The Wahiawa Kendo Club was founded by Mr. Akeji Kozaki (Kendo 5 Dan) in 1926 and the members included Furumizo Kato, Tanji Kawamoto, Tsukasa Muramoto and a few young students. Other leaders throughout the years included Mr. Kenji Miura in 1930. In 1981 when Kozaki Sensei passed away, Mr. Tsukasa Muramoto became the chief instructor until he retired in 1991. Mr. Iwao Sato became the chief instructor until the present time.

Mr. Iwao Sato started kendo as a second year elementary student around 1954, when the people in Japan were allowed to resume kendo after it was banned during the second world war. His father founded one of the first kendo clubs in Fukushima prefecture after the war where and other local children could study kendo.

Upon graduating from Miyagi University of Education, he reported to work at Wakamatsu Commercial High School in 1969 where he taught English. Mr. Sato would assist Mr. Jyunisho in coaching the high school students in kendo. Wakamatsu Commercial High School is traditionally strong in kendo. In fact this year, 2005, both the boys and girls teams won the championships in the Fukushima prefecture.

In 1971, he received a scholarship from the International Rotary Foundation and would travel to the United States to attend Ball State University in Indiana where he finished his masters degree specializing in "Teaching English as a foreign language " in 1972.

1974 marked the year that Mr. Sato would arrive in Honolulu due to a job opportunity with Northwest Airlines. Mr. Sato had not practiced kendo since leaving Japan until 1980 when Mr. Terushi Ueno invited him to observe practices at the Wahiawa Hongwanji Kendo Club. Even though a nine year hiatus away from kendo was difficult to return from, he still had the eagerness to resume this martial art.

In recent years Mr. Sato has been exposing Hawaii kenshis to kendo outside of the state. He has been responsible for taking the students to tournaments in Washington state and to the Steveston tournament in Canada . He enjoys teaching and learning from his students. He believes the importance of applying kendo training to their everyday lives to become better individuals in the community.

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**We also practice in Waipahu on Tuesdays with Sensei John Tamashiro**