The story of my efforts at launching Kendo in Trinidad.
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Kendo classes start Friday April 16th
Please note that due to strong demand, I decided to start official classes on Friday the 16th. Location is the St-Augustine dojo and time is 8pm to 10pm. Please note that there is a fee of $40 per month, for a class on every Friday. The fee includes the rental of the equipement and is independent of how many times you attend per month. The fee goes towards the rental of the practice area, as well as to purchase and maintain equipment lent to the students. Let me know if you intend to come and if anyone will accompany you.
Starting April 23rd, I will travel to Blanchisseuse (a tiny fishing city on the north end of the island) to teach Kendo to a few high school kids. Mario is Principal there so he invited me and Errol last week for a demo and it was such a success that we decided to setup a extra curricular class. That should be very fun!
Hi, for those of you with whom I have not had the chance to stay in close touch with, let me give you a quick review of the recent events. I now live in Trinidad with my wife Lesley and life is quite good. When you think of it, it's hard to complain about >30 degrees C and sunshine everyday ;-) Since there is no Kendo here and I was getting quite jittery, I started teaching a bunch of Karate guys close to where I live. I've done a few demonstrations so far and the reception was awesome. People are very amused (by the kiai) and intrigued by the discipline and action. I think Kendo will be very popular here. Unfortunately there are very very few Japanese living here so the level will start very low (I'm not in a hurry...). I got in touch with the Japanese Embassy and will meet them sometime next week to discuss possible sponsorship or at least some kind of financial support for bogu, shinai, location,...(the typical monthly salary here is less than $500USD not enough to afford kendo equipement).
Now to the point of my email:
I thought it was necessary to have a name for where I give Kendo classes. I will start advertising soon so I have been thinking of a "Dojo Name". Since no one here knows about Kendo and everyone who has seen it so far is very interested to learn more, I thought that the name should be refering to the idea of NEW and FRESH. So I chose "Shoshin" Kendo Dojo (Sho from Hajime, and Shin from heart). The Japanese-English Kendo Dictionary translates it as "The pure, genuine enthusiasm when one first decides to do something". I thought is was very simple and appropriate. And we use the term often refering to Shoshin-sha, the beginners. And my wife likes the name, so what else can I ask for ? Well, your opinion is as always, very valuable so please feel free to give me your feedback.
Do you think that it makes sense ? (I'm especially asking the ones who speak/read Japanese!) Send me your replies directly at eddydevisse@h...
I decided on a name for the Kendo dojos I will launch in Trinidad (at least the first one). Drum Roll:
Shoshin Kendo Dojo Shoshin means literally "Beginning Heart/Spirit". A definition or interpretation could be "The pure, genuine enthusiasm when one first decides to do something" (from Japanese-English Dictionary of Kendo).
Wohoo ! now I have to find people interested in Kendo AND willing to satisfy that condition.
Errol was here from the UK and we had a great time practicing together. He's from the Itto-ryu tradition so quite different than the more "sportish" Kendo commonly seen around the world. We had great discussions on the state of Kendo and the differences between styles. But I think overall we have the same philosophy, straight, solid no-nonsense Kendo. He donated a brand new bogu from ebogu, for my students. Wow !! He's even interested in donating more, so I have to get back to him on that. He will come back to Trinidad from time to time so there won't be time to be lonely.
Wednesday the 31st of March we (Errol and I) went to Blanchisseuse to give a Kendo demo for the High School kids. Mario is the Principal there and invited us. It was loads of fun but unfortunately forgot to take pictures... These kids had never seen Kendo and were very amused and interested. We're thinking of setting up an extracurricular class from time to time. I will return there for sure.
