Kenyu – October/November 2018

Volume 32, number 10/11

October/November 2018

PNKF DATEBOOK

November 2018

  • 11/16: Jodo Seminar, Fri, 6:30-9:30pm, Hastings Community Centre, 3096 E. Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC.
  • 11/17: Jodo Seminar, Sat, 1:30-5:30pm, SHIFT Movement and Healing Arts, 3517 Stone Way N., Seattle
  • 11/17: PNKF Board meeting, 9-11am, Sat, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 1610 S. King Street, Seattle.

    December 2018

  • 12/8: Kent Taikai, Sat, Kent Commons Recreational Center, 525 4th Avenue N. (corner of 4th and James St.) Kent.
  • 12/8: Jodo Seminar, Sat, 10am-4pm, Portland, TBD.
  • 12/9: Jodo Seminar, Sun, 9am-12noon, Portland, TBD.
  • 12/9: Jodo Shinsa, Seattle, TBD.

April 2019

  • 4/6: AUSKF Junior Open National Championships, Sat, South Forsyth High School, 585 Peachtree Parkway,
    Cumming, Georgia 30041 http://auskf-jrnationals.com/.

June 2019

  • 6/14-6/15-6/16: 12th Annual US Nito Kendo Summer Camp, Fri/Sat/Sun, College of Idaho, Caldwell, Idaho.

July 2019

  • 7/6-7/13: 7th North American Women’s Kendo Tournament and Seminar, with Chinatsu Murayama Sensei, Renshi 7th Dan, 5-time All Japan Women’s Kendo Champion. Seminar: 7/6-7/11 Sat-Thu; Godo Keiko: 7/12; Taikai: 7/13, Sat, Bitterlake Community Center Annex, Sno-King Kendo Club, 13052 Greenwood Ave N., Seattle, WA 98133

CANADIAN KENDO FEDERATION 2018 MCGILL KENDO TAIKAI – July 17, 2018, Montreal, Quebec


Mudansha-Shodan                        Women
1st place - Kathy La, Mississauga      1st place - Hanaca Yamada, Vancouver
2nd place - Etienne Matieu, Granby     2nd place - Bora Choi, Jung Ko Kendo
3rd place - Ryan Evans, York U         3rd place - Noriko Imaizumi, Granby
3rd place - Luke Pham, U Toronto       3rd place - Alysha Hum, Shidokan

Nidan-Sandan                           Yondan and Up
1st place - Rahmil Mustafa, U Toronto  1st place - Kyle Eunseob Lee, Chinook
2nd place - Yun Bao, JCCC              2nd place - Inseo Park, Jung Ko Kendo
3rd place - Daniel Lau, Carleton       3rd place - Tuan Anh Hoang, McGill U
3rd place - Patrick Kim, GSK           3rd place - Julio Kenji Toida, Montreal

Team Division
1st place - Team Canada Kendo Men
2nd place - Garden State Kendo Alliance
3rd place - McGill University 1
3rd place - Jung Ko Kendo

Fighting Spirit Women - Joanna Asare, JCCC
Fighting Spirit Men - Matthew Ricci, Hamilton Kendo Club

44th PNKF TAIKAI – November 3, 2018, Kent Commons Recreational Center, 525 4th Avenue N., Kent


10 Years and Under                     11-12 Years
1st place – N. Son, Renbu              1st place – A. Mabale, Seattle
2nd place – I. Hwang, Renbu            2nd place – DV Chung, Cascade
3rd place – T. Okurano, Youshinkan     3rd place – A. Yuen, Seattle
3rd place – A. Kobayashi, Youshinkan   3rd place – S. Kim, Seattle

13-15 Years                            0-4 Kyu
1st place – C. Robillard, Steveston    1st place – L. Bobadilla, Oregon State U
2nd place – A. Son, Renbu              2nd place – A. Kim, Bellevue
3rd place – L. Ohata, Bellevue         3rd place – B. Wong, UW
3rd place – O. Benson, Youshinkan      3rd place – T. Elliott, Spokane

