Keiko: A Kenshi's Journey

Photo courtesy of T. Imanishi   What a whirlwind year 2019 was for me.  It seemed to come and go quicker than I've ever seen in prior years.  One minute I was ringing in the new year, and now I stand on the edge of this year, not to mention this decade.  2019 brought a lot of changes for me, both big and small.  I started a new job, which I'm thoroughly enjoying.  I was able to start traveling again, which I've always loved to do (even if it is for work).  We have not one but two new venues for training here in Spokane and were able to finish out the last few months strong, even though we had a bit of a lull in training due to no dojo.  Despite that, though, I was still able to clock 92 days of training this year.  Not bad for not having our own dojo for six months, I think.  I'll be shooting to break that number next year! One of my biggest wins this year, personally, was the fact that I consistently did suburi every single day.  I'm part of a group on Fac

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to travel to Dallas, TX for a week for work.  Being me, I brought my bogu and shinai, of course, and planned on using my free evenings to check out the local kendo.  I was not disappointed.  I was able to get in four trainings total, amongst two different dojos. My first night of training was with the fine folks at Dallas Fort Worth.  Ichimura Sensei and company were very friendly and accepted me in for training.  I made some fast friends and enjoyed keiko with many students and teachers.  Cooper Sensei struck me as very jovial, both inside and outside of practice, and I had a wonderful time exchanging attacks and conversation with him.  I put forth my best efforts, and appreciated getting to see and experience kendo way outside of my comfort zone in the PNKF region.  The two hour class went quick, but I had a couple more practices lined up there so I looked forward to visiting again. My next training was at Plano Dojo, home of Chris Yang Sen