KENDO GUEST INSTRUCTOR HOLDS SEMINAR AT THE SHIDOKAN MARTIAL ARTS CENTER

9 August 2004

The Yamakaze Kendo Club of the Shidokan Martial Arts Center, was host to a special seminar from senior Kendo-ka, Alexander Hourahine of the Cambridge Martial Arts Center.

Mr. Hourahine, who is a direct student of one of Ontario's most respected Master Kendo Instructors, Mr. T. Hoegi, conducted several training sessions over the week from July 31 to August 7.

Yamakaze Club Instructor, Les Nyffeler, said that "Mr. Hourahine did an exceptional job! He took us through several months worth of material in just a few days. This was a great tune up for everyone, from beginner's to advanced kendoka. We were very lucky to be able to have Sempai Hourahine come here."

Kendo is the sport of Japanese fencing, and uses a "shinai" (a special sword made of split bamboo and leather fittings) as well as "bogu" (a light weight armor) which is only used at intermediate and advanced levels.

Hourahine led the Yamakaze Kendo-ka through hundreds and hundreds of different practice strokes, from many different traditional drills, and reviewed the various training and technical points of each with the club instructors.

The local Yamakaze Kendo Club will be holding registration for classes starting in September. Training sessions will be on Thursday evenings from 7pm to 9pm, and on Saturday afternoons from 3pm to 5pm.

The Yamakaze Club trains in Kendo (Sport) as well as Iaido, which Nyffeler sensei calls, "Japanese quick draw". He says, "I suppose I shouldn't be cracking jokes about Iaido that way, but the analogy is a very good one - two samurai warriors meet, and face off just like the old movie westerns - then one goes for his blade, and in a instant one or both are dead! Of course, then there is the addition of centuries of specific, stylized skill training, and you have an idea of what modern Iaido is like."