Keep your comments polite, on topic and succinct. Play nice and everyone benefits!.
A reminder that anyone wishing to grade in either kendo or iaido at the July seminar will have to attend to the necessary paperwork this week.
All kendo paperwork needs to be signed by myself as dojo sensei and all iaido paperwork needs to go to Tom Johnson sensei. Tom sensei will try to get up this Thursday (TBC), but it is safer to send a PDF through to him just in case he does not make it.
I Just wanted to report briefly on the ACT Queen's Birthday Weekend seminar with Nagayama sensei. Queensland was well represented with Dave Kolb sensei, Tom Johnson sensei and myself in attendance, and former Club member Sean McAvoy participating. It was wonderful to catch up with Sean, and I spent a great afternoon with him under the instruction of Franklin sensei refining our performance of kata we will be required to demonstrate for upcoming gradings. It was also wonderful to finally meet some of the ACTKR folk face to face, and next time I am in town I will definitely have to bring my bogu!
Nagayama sensei was both generut with his time and insightful with his analysis of our performance, and we had a fun time at the Canberra Yacht Club (which I hadn't been to for more than 20 years!). Hopefully Nagayama sensei will continue to support Australian budo, and we get more opportunities to be subject to his expert guidance.
Just to confirm that you can now search for the Club app in the App Store and on Google under the correct spelling. We will start to populate it with information from this week in the lul between assignments and exams, so make sure that you download it and let us know what you think of the content and use ability. In particular, let us know what sorts of things you would like to see available in the app!
Beginners Taiko workshop: June 24
Cost will be $30 per person. Everyone is welcome! No previous experience is required.
To book your place, look in our BBRD Pro Shop under Membership, Insurance, Courses
Hello All,
Jodo training will have a few changes for this week only (5-10 June). Monday (tonight) will be training as usual (1900 hrs or 7 pm), but Wednesday's training will start at 1930 hrs (7:30 pm).
Don't forget about the extra training session this Saturday in Brisbane (see previous posting).
Training will be at normal times starting next week (Mon. & Wed. @ 1900 hrs, 7 pm).
Eric
Hello All,
It's that time again for the inter-dojo Jodo training with Glen Henry Sensei and his students. Training will be at Chushinkan Dojo in Brisbane starting at 10:00 this Saturday (10 June).
We will be leaving Toowoomba at 07:30 with travel arrangements to be determined based on numbers.
Please let me (Eric) know if you plan on attending (contact number: 0410 475 447) by Wednesday.
Eric
Over the last few months I have been talking with the folk from the IT company Schoolbag about the development of an app for Android and iOS devices to better communicate with Club members and friends, especially around training sessions and Club events.
The App is now available to download across all formats. Due to a spelling error on the part of the company, you will have to look for "Bun By Ryo Do" to find it. Hopefully, this will be rectified in future releases.
At present we have a free trial of the app while we load content and evaluate whether the membership would find it useful. We will be able to host links to videos, relevant documents, links to sites and of course calendars and alerts, so you won't have to be linked to specific social media platform like Facebook to access our content easily on your mobile devices.
Please have a try of the app over the coming weeks and let us know what you think about it. It will take the next couple of weeks to load up the content as I am busy finishing off an assignment before I head to Canberra for the weekend. But any feedback will be appreciated, including what sorts of things you would like to see hosted by the app, If we decide to continue using it, we will have to pay for its functionality as a Club, so if it is not useful, we will not be proceeding with it.
Just a quick reminder that there will be no formal training this weekend for jujutsu or kendo as I will be in Canberra visiting my parents and attending the seminar organised by the ACTKR.
The MEAC will still need to be cleaned on Saturday, and folk are free to use the usual time slot for informal training. We will discuss further details in class tomorrow night.
Those of you who are subscribed to the Tozando news feed will know that they have changed their pricing from Yen to US Dollars. This will mean that we may not have as stable a price relationship for Tozando gear as the AUD/USD exchange rate tends to fluctuate a little more than the AUD/YEN rate. However, to smooth the transition, Tozando are offering significant discounts on a range of their goods. This, in combination with proposed changes to the charging of GST on all imported goods come July 1 (not just those over the $1000 threshold), may mean that it is a good opportunity to purchase something now rather than later.
Please let me know by week's end if you wish to participate in a Club order to reduce the cost of shipping. I note that in particular they are offering discounts on Kendo, Iaido and Aikido uniforms, so if you have been after something, now would be the time to purchase it. If you can select which items you are interested in, I can calculate a combined price (including share of shipping and any further Club discounts).
Saturday saw Matt G and I head down to Brisbane to get some one-on-one time with the kodansha of the Kenshinkai, and I would like to offer thanks to John Isaacs sensei for the generous invite and the excellent input. We both have things that we shall continue to shape and polish until the next opportunity to train, though I suspect the sole of Matt's foot will probably need some attention after a delamination caused by the surface of the Mt Gravatt SHS hall.
The end of June brings a number of things to a close. We reach the winter solstice on June 21, and the financial year ends on June 30, which coincides with the end of the Queensland Kendo Renmei membership year. Kendo and Iaido practitioners should be receiving reminders of new membership dues (and if you do not, please contact me as your details may be incorrectly registered with the QKR). Please attend to your dues ASAP as it will make life much easier for the QKR executive, and in turn for yourself as well. Remember that you must be a current financial member to be covered by insurance, and to participate in any QKR/AKR events.
We are continuing to evaluate changes to the training times for Kendo and Iaido, with the possibility of adding a short Iaido session either just before Jujutsu or Kendo on the weekends. Itakura sensei also expressed interest in making a visit up to Toowoomba one Sunday morning to whip us into shape, and we still are working towards some of the senior sensei to come up and participate in a public "relaunch" of Kendo in Toowoomba.
I will be heading to Canberra in just under two weeks to visit family and participate for one session of the Iaido seminar with Nagayama sensei, which I am most looking forward to. This means that Kendo training will be without me on Sunday 11 June. However, in light of the QKR winter seminar, it may be good to still have an informal keiko that day to keep the training edge sharp.
The seminar will again be hosted on the Gold Coast, which will mean that Toowoomba-based folk and friends are most welcome to join us in getting an AirBnB rental for the Friday and Saturday nights. However, if you do wish to share accomodation, please let me know no later than the end of this week so we can look for an appropriately sized venue at a reasonable price.
If you are intending to present for grading at the seminar, you will need to have the appropriate paperwork in within the next two weeks so that I can sign off on any Kendo candidates and Tom Johnson sensei can do likewise for Iaido candidates.
Best of luck to all who are preparing for gradings. And I'd love to see absent friends and new recruits come to train with us over the coming weeks!
Keep your comments polite, on topic and succinct. Play nice and everyone benefits!.