Photo courtesy of T. Patana, Kendo Photography Last weekend a few of my dojo mates and I loaded up and headed to Seattle for the 44th Annual PNKF Taikai. This is the biggest tournament in our region and sees many, many people from not only around our federation but also from Canada, Hawaii and beyond. This year I heard we had around 300 participants and welcomed a couple of new participating dojos, including a new dojo from Canada and from as far away as New Jersey. Our trip to the tournament began the day before. Friday three of us headed over for training at Bellevue Kendo Club. J Marsten Sensei welcomed us with greetings and a good, hard practice. I picked up some new things to try for my own improvement, and after warm-ups and some basic drills we broke into open floor. I was able to practice with some of my long time friends before I was grabbed by one of the members and pulled over to own line. I relished the chance to practice with her, since I haven't had a ch
One man's Kendo journey