Have you all noticed something…?
Hm?
What’s that?
There hasn’t been a single advertisement anywhere on my blog so far…
Most blogs you see online usually have some kind of ads on them, right?
Apparently, the idea is that you put ads on your blog, get people to read it, and make money at the same time.
Honestly, I still get surprised sometimes.
You’ll be reading a really serious, thoughtful article, completely absorbed in it, and then suddenly—BAM!—an ad for some erotic manga pops up out of nowhere.
Every time that happens, I react with “Aaaah! What the heck is this?!” and instantly lose all motivation to keep reading that blog. O, O, Of course, I n,n,never click on those ads to continue reading the manga or anything like that…
When those kinds of ads suddenly appear,
I panic and completely forget whatever I was reading.
I click ’em every time♡
When I started this Kendo Cat blog, I’ll confess honestly: I got swept up by those catchy phrases like, “Making $2,000 a month from blogging is totally possible!” I thought, “Hey, maybe I’ll put ads on my blog too and become fabulously wealthy without actually doing much work!”
I even spent some time studying things like what kinds of topics attract readers, how to structure blog posts, and how to place advertisements effectively.
But then I started imagining what would happen if someone kindly visited my blog and was immediately greeted by a giant close-up photo of someone’s clogged pores from a beauty ad…
Or perhaps a pest control advertisement featuring an army of slugs trapped in a sticky trap…
I just couldn’t do that to people who visit my blog…
More importantly, I worried that filling my blog with advertisements completely unrelated to kendo would destroy the carefully crafted world of Kendo Cat. Wait… I had a carefully crafted world?
Of course, you can adjust the types of ads and where they appear to some extent, but… I don’t know. It just didn’t feel right to me.
I want money, but I don’t want to do that…
And when I considered that, on my extremely niche kendo blog—which probably has a very limited readership anyway—even if I ran ads, I’d likely only make a few dollars a month at best, the whole idea of monetizing through advertisements disappeared from my mind.
After all, what I really wanted to do was…
Write endlessly about whatever happens to be on my mind,
ramble freely,
and secretly build the Great Kendo Cat Empire entirely by myself!!
That was the decision I made.
Though it’s so secret that there’s a real possibility nobody has noticed it at all.
♡BUT♡
I decided that someday, if I ever managed to create something and sell it to people all around the world, that would be the moment to advertise shamelessly and pursue my dreams of getting rich quick!
That day has finally arrived.
Ta-da!
Here is the very first advertisement ever featured on the Kendo Cat blog!
From a distance, you might accidentally think, “Wait… isn’t this just the Kendo Cat Blog?”
Well…, Though it may resemble the Kendo Cat Blog, it is definitely NOT the Kendo Cat Blog.
The name of the shop (website) is: Haru the Sewing Cat
I have officially started selling handmade shinai bags created by me truly, the Kendo Cat.
Seriously?
Since when?
We’re a tiny business with one staff (me…) and two sewing machines, but I sew every shinai bag carefully and with all my heart.
At the moment, we’re offering two collections:
- The Kimono Collection, featuring shinai bags made from traditional kimono fabrics.
- The Happy Practice Collection, featuring fabrics that I personally selected based entirely on my own questionable taste and personal bias.
If you’d like, please come take a look!
Oh! And by the way, I’ve also started writing a little blog over there too.
Feel free to visit if you have some time to kill.
In the future, besides shinai bags, I’m planning to add referee flag bags, small accessory pouches for things like athletic tape and contact lens cases, and various other items that are at least somewhat related to kendo.
And if, by some miracle, this business actually becomes profitable, I plan to:
- Buy premium cat food that’s one level fancier than usual
- Save money for my next trip to Japan
- And—though I probably shouldn’t say this too loudly—make a small donation to my dojo, which apparently operates at a deficit every month (/・ω・)/
For Kendo Cat, 2026 has become a year full of first-time challenges, including blogging and opening an online shop.
For the remaining six months of the year, I’ll continue charging forward with an “Seme!! Seme!!” spirit, devote myself to daily keiko, make sure to take proper post-practice naps, and do my best to live each day cheerfully and energetically.
And with that said…
I’m off to practice again tomorrow!
【Comment Dojo】