no kendo for the past week

no kendo for the past week

Had to leave urgently for a business proposal in Suriname, and spent the week there. Not much exercise during that week, and lots of frustration and steam that I will have to get rid of at practice tomorrow!!

Bamboo cutting

Bamboo cutting

Had fun today cutting some bamboo with D at the new house. Originally though of cutting some banana trees to clear up the area behind the house but that turned out to be way too boring and easy. Bamboo on the other hand turned out to be as fun as last time in Barbados. My Hanwei sword was quite up to the challenge against some pretty thick bamboo. It went through 2" pieces like butter. Much harder were the 3-4" bamboo with thick "skin". The blade bent quite a few times, but after some straightening it went back to work just fine. D swung wide a couple of time and almost cut off his left leg but otherwise it was a lot of fun and we sure will do this again soon.

Other Kendo dojo in T&T (2)

This interesting piece of information is posted on the website of a martial arts organization I mentioned previously: "May 2nd: The Kendo classes have started in Barataria and will soon spread to the other ... Branches." Things are getting exciting...

Property

Property

Don't think it's going to work out. Simply too far; a good 20mins drive from the highway, past farms and through a very bumpy road (almost requiring a 4x4). Most people don't own a car in T&T, so there's a heavy reliance on (private) taxis. Problem is the taxis usually travel on main routes, picking up and dropping off clients on the way (up to 5 per car). Getting there would require a lot of hustling and convincing taxi drivers to go out of their way to reach this faraway place. Then the way back would be impossible (taxis don't wait).

So the offered location couldn't be used during the week for most people. Weekend would be more possible because schedules are more flexible... but the problem would remain: our dojo would be called the "Inaka dojo" (in Trini the "bush dojo"). We already have trouble attracting enough people in central areas, how are we going to attract enough people for classes there? Here are some options:

1- place is used as a "retreat" for weekend and special events
2- dojo is targeting the kids from the direct neighborhood (about 150 families, on average 2 kids per family, 5-16 years old)

To balance these options we have to consider the costs:
- property will be offered for free or sold at symbolic price (assuming proper proposal is made)
- building will cost between $100,000 and $200,000 TT (15k-30k USD)
- time spent managing the construction and maintenance of the property

On the positive side, no one will be interested on this land for a long while, so there's no rush to decide.

The NGO managing the housing project has other projects all around T&T. If provided with a proper proposal, they would be interested with a "community-based" dojo. But the question is, who would go there to teach?

Not sure what to do...

Tatemae & Honne

Tatemae & Honne

... or the face & the truth.

Things will get exciting in the wild world of Kendo in Trinidad. With the largest provider of martial arts in the country now promoting Kendo just like Subway could promote its new sandwich, we now have to develop the keen sense of self-restraint that Kendo teaches. (I suppose Kendo also teaches to attack relentlessely and question crap, but I will conveniently ignore this for the purpose of making a point).

So we will be confronted with something we may be uncomfortable with. It may or may not have anything to do with Kendo as we know it. It may make us look good, it may make us look like a bunch of maniacs. Either way, all we can do is acknowledge and say "wow, very interesting".

The last thing we need right now is some enemies, and as such, the last thing we should do is disrespect them, however questionable their sport may be.

What is bad about having enemies?
- small country, word goes around quick
- we need all the help we can get in promoting Kendo, so one person pissed off by us, is one person too many, especially if that person is at the head of a dojo
- they have bigger muscles than us...
- who's going to invite us for demos next time?

What are signs of disrespect in this world?
- laughing or any facial expression
- not returning their bows
- interrupting them
- questioning their credibility
- asking too many questions

ok JR?

Other Kendo Dojo in T&T?

Other Kendo Dojo in T&T?

It took longer than I thought but it happened: a Karate dojo now claiming they do Kendo. It's actually nothing new, as many questionable characters have already told me that they do/have done kendo in the past. I've also been told of a couple of places teaching iaido/kenjutsu (see earlier posts). Of course this is all a great joke, as none have received proper and legitimate accreditation or even trained for any decent amount of time. They are merely Karate dojos claiming to teach the use of the Japanese sword either because they smell the $$ opportunity or because they want to impress wannabe 'samurais'.

Well whatever the reason, it now appears that there will be a "Kendo Team Demo" during a Karate tournament later this month. I can't wait to see this...

Property visit (2)

Property visit (2)

Finally got to see the low cost land managed by my boss's father. It can easily be explained in one word: Bush... (the vegetal type, not the dumb american one). About 20 minutes from the highway, at the end of an endless bumpy road. Pictures and comments to come.

Property visit

Property visit

Got stood up for a planned visit of the land that is proposed for potential "kendo dojo". Hopefully this week.

Blades in the country

Blades in the country

Must've posted about this before, but bringing swords in the country is a pain. One of the new guys mentioned "he knows someone" at customs (heard countless times before) that can get blades through easily. It would be great to have this contact; after all we're in 3rd world country where this kind of stuff happens. We shall see in the next couple of weeks...

Ideas for Kendo writings

Ideas for Kendo writings

- beginner curriculum (with text, photo & video)
- shiai training
- advanced training
- warmup & stretching guide
- kendo and the blade

dedicated dojo in trinidad?

dedicated dojo in trinidad?

I was supposed to meet with a real estate developer tonight to visit a couple of locations available at a ridiculous price because they are government land being distributed to low income families or community-based purposes. My "real martial arts training center" project seems to be acceptable to their board (they are actually a non-profit ngo mandated by government to distribute land).

Well like so many times in Trinidad, the meeting was cancelled because he was sick. Will have to reschedule...

good news!

good news!

Received yesterday a letter from ikf (funnily renamed "fik", wonder how the germans like that) unofficially confirming that t&t will receive bogus sometime before the end of the year, as part of the "bogu donation program" for this year. every year bogus/shinai are donated by the "japan auto racing association" (!) to countries around the world. Countries like Macau, Congo, Iran,... and others like Venezuela (this last