Many who regularly practiced with me passed Dad examination on Dec. 4th. I am especially proud of those who are older and faced younger candidates in the exam.

 

Yamada Masayuki Sensei of Iwate with his 12 year old granddaughter, Mizuki, will be in town from Jan. 6th till 14th. I am hoping that they will visit our dojo again on Jan. 11th.

 

FIK American Zone Referee Seminar will be held on Jan. 21st and 22nd in Chicago. Two persons from Hawaii will be participating. They will share what they learned later.

 

Steveston Tournament in Richmond, B.C., Canada will be on Saturday, Feb. 11th. I am trying to form Team Hawaii. Let me know soon if you want to participate.

 

Mark your calendar. Kenshikan Dojo is hosting a tournament on Saturday, Feb. 25th at Manoa District Park Gym. A few senseis from Japan will come and assist with shinpan.

 

22 Tokai University students led by Yoshimura Sensei and Amano Sensei will come on Feb. 24th. Be with them when their practice schedules become available.

 

Sasaki Hiroshi Sensei of Akita will come from Mar. 10th through 18th. He and Mrs. Sasaki have been coming and teaching us for 25 years. I am very happy that he received Certificate of Recognition from Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell for promoting goodwill through teaching kendo in Hawaii continuously. Senseis who regularly come and teach us are very precious. We should continue to welcome and extend hospitality to them so that they would repeat their visits.

 

Foreign Kendo Leaders’ Seminar also known as Gedatsu Kai Summer Camp will be held from Jul. 21st till 28th in Kitamoto, Japan. I am urging those who are eligible to take higher dan examination up to 6 Dan to go and take one after the seminar.

 

New year means time of paying Club and Federation dues. I repeat every year that paying dues and participating club activities are very important for members. Let me know if you do not know how much. I want to finish collecting dues by the end of Feb.

 

As soon as I walked into the Gym where Pacific Northwest Kendo Federation Tournament was held, Mrs. DeJong handed me an envelope. The envelope was a thank you note contained two pictures. One was nine years ago, when her 3 daughters, Erica, Melanie and Jennifer were small kendo beginners joined by Hawaii boys, James Okada and Seth DeNardi to form a junior team and placed in Team Matches, no one expected. Other picture was her family, daughters grew up to young, beautiful ladies, with Murayama Chinatsu Sensei of Saitama. She thanked me that kendo influenced her daughters positively for their well-being. All these 5 former teammates never quit kendo and became wonderful, aspiring persons. It is the best reward a kendo sensei can get.