Volume 32, number 10/11
October/November 2018
PNKF DATEBOOK
November 2018
- 11/16: Jodo Seminar, Fri, 6:30-9:30pm, Hastings Community Centre, 3096 E. Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC.
- 11/17: Jodo Seminar, Sat, 1:30-5:30pm, SHIFT Movement and Healing Arts, 3517 Stone Way N., Seattle
- 11/17: PNKF Board meeting, 9-11am, Sat, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 1610 S. King Street, Seattle.
December 2018
- 12/8: Kent Taikai, Sat, Kent Commons Recreational Center, 525 4th Avenue N. (corner of 4th and James St.) Kent.
- 12/8: Jodo Seminar, Sat, 10am-4pm, Portland, TBD.
- 12/9: Jodo Seminar, Sun, 9am-12noon, Portland, TBD.
- 12/9: Jodo Shinsa, Seattle, TBD.
April 2019
- 4/6: AUSKF Junior Open National Championships, Sat, South Forsyth High School, 585 Peachtree Parkway,
Cumming, Georgia 30041 http://auskf-jrnationals.com/.
June 2019
- 6/14-6/15-6/16: 12th Annual US Nito Kendo Summer Camp, Fri/Sat/Sun, College of Idaho, Caldwell, Idaho.
July 2019
- 7/6-7/13: 7th North American Women’s Kendo Tournament and Seminar, with Chinatsu Murayama Sensei, Renshi 7th Dan, 5-time All Japan Women’s Kendo Champion. Seminar: 7/6-7/11 Sat-Thu; Godo Keiko: 7/12; Taikai: 7/13, Sat, Bitterlake Community Center Annex, Sno-King Kendo Club, 13052 Greenwood Ave N., Seattle, WA 98133
CANADIAN KENDO FEDERATION 2018 MCGILL KENDO TAIKAI – July 17, 2018, Montreal, Quebec
Mudansha-Shodan Women 1st place - Kathy La, Mississauga 1st place - Hanaca Yamada, Vancouver 2nd place - Etienne Matieu, Granby 2nd place - Bora Choi, Jung Ko Kendo 3rd place - Ryan Evans, York U 3rd place - Noriko Imaizumi, Granby 3rd place - Luke Pham, U Toronto 3rd place - Alysha Hum, Shidokan Nidan-Sandan Yondan and Up 1st place - Rahmil Mustafa, U Toronto 1st place - Kyle Eunseob Lee, Chinook 2nd place - Yun Bao, JCCC 2nd place - Inseo Park, Jung Ko Kendo 3rd place - Daniel Lau, Carleton 3rd place - Tuan Anh Hoang, McGill U 3rd place - Patrick Kim, GSK 3rd place - Julio Kenji Toida, Montreal Team Division 1st place - Team Canada Kendo Men 2nd place - Garden State Kendo Alliance 3rd place - McGill University 1 3rd place - Jung Ko Kendo Fighting Spirit Women - Joanna Asare, JCCC Fighting Spirit Men - Matthew Ricci, Hamilton Kendo Club
44th PNKF TAIKAI – November 3, 2018, Kent Commons Recreational Center, 525 4th Avenue N., Kent
10 Years and Under 11-12 Years 1st place – N. Son, Renbu 1st place – A. Mabale, Seattle 2nd place – I. Hwang, Renbu 2nd place – DV Chung, Cascade 3rd place – T. Okurano, Youshinkan 3rd place – A. Yuen, Seattle 3rd place – A. Kobayashi, Youshinkan 3rd place – S. Kim, Seattle 13-15 Years 0-4 Kyu 1st place – C. Robillard, Steveston 1st place – L. Bobadilla, Oregon State U 2nd place – A. Son, Renbu 2nd place – A. Kim, Bellevue 3rd place – L. Ohata, Bellevue 3rd place – B. Wong, UW 3rd place – O. Benson, Youshinkan 3rd place – T. Elliott, Spokane Women’s Kyu Women’s Dan 1st place – S. Lowes, UBC 1st place – B. Park, Bellevue 2nd place – E. Midorikawa, UW 2nd place – R. Ono, Hawaii 3rd place – R. Allen, Portland 3rd place – M. Oya, Palouse 3rd place – Y. Gao, Oregon State U 3rd place – W. Robillard, Steveson 1-3 Kyu 1-2 Dan 1st place – J. Jeon, Bellevue 1st place – YA