Yaegaki-Kai

9th Iaido Koryu Seminar 2010. – Date 27,28,29/08/2010. The 9th Edition of the Iaido Koryu Seminar led by Oda Katsuo sensei held this year from the 27/08 until 29/08, the seminar will be organised as part of the ABKF Summer Seminar 2010 and will be located near Brussels – Louvain La Neuve.5 Senseis will be […]

The katana part called hamon – 刃文 literally translated in Japanese as “blade pattern” is the effect created by the hardening process. The blade created using this hardening process called Yaki-ire will result in different metal hardness on the Ha and Mune parts. Read more about Yaki-ire »

Having this year the opportunity to be present in Japan for the 106th Kyoto taikai. I thought it would be nice to gather some information about that mythic event. The Zen Nippon Kendo Embu Taikai (better known as The Kyoto taikai) takes place in the Butokuden (武徳殿) in Kyoto city. The Butokuden construction started in […]

Iaido Judging Guidelines for seitei iai – All Japan Kendo Federation Iai Shinsa. Those points are coming from the 2002 version of the ZNKR (All Japan Kendo Federation) Iai Booklet which is focusing on the major points to respect. Of course there are many other points to take care of. Even not speaking about deeper […]

In Budo, maybe more specifically in sword/katana related arts, there is an important term/concept which is Heijoshin. Heijoshin is a three kanji word, the first one “Hei” means calm, peaceful, steady. The second one “jo” means always, constant. The third one “Shin” means mind or hearth, the whole inner essence of the individual. So a […]

An informative and rich article by Lorenzo Zago (7th dan Renshi Kendo) focusing on 2 terms seme and tame. In this article Seme is defined as the state in which an unrelenting, determined position of advantage is maintained on the opponent (an other could be -> the retention of superiority in relation to an enemy) […]

Kumitachi (組太刀) are paired practice (2 Man Forms). Different paired sets exists and have a high incidence of striking, grappling and disarms. Some waza use both long (ōdachi) and short (kodachi) swords. Some waza begin with swords drawn; others begin with swords sheathed and employ nukitsuke (drawing) techniques. Typically these forms are performed using bokutō; […]