Shinai practice
Mental Why Do I Practice with My Sensei?
The other day, during the last 30 seconds of practice, I did aiuchi-men practice (mutual men practice).My practice partn...
Footwork Do We Ever Graduate from Beginner Practice?
My dojo is a dojo for “adult beginners.”It is a very small dojo, but every few months or so, a new student joins us.At m...
Mental I’m on a journey to find my voice
When did it start?I wonder when I first began thinking about kisei...When I think about it, kisei is actually one of the...
Mental My Other Teacher: “🌸The Beginner🌸”
Lately, my blog posts have been getting longer and longer... Are you free right now?Are you sure it's okay to start read...
Mental Why Do I Compete in Tournaments?
Last week turned into a "mitori-keiko (watching practice) week" for me for the first time in quite a while.The reason wa...
Mental A Big Question: What Exactly Is Shinai Kendo?
Hello everyone! It's Haru, the Kendo Cat!For the past few months, I've apparently been known as the ♡Kiken-tai no Icchi ...
Shinai practice Learning Kendo Through Sewing (Part 1)
It’s been a little while — Kendo Cat Haru-chan here.Many years ago, after I moved to Hawaii, I ran into a problem. I had...
Kata practice Two Roles in One: The Chopstick Method
One of the things I aim for, both in Nippon Kendo Kata and in shinai kendo, is “to feel the opponent.”The person standin...
Mental Adult Method / Child Method
At last, I’ve started to even have nightmares about achieving ki-ken-tai no icchi in my dreams. This is Haru-chan, also ...
Shinai practice Ki-ken-tai no icchi from Beginning to End
Hello, it’s Haru-chan, your ever-familiar self-proclaimed “ki-ken-tai no icchi neurosis” cat.Today, while continuing my ...
Shinai practice Rain or Shine, One beat!
Today, after practicing basic Ippon uchi no waza (one-strike techniques) for men, kote, and dō, I moved on to jigeiko.It...
Others Waaaaah! I can’t take this anymore!
Sometimes during keiko, I just want to claw at my head and scream:“Waaaaah! I can’t take this anymore!”Even though my se...
Shinai practice The role of jigeiko
I went to practice again today, full of energy as always.I mentioned this in another blog entry before, but when I do je...
Mental The difficulty of letting go of past success
Wow—five days have passed since I made this blog public to the whole world.Even though the number of readers is still sm...
Mental What I can gain from Degeiko
Wow… yesterday I finally launched the Kendo Cat Blog ♡ to the whole world! My heart was pounding like crazy!But when I t...
Mental The Day I Thanked Kendo
Before I knew it, I had written 30 posts on the Kendo Cat Blog, even though I update it only irregularly.I had told myse...