Chen, UBC 2nd place – M. Miyamoto, Northwest 2nd place – P. Kim, Garden State 3rd place – T. Miyamoto, Northwest 3rd place – H. Shim, Renbu 3rd place – J. Tang, Langara 3rd place – J. Jeong, Youshinkan 3 Dan 4 Dan and Above 1st place – T. Marsten, Kent 1st place – S. Harris, Hawaii 2nd place – I. Miki, Steveston 2nd place – N. Tanimura, Seattle 3rd place – A. Fujii, UW 3rd place – G. Suzaka, Seattle 3rd place – D. Miura, Hawaii 3rd place – L. Hancock, Hawaii Junior Teams 1st place – Seattle (S. Kim, A. Yueh, A. Mabale, E. Kim, KY Hale) 2nd place – Renbu A (N. Son, E. Cho, A. Son, H. Homma, K. Squance) 3rd place – Bellevue A (H. Koob, T. Chu, L. Ohata, T. Koob, K. Takamatsu) 3rd place – Youshinkan (M. Shirai, F. Benson, T. Okurano, O. Benson, H. Asaoka) Senior Teams 1st place – Hawaii (D. Miura, R. Ono, L. Hancock, S. Harris, A. Fujimoto) 2nd place – Renbu (H. Shim, Y. Hayashi, J. Kurahashi, E. Lee, O. Young) 3rd place – Youshinkan (J. Jeong, J. Schmidt, K. Kobayashi, J. Chien, T. Nakamura) 3rd place – Sno-King (M. Scott, M. Suzuki, N. Grimes, T. Tagami, T. Patana) Shinpan Sho – Shinichi Koike Sportsmanship Pledge – Keigo Underhill, Northwest Shoji Award – Josh Kim, Kent Presidential Service Award – Mary DeJong, Highline
SHINKYU SHINSA
AUSKF KODANSHA SHINSA, August 19, 2018, Las Vegas, Nevada 5TH DAN: Wayne Kikuo Abe (PNKF), Hoon Chang (AEUSKF), Sean Choi (NCKF), So Young Choi (SCKO), Tiana Cirkovic (SEUSKF), Kenichi G. Kamimoto (SCKO), Won Kim (AEUSKF), George Lee (SCKO), Jaeyeon Lee (AEUSKF), Lewis Franklin Murphy (GNEUSKF), Sara Tominaga (GNEUSKF). 6TH DAN: Steve Sang Hyun Choi (PNKF), Yoshiyuki Goya (SCKF), Zia Uddin (MWKF). 7TH DAN: Sandip Ghodgaonkar Maruyama (SCKO), Yuji Hosokawa (SCKF), Sang Hwan Huh (SCKF). RENSHI: Ken Ikeda (SCKO), Yukiko Miura (SCKO), Youn-soo Shin (SCKO).
THE LAST WORD
I was put in charge, as an officer, of training new troops. They were young, too young in fact. Teenagers were called to fill the need for more soldiers. And because they were young, they were not only vigorous but also cocky. One day I was running in the lead during our morning exercises. One of the sergeants informed me that some recruits were complaining that it wasn’t fair that Omoto Minari Shikan carried only a light sword, but the recruits had to carry heavy rifles and machine guns. The next day, immediately after leaving the barracks, I yelled “Kake Ashi! (run!). Give me your machine gun and follow me.” We ran full speed. I left one soldier sergeant to follow at the rear and pick up all those who dropped out. At the end of the training run, many of the young kids had dropped out. I was never criticized again. And they had learned a lesson. There is a Japanese doll, the “daruma.” Knock it down and comes back up. There is an old Japanese saying, “Nan Na Korobi Ya Oki.” It means seven times knocked down, get up on the eighth! This is the way of the soldier, but when soldiers are still children, it is a difficult requirement. My Kendo training helped me to endure. I learned about “intent” to firmly focus only upon the present task, to firmly commit with absolute resolve, and thereby to win. And with meditation, I knew how to refresh my body, to relax and recuperate.
