Kanoya were forced out of the tournament in the early rounds making for an interesting field by the quarter-finals:

Waseda vs. Tsukuba
Tokai vs. Senshuu
Ritsumeikan vs. Kagoshima
Nippon Sport Science Univ. vs. Keio
...

When I wrote this, the FIFA World Cup was in full swing. Apart from the early exit of some of the highly regarded teams, and the fantastic showing of the underdogs, perhaps the biggest on-going stories at this competition surrounded the glaring mistakes made by the world’s top football referees. What about that goal scored by a blatantly offside Tevez in the match between Argentina and Mexico? Who can forget the goal scored by Lampard against Germany that bounced over the line and out again, but was not awarded by the ref? ...

JIGORO KANO AND THE KODOKAN:AN INNOVATIVE RESPONSE TO MODERNISATION
Translated and Edited by Alex Bennett


I guess this is one of the reasons why my blog has been a little neglected of late. Have just published a book about the life and ideals of Kanō Jigorō, the founder of judo.
As judo has become an immensely popular international sport, particularly since its induction as an official Olympic event in 1964, many of the progenitor’s original educational ideals have arguably fallen by the wayside.
...

By Kendo World Staff Writer Kate Sylvester

The 49th All Japan Women’s Competition was held in Fujieda City, Shizuoka on Saturday 26th September. The top sixty four competitors representing Japan’s fourty seven prefectures gathered for the most prestigious Women’s annual kendo event.
The experience and talent of competitors ranged from 2nd to 6th Dan’s, high school student to the kendo greats, for whom it was their 17th time entering the competition.
The majority of last year’s World Kendo Championship team members were not present, with twenty six first timers in the taikai. The competition promised to be filled with displays of fresh exciting Kendo representing the new era of women’s Kendo in Japan. ...