Women’s Kyu                            Women’s Dan
1st place – S. Lowes, UBC              1st place – B. Park, Bellevue
2nd place – E. Midorikawa, UW          2nd place – R. Ono, Hawaii
3rd place – R. Allen, Portland         3rd place – M. Oya, Palouse
3rd place – Y. Gao, Oregon State U     3rd place – W. Robillard, Steveson

1-3 Kyu                                1-2 Dan
1st place – J. Jeon, Bellevue          1st place – YA Chen, UBC
2nd place – M. Miyamoto, Northwest     2nd place – P. Kim, Garden State
3rd place – T. Miyamoto, Northwest     3rd place – H. Shim, Renbu
3rd place – J. Tang, Langara           3rd place – J. Jeong, Youshinkan

3 Dan                                  4 Dan and Above
1st place – T. Marsten, Kent           1st place – S. Harris, Hawaii
2nd place – I. Miki, Steveston         2nd place – N. Tanimura, Seattle
3rd place – A. Fujii, UW               3rd place – G. Suzaka, Seattle
3rd place – D. Miura, Hawaii           3rd place – L. Hancock, Hawaii

Junior Teams
1st place – Seattle (S. Kim, A. Yueh, A. Mabale, E. Kim, KY Hale)
2nd place – Renbu A (N. Son, E. Cho, A. Son, H. Homma, K. Squance)
3rd place – Bellevue A (H. Koob, T. Chu, L. Ohata, T. Koob, K. Takamatsu)
3rd place – Youshinkan (M. Shirai, F. Benson, T. Okurano, O. Benson, H. Asaoka)

Senior Teams
1st place – Hawaii (D. Miura, R. Ono, L. Hancock, S. Harris, A. Fujimoto)
2nd place – Renbu (H. Shim, Y. Hayashi, J. Kurahashi, E. Lee, O. Young)
3rd place – Youshinkan (J. Jeong, J. Schmidt, K. Kobayashi, J. Chien, T. Nakamura)
3rd place – Sno-King (M. Scott, M. Suzuki, N. Grimes, T. Tagami, T. Patana)

Shinpan Sho – Shinichi Koike
Sportsmanship Pledge – Keigo Underhill, Northwest
Shoji Award – Josh Kim, Kent
Presidential Service Award – Mary DeJong, Highline

SHINKYU SHINSA


AUSKF KODANSHA SHINSA, August 19, 2018, Las Vegas, Nevada
5TH DAN:  Wayne Kikuo Abe (PNKF), Hoon Chang (AEUSKF), Sean Choi (NCKF), So Young Choi (SCKO), Tiana Cirkovic (SEUSKF), 
Kenichi G. Kamimoto (SCKO), Won Kim (AEUSKF), George Lee (SCKO), Jaeyeon Lee (AEUSKF), Lewis Franklin Murphy (GNEUSKF), 
Sara Tominaga (GNEUSKF). 
6TH DAN:  Steve Sang Hyun Choi (PNKF), Yoshiyuki Goya (SCKF), Zia Uddin (MWKF). 
7TH DAN:  Sandip Ghodgaonkar Maruyama (SCKO), Yuji Hosokawa (SCKF), Sang Hwan Huh (SCKF).
RENSHI:  Ken Ikeda (SCKO), Yukiko Miura (SCKO), Youn-soo Shin (SCKO).

THE LAST WORD

I was put in charge, as an officer, of training new troops. They were young, too young in fact. Teenagers were called to fill the need for more soldiers. And because they were young, they were not only vigorous but also cocky. One day I was running in the lead during our morning exercises. One of the sergeants informed me that some recruits were complaining that it wasn’t fair that Omoto Minari Shikan carried only a light sword, but the recruits had to carry heavy rifles and machine guns. The next day, immediately after leaving the barracks, I yelled “Kake Ashi! (run!). Give me your machine gun and follow me.” We ran full speed. I left one soldier sergeant to follow at the rear and pick up all those who dropped out. At the end of the training run, many of the young kids had dropped out. I was never criticized again. And they had learned a lesson. There is a Japanese doll, the “daruma.” Knock it down and comes back up. There is an old Japanese saying, “Nan Na Korobi Ya Oki.” It means seven times knocked down, get up on the eighth! This is the way of the soldier, but when soldiers are still children, it is a difficult requirement. My Kendo training helped me to endure. I learned about “intent” to firmly focus only upon the present task, to firmly commit with absolute resolve, and thereby to win. And with meditation, I knew how to refresh my body, to relax and recuperate.

