Volume 23, number 12
December 2009
A touring group of five members of the All Japan champion team, plus one male individual champion, one female individual champion, and one other, will be visiting Seattle Tuesday and Wednesday, March 23 and 24. They will be accompanied by three adults including Kendo Hanshi 8th Dan Ota Tadanori Sensei, who has previously visited Seattle. There will be homestay opportunities for families who may wish to host these youth. More details will be coming soon.
The 4th PNKF Women's Kendo Tournament and Seminar will tentatively take place June 19 through 26, 2010. Tournament is June 26, 9:30am, at Renton Community Center, 1715 Maple Valley Highway. Seminar is tentatively June 19 through 25, at Bitter Lake Community Center, 13052 Greenwood Avenue N., Seattle. Kendo Renshi 6th Dan Mayumi Katsura will be the guest instructor. The Seminar is open to women kenshi from outside Federations as well as PNKF women. Full information at http://womenskendo.com/
The AUSKF Junior Open Championship will be held on July 24/25, Sat/Sun, in Santa Clara, California. Individual Championships will be open to all participants and Team Championships will consist of two teams per Federation. Further details will be distributed soon.
1st place - Phil Lin, Bellevue 2nd place - Jeff Lamb, Spokane 3rd place - Kathy Liao, Sno-King 3rd place - Ian Morgan, Puyallup 4th place - Tyler Ernst, Bellevue 4th place - Matthew Larson, Sno-King 4th place - Matt Wolf, Spokane 4th place - Christian H. Kim, Bellevue TEAMS 1st place - Bellevue 37 points 2nd place - Spokane 27 points 3rd place - Sno-King 15 points
Mudansha 1-2 Dan 1st place - Willy Yang, JCCC 1st place - Kevin Lee, York U 2nd place - Christopher Piggott, JCCC 2nd place - Dong Hun Lee, McGill U 3rd place - Wai Hei Tse, U Western Ontario 3rd place - Hugo Chavez, McGill U 3rd place - Michael Schoenhoffer, Ottawa 3rd place - Serge Antonenok, JCCC 3 Dan and Above Teams 1st place - Jin Whan Lee, Jungko Mississauga 1st place - JCCC "A" 2nd place - Yosuke Kunihiro, U Waterloo 2nd place - McGill University "A" 3rd place - Yoichi Kumagai, U Waterloo 3rd place - Toronto "A" 3rd place - Hideki Sumi, JCCC 3rd place - Jungko Mississauga Fighting Spirit: Ivana Babarab, U Waterloo Best Match: Junko Ariyama, Montreal vs. Shingo Morita, Detroit
AUSKF KENDO SHINSA, November 8, 2009
5TH DAN: Keun-Sung Lee (SCKO), Agustin Dionicio Martinez (NCKF), Shingo Morita (MWKF), Chul Joo Pak (SCKO), Robert Peterson (PNKF), Yasuyuki Shimada (NCKF), Youn Soo Shin (SCKO), Thomas John Tew (SCKF), Jin Echizenya Yamada (NCKF).
6TH DAN: Kevin Tadasu Abe (SCKF), Yuji Jeremy Hosokawa (SCKF), Junya Iwasaki (MWKF), Moonil P. Kang (SCKF).
7TH DAN: Arnold Matsuda (NCKF).
RENSHI: Seiji Mamiya (SCKO), Saeko Tew (SCKF), Christopher E.J. Yang (SCKF).
KYOSHI: Katsuo Chinen (SCKF), Charles Lu (PNKF), Takao Shoraku (SCKF).
CANADIAN KENDO FEDERATION KENDO SHINSA, November 28, 2009, Steveston
2ND DAN: Stephen Matsuba (Vancouver).
3RD DAN: Misato Hamanaka (UBC).
5TH DAN: Maya Taguchi (Renfrew).
CANADIAN KENDO FEDERATION KENDO SHINSA, November 29, 2009, Etobicoke
1ST DAN: Pei Hang (U Waterloo), Cammy Woo (Mississauga).
2ND DAN: Anthony Seung-Hyuk Roh (York U).
3RD DAN: Sara Joseph (U Victoria), Man-San Ma (Sei Do Kai).
5TH DAN: Yoichi Kumagai (U Waterloo), Yuko Miyamoto (Toronto), Corie Namba (Manitoba), Lawrence Tsuji (JCCC).
The Act of Seme. Generally speaking, seme is explained with the teaching of san-sappo (killing the spirit, killing the sword, and killing the waza). Put plainly, seme is the process of searching for a way to break the deadlock of kamae, putting yourself in an advantageous situation, from where you produce an opportunity to execute a valid strike. In Kendo it is often said, "win then strike" -- it is at the stage of seme that you must win before striking.
"Producing an opportunity to strike" means creatively and dynamically hunting for openings. In other words, searching for movements or shortcomings in your opponent. This not just passively watching for an opponent's shortcomings or movements, but should be an active, progressive process of creating openings and striking opportunities.
An opening can be one that is manifest, i.e. has form, such as an external physical deterioration of kamae, or formless, such as an internal psychologlogical weakness in kamae. External form and internal psyche are opposite sides of the same coin: external form will influence the psyche and, conversely, psychological state will be manifest in outward appearance. If the opponent's kamae is steadfast and strong with no openings, then executing an attack will be futile. Firstly, the opponent's kamae must be broken or unsettled thereby creating an opening for attack. The opponent "must be beaten before being struck."
The main factors in searching for a way to break the deadlock of kamae and putting yourself in a situation to execute a valid strike, i.e. the main factors of seme, are considered to be: Taking the lead by spirit (ki), dominating the centre and adopting an advantageous distance (ma-ai). One might define "taking the lead by ki" as "a concentration of the will to win" -- not winning by striking, but winning the phase prior to striking -- "achieving ki superiority" or "winning by kizeme." "Dominating the centre" involves keeping the tip of your sword pointing at the centre of your opponent, whilst keeping his sword tip away from your own centre. Maintaining control of, or defending your own centre will, of itself, destroy your opponent's centre and open them up for attack.
--Oya Minoru, "Central Issues in the Instruction of Kendo," Budo Perspectives, pp. 205-206.