2009 2008 All-Japan Kendo Champion - Kenji Shodai - Nov 19, 2009: The Southern United States Kendo and Iaido Federation and the Houston Budokan hosted Kenji Shodai, winner of the 2008 All-Japan Kendo Championships. Joe and Marco attended the practice and experienced first-hand the incredible speed of Shodai Sensei's katate kote from jodan. Shodai Sensei very kindly received kote-men from all of the beginners not yet in bogu - so the beginners got to do something pretty much no one else got to do!
8th Longhorn Invitational Team Kendo Taikai - Oct 25, 2009: Congrats to Highline Kendo from PNKF on winning the taikai! RCIKK lost to last year's winner ANKL in the quarter finals.
UTSA Asian Resources Fair - Oct 23, 2009: RCIKK was asked to participate in the Asian Resources Fair at UTSA. The Fair was sponsored by the East Asia Institute.
10th Anniversary - Jul 25, 2009: Gosh, where does the time fly?!? River City Iaido and Kendo Kyokai is now ten years old, which may not seem long for some schools, but is just great in the heart of Texas.
AUSKF Kendo Summer Camp - Jul 17 - 19, 2009: Held in Memphis, Tennessee. Congratulations to Baena Sensei on passing yondan in kendo and to our own Marco Garcia for passing sandan in kendo! We really have to thank our former guest instructors like Baena Sensei and our wonderful kendo leader Ron Jobo for making these advancements possible.
AUSKF Iaido Summer Camp - Jun 18 - 21, 2009: This year's annual training "camp" for iaido was held in Meridian, Idaho - timed so that we could also join the Meridian Dairy Days Parade between painful days of training hard. Thanks to Stroud Sensei, his many local students, and friends and supporters from around the country, the event was well planned and executed. And did we mention fun? No one will soon forget our special guest instructors dancing in a circle with the Oinkare Basque Dancers. Instructors from Japan: Kishimoto Sensei (Iaido: 8 Dan Hanshi)
Additional images: Dennis Ralutin's photos
SWKIF Spring Kendo Shinsa - Apr 26, 2009: Congratulations to David Cooper (of Dallas) and Roger Bennet (of Houston) on passing yondan in kendo, and to our own Joe Sheldon on passing sandan in kendo! Special thanks to Stroud Sensei who also spent invaluable time with Joe teaching tips about kendo kata.
Musashi-Kai Nito Kendo Seminar - Apr 25 & 26, 2009: Ron Jobo attended a Nito Kendo seminar hosted by the Northern Virginia Budokai Kendo club. We think he had fun!
SUSKIF Kendo Seminar and Shinsa - Feb 21, 2009: Special guests were Koike Sensei and Maeda Sensei, both nanadan and brought to our region with the help of the AUSKF. It was a great training opportunity, followed by testing. Congrats to Carlos Guerra of Houston for passing sandan, to Phyllis Stone of RCIKK for passing ikkyu, and to Marie Sells of RCIKK (youth class) for passing nikyu!
Asian New Year Festival - Jan 31, 2009:
New Year's Practice - January 1, 2009: As per our tradition, we gathered on New Year's Day for paper cutting at the Youth Dojo. Of course, we also had the usual champagne and mochi! Here's to another great year. |