My training now was to learn to operate and repair Toyota 6- cylinder trucks. This was easy, for just as my father had been a blacksmith, so he had also repaired all parts of the Model T Ford and modified other sedans to use as cooler trucks for fruit, vegetable and fresh fish peddlers, I was familiar with mechanical repairs. After basic learning, I was sent on a winter convoy (Jidosha Taikan Kogun) for more truck experience. After traveling for three days on the long convoy route through the remote countryside of Hiroshima, we stopped near a large brewery with huge tubs of sake. This became a great celebration. Our spirits were lifted by a party; that cold evening we were warmed by sake in a brief respite from the harshness of life as soldiers. Our rations provided basic nutrition and did not include sake and no parties or R & R leave. The next morning, after filling our canteens with sake instead of water, we continued our travel. It was my turn to be flag man, moving between the trucks and to communicate to the truck in the rear distances and road conditions. I didn’t think I was very lucky to pull this duty because it was cold, and all the other soldiers were under the canvas, taking it easy with sake filled canteens. The trucks were loaded with three 50-gallon drums filled with fuel alcohol because Japan had almost completely run out of gasoline. Certainly none could be spared for military exercises.

As we were slowly moving on a narrow snow covered road, my truck started to skid toward the left side. All of a sudden the left front wheel ran off the road and started tipping over the cliff. Instinctively, I put my hands on the rail on the right side and somersaulted onto the road. I desperately tried to hang onto the edge of the road but failed and started sliding down a steep cliff until I caught a branch of a small tree about midway from the road and the rice paddy at least thirty feet below. I suffered scratches and bruises. Everyone inside was crushed by the truck and the 50-gallon fuel drums. Many hours later the ambulance came with stretchers. Not only did I survive the plunge, but as a bonus, I got a ride on the stretcher to the ambulance and safety.

Sometimes I wonder whether this reflexive response was due to Kendo training. Kendo is all offensive resolute action. Training hones the reflexes so that action is instantaneous, without thought. The greatest risk come with hesitation, when nerve is briefly lost. Survival depends on boldness. I had, of course, learned the strategy of examining my environment and was ready for the cliff, and I was in good physical shape, but without Kendo training, I’m not sure my response would have been quick enough to save my life.

But sometimes action is not the best approach. When I returned to Hiroshima, I was assigned to a look-out on top of a roof for air raid watch. As always, I considered my surroundings; our base was darkened to avoid being identified as a target. A group of American bombers flew over my head almost close enough to touch. I didn’t shoot. Had I done so, the entire barracks area would have been discovered and bombed. But it may have been destroyed anyway if we had already been noted as the target. In that case, by not alerting our defenses, if I had survived, I would have been held responsible and likely executed, certainly I would have been utterly disgraced. I was very lucky, because there was another, completely unacceptable reason I didn’t shoot. Walter was my childhood friend in Wahiawa and I knew he, and other friends I had grown up with, were all fighting on the American side. If I had shot, would I kill Walter? I couldn’t shoot. I would rather have been shamed and executed. I could never have lived knowing I had killed one of my friends, even if from the distance of modern warfare. To have killed Walter would have destroyed my spirit and made life unbearable. Boot camp training does not teach how to deal with such regret.

–Rod Nobuto Omoto, Autobiography, edited by Charlotte Omoto, 2014, p. 36-37. Available as free download at lulu.com.

Kenyu – Monthly Newsletter of the Pacific Northwest Kendo Federation PLEASE NOTE: Kenyu Online IS THE EDITION OF RECORD FOR THIS NEWSLETTER – https://www.pnkf.org/ Tom Bolling, Editor – 7318 23rd Avenue N.E., Seattle, WA 98115

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