The Australian Iaido and Jodo Seminar and Championships concluded in Hobart this week past, and I am enormously pleased to report the successes for Club stalwart Sian Carlyon, and Queensland more generally.
Sian is now the second person at the Club to be elevated to a Dan rank in any discipline. Additionally, she was the winner of the Haga Shield, placing first in her division at the Championships.
I am enormously proud of Sian. As one of the founding members of the Club, she has worked long and hard to achieve this result. Achieving a Dan grade is the culmination of many hundreds of hours of practice and reflection. It is also paradoxically the “base camp” from which scaling the actual cliff face of a discipline must necessarily work from. She now has a twelve month minimum wait before she can test again for the next level— and excellent opportunity to work towards, as we will be hosting the AIJSC in Queensland next year. As they say in the classics — Gambatte!
Other wonderful news for Queensland practitioners is that Hiroko Tsukadaira sensei was successful in her challenge for 5DAN iaido, Kevin Humphries was successful in his attempt at 4DAN iaido, and Tom Johnson sensei won a paired jodo award and a shield in the 5DAN Iaido division.
So once again, congratulations all around!