Yaegaki-Kai

It has been 10 years now that a bunch of determined Budoka created the Brussels Yaegaki-kai. Since then we welcomed many people. Some of them training for some month or years. Others still with us.

When we started the Dojo it was clear in our mind what we wanted to achieve. Create a place where of course we could learn Iaido/Budo following the teaching of our teacher Oda sensei but also where we could instill a friendly atmosphere rid of any day to day tensions. A place where while harshly training, focusing with all our soul in the keiko we could for some time forget the hazard of life and enjoy the present moment.

On our route some joined us following Oda sensei’s teaching such as Iaido Gent. Others extended Oda sensei’s teaching to countries outside Belgium such as Spiros D. who founded the Furyu dojo in Athens, Greece.

Afterthought 2 Japanese idioms/virtues could describe what we had in mind:

– Hyakuren Jitoku (百錬自得)
“By practising something over and over, you will naturally come to master it.”

– Seiken Shiai (正剣是愛)
“Cross swords and know love.”

After a few years we choosed our 3 Kanji motto: Courage – Chance – Clumsiness. I’ll try to explain it in regard of this 10 years context.

Courage: Is not the kind of courage we could think of. It is not the one used on the battlefield or in any dangerous situation. It is the day to day courage, the one you have when after having a tiring day at work, problems at home or with family and that you are not really in the mood to go to the keik and that even this you move your ass and go for training. Keiko after keiko, month after month, years after years. This is the courage we are talking about.

Chance: Here we are talking about the chance to meet the right persons. During these 10 years we met so many people some of them becoming more than just budo pall, they became our friends.

Clumsiness: Maybe the strangest word. It is here to highlight/remind the fact that everybody make mistakes and that it is by learning from these mistakes that we get better in budo and life. So mistakes should not be directly linked to failure but also to the chance to improve and learn the way.

We wish our Dojo long live …