Yaegaki-Kai

A bōnenkai (忘年会) literally “forget the year gathering” is a Japanese drinking party that takes place at the end of the year, and is generally held among groups of friends or co-workers. This year the Yaegaki kai gathered at Japanese restaurant – Senraku – to celebrate a rich 2011 year, full of hard renshu and every day dedication of everybody at keiko. 2011 is not yet finished but now was a good time to relax and celebrate. Party was great, good food and nice drinks (Beer/Shōchū 焼酎/Nihonshu 日本酒). Already time to plan the Shinnenkai (新年会) ? Yeahhh …

Great results for the Belgian Team at the 18th European Iaido Championship 2011 in Andorra !!!

Two days of seminar with 22 countries represented and more than 200 participants, everybody in the Belgian team so happy to meet all European Iaido friends and receive the teaching of 3 Iaido 8th dan Hanshi sensei: Kawaguchi sensei, Kusama sensei and Kamikokuryo sensei.

An intense individual and team competition with great results: 1x Gold, 2x Silver and 3x Bronze medals. Shodan Gold for Valentin and Bronze for Rowan, Nidan Bronze for Tom, Sandan Bronze for Jonathan, Yondan Silver for Yuki, Godan Silver for Michaël + Examination success with 2 new nidan for Valentin and Rowan and sandan for Tom. In the Team competition Belgium (Valentin, Jonathan, Michaël, Yuki) won the Bronze medal …

A great week-end for the Brussels Yaegaki-kai and our brother’s dojos: 5th dan Michaël S. Silver medal, 4th dan Yuki K. Silver medal and Greg got to the 1/8th finals. Kendo Gent: 1st dan Valentin V. Gold medal, Furyu Dojo Athens 4th dan Michael P. Bronze medal. Oda sensei is very happy 🙂

Gradings were difficult starting from Yondan with only 1 on 35 candidates succeeding: 1/10 passed for Yondan, 0/1 Passed for Godan , 0/17 passed for Rokudan, 0/7 passed for Nanadan

Belgian Iaido Delegation

Congratulations everybody !!! Let’s continue to train hard. Gambatte !!!

You will find very soon I hope all the detailed charts and results on the EIC 2011 website

10th Anniversary Edition
The 10th Edition of the ABKF Koryu Seminar was held the 26-27-28 august 2011. The seminar was organised as part of the ABKF Summer Seminar 2011 and was located in Louvain La Neuve.

The 10th edition was a success thanks to our faithful Japanese sensei delegation composed of Oda K. 8th Dan Hanshi – Katsumata K. 8th Dan Kyoshi – Furuichi N. 8th Dan Kyoshi – Tsuchiya H. 7th Dan Kyoshi and the help of the koryu seminar staff.

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For those of you who are TV series addicts and more precisely fan of the ongoing “Game of throne” will be intrigued by this post title. Yes summer holiday is coming …

Our last 2010-2011 season Keiko will occur this Thursday 30 June and the new season 2011-2012 will start on Tuesday 2 August 2011. Our last trainings are now dedicated to practice sessions with more kumitachi (kendo no kata – tachi uchi no kurai) and serious Kihon renshu. And for our very last training days we decided to prepare some tameshigiri/shizan (試し斬), Shito (試刀) session.

So this sunday morning we rolled tatami omote, making sure our future victims were tightly rolled and ready for a safe and rewarding cutting session. Tameshigiri historically defines a method used for testing swords quality. In our modern time, the practice of tameshigiri has come to focus on testing the swordsman’s abilities, rather than the sword’s.

Tameshigiri is not a goal in itself, but it is an excellent method to work on the cutting dynamic, correct hasuji, tenouchi usage while cutting hard target and understand the natural efficiency of the Katana as highlighted in our previous Datsuryokou tōhō post.

When we hear the words “Martial arts”, generally the first disciplines that come to our mind are probably Judo, Karatedo, Iaido, Kendo, Jodo, Jujutsu, Aikido, Kung fu and many others mostly related to Asia. I guess most of us are aware of the Asian martial arts richness but what about Western martial arts ? Are they still practised today ? what historical material/knowledge are they based on ? what weapons, sword types and techniques are used ?

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Brussels Yaegaki-kai Kyu grading – Date 12/06/2011. 6x Yaegaki-Kai members successfully passed their Kyu grading. Congratulation to:

Isabelle – 2th Kyu Iaido
Luc – 2th Kyu Iaido
Christian – 2th Kyu Iaido
Thuy – 2th Kyu Iaido
Grégory – 2th Kyu Iaido
Pierre – 4th Kyu Iaido

10th Iaido Koryu Seminar 2011.
– Date 26,27,28/08/2011.
The 10th Edition of the Iaido Koryu Seminar is held this year from the 26/08 until 28/08. The seminar is organised as part of the ABKF Summer Seminar 2011 and will be located in Louvain La Neuve. 4 Senseis will be present:

ODA K. – 8th Dan Hanshi – Eishin Ryu
KATSUMATA K. – 8th Dan Kyoshi – Tamiya Ryu
FURUICHI N. – 8th Dan Kyoshi – Muso Shinden Ryu
TSUCHIYA N. – 7th Dan Kyoshi – Eishin Ryu