My training now was to learn to operate and repair Toyota 6- cylinder trucks. This was easy, for just as my father had been a blacksmith, so he had also repaired all parts of the Model T Ford and modified other sedans to use as cooler trucks for fruit, vegetable and fresh fish peddlers, I was familiar with mechanical repairs. After basic learning, I was sent on a winter convoy (Jidosha Taikan Kogun) for more truck experience. After traveling for three days on the long convoy route through the remote countryside of Hiroshima, we stopped near a large brewery with huge tubs of sake. This became a great celebration. Our spirits were lifted by a party; that cold evening we were warmed by sake in a brief respite from the harshness of life as soldiers. Our rations provided basic nutrition and did not include sake and no parties or R & R leave. The next morning, after filling our canteens with sake instead of water, we continued our travel. It was my turn to be flag man, moving between the trucks and to communicate to the truck in the rear distances and road conditions. I didn’t think I was very lucky to pull this duty because it was cold, and all the other soldiers were under the canvas, taking it easy with sake filled canteens. The trucks were loaded with three 50-gallon drums filled with fuel alcohol because Japan had almost completely run out of gasoline. Certainly none could be spared for military exercises.
As we were slowly moving on a narrow snow covered road, my truck started to skid toward the left side. All of a sudden the left front wheel ran off the road and started tipping over the cliff. Instinctively, I put my hands on the rail on the right side and somersaulted onto the road. I desperately tried to hang onto the edge of the road but failed and started sliding down a steep cliff until I caught a branch of a small tree about midway from the road and the rice paddy at least thirty feet below. I suffered scratches and bruises. Everyone inside was crushed by the truck and the 50-gallon fuel drums. Many hours later the ambulance came with stretchers. Not only did I survive the plunge, but as a bonus, I got a ride on the stretcher to the ambulance and safety.
Sometimes I wonder whether this reflexive response was due to Kendo training. Kendo is all offensive resolute action. Training hones the reflexes so that action is instantaneous, without thought. The greatest risk come with hesitation, when nerve is briefly lost. Survival depends on boldness. I had, of course, learned the strategy of examining my environment and was ready for the cliff, and I was in good physical shape, but without Kendo training, I’m not sure my response would have been quick enough to save my life.
But sometimes action is not the best approach. When I returned to Hiroshima, I was assigned to a look-out on top of a roof for air raid watch. As always, I considered my surroundings; our base was darkened to avoid being identified as a target. A group of American bombers flew over my head almost close enough to touch. I didn’t shoot. Had I done so, the entire barracks area would have been discovered and bombed. But it may have been destroyed anyway if we had already been noted as the target. In that case, by not alerting our defenses, if I had survived, I would have been held responsible and likely executed, certainly I would have been utterly disgraced. I was very lucky, because there was another, completely unacceptable reason I didn’t shoot. Walter was my childhood friend in Wahiawa and I knew he, and other friends I had grown up with, were all fighting on the American side. If I had shot, would I kill Walter? I couldn’t shoot. I would rather have been shamed and executed. I could never have lived knowing I had killed one of my friends, even if from the distance of modern warfare. To have killed Walter would have destroyed my spirit and made life unbearable. Boot camp training does not teach how to deal with such regret.
–Rod Nobuto Omoto, Autobiography, edited by Charlotte Omoto, 2014, p. 36-37. Available as free download at lulu.com.
Kenyu – Monthly Newsletter of the Pacific Northwest Kendo Federation PLEASE NOTE: Kenyu Online IS THE EDITION OF RECORD FOR THIS NEWSLETTER – https://www.pnkf.org/ Tom Bolling, Editor – 7318 23rd Avenue N.E., Seattle, WA 98115