Iaido seminar wrap-up

Saturday may have been one of the hottest and most humid day in quite some while, but the iaido seminar organised by the Kohokai and hosted at Kenshinkai dojo was one of the best training experiences I have had for quite  some time.  

Led by Toshi Tsukadaira sensei and Emiko Yaguchi sensei (after 90 minutes of kendo as a "warm up" for some of us) we engaged in a more Japanese-style seminar format, where we generally worked on kata of our choice and had the various sensei available provide input. This was incredibly useful in identifying and starting to address some of those niggles and rough edges in our performance, and I would love to see it employed more often as a seminar approach in the future.

Personally, I would like to especially thank John Isaacs sensei for the warm welcome, the considerable time he gifted to me to provide feedback on what I was doing, and the invite for Toowoomba-based kendoka and iaidoka to come far more often (and, indeed, regularly) to Brisbane to touch base and continue our improvements in both disciplines. 

I would also like to second Isaacs sensei's sentiment regarding Yaguchi sensei's  instruction. As he said, "sensei is the epitome of what a Sensei should be - humble, informed, great example, but most importantly she genuinely cares about the students and makes them the priority".

Many thanks also to Tom Johnson for having organised the event, which always takes considerable behind the scenes action. We are hoping to have another session with Yaguchi sensei before she leaves in March, and we will certainly look forward to that opportunity. 

Iaido and Kendo training opportunity this Saturday

Just a quick note to remind the Toowoomba-based iaidoka that this Saturday we will be travelling to Brisbane to train for the day with practitioners from across South East Queensland at the Kenshinkai, Mt Gravatt. 

Leading training will be Toshi Tsukadaira sensei, and it will be the first opportunity for Club members to be instructed by Dave Kolb sensei since he successfully challenged for his 6Dan. Yaguchi sensei 6Dan renshi), who is currently visiting the Tsukadairas, has confirmed that she will also be teaching, and both Stewie Owens and Klara Langtry will be up for the day from New South Wales. So it promises to be an excellent day for polishing one's kata and catching up with friends!

I will be confirming today with Isaacs sensei, but we may well also go down early and get a kendo session in before iaido. We are not sure yet whether this means being there for an 8 am start, or we just get a short sharp 1 hour from 8.30–9.30 am. Hopefully I can confirm at training this afternoon. 

This will mean that there will be no Saturday training at the MEAC for jujutsu as we will still be on our way back from Brisbane at that time.