Keiko: A Kenshi's Journey

 I look up to a lot of people in kendo.  Some of them I've met and know personally.  Some of them I've only seen in videos or read about in magazines or online.  But there are some that I've dubbed my "Kendo Heroes" (working on coining that term!).  These are people whose skills on the floor are things of beauty to me, and I would love to attain someday in my own training.  People that stand out from the rest, in my opinion, and offer not only entertainment to watch but also goals to achieve for myself. One of the first heroes I happened upon was none other than Masahiro Miyazaki.  I'm sure everyone has at least heard his name before, but if not, go find him.  You won't be disappointed.  He won the All Japan Kendo Championships seven times, if I remember correctly, and is continuing to show strong finishes in the All Japan 8-dan Championships these days.  He is, in my opinion, a living kendo legend, and his technique is amazing....

We are officially out of the old dojo and into our new (temporary) location in the valley.  Fortunately we were able to keep the same schedule in the same location, instead of having to change the training days and/or locations throughout the week.  We were also able to continue training from the old dojo to the new location without missing a beat, as we only took a day off for Independence Day last week before we were back at it that weekend.  All is not fun and games, though, depending on how you look at it.  The new location comes with its own challenges and we're all going to go through some growing pains as we adjust and learn to use the space effectively.  This change has made me think about the way I train and how to put a positive spin on it and use it to continue to improve, hence the reason for this post!  Hopefully this will shed some light on my thought process when it comes to training in conditions that aren't ideal or optimal.  T...

  This past Monday was our last practice at our dojo.  The owners are tearing down the entire building soon.  Fortunately, we have a new spot already lined up, and we start practices up again on our normal schedule of Monday, Wednesday, Saturday, but it will take a little time to adjust to the new location.  Not just because it's a farther drive for me, but the whole feeling of the dojo will be different for a while.  We'll have to get used to an entirely new floor, new space, where to park, where to change, etc.  Anyone that has gone through a change in locations knows this. This will be the fourth location we've trained in since I started in 2009.  We started out at a small church gym just down the road from the location we were at recently.  I remember the floor wasn't the greatest for kendo, and we ended up having to patch it up several times because the boards would break.  It got so bad that the church had to come in and re-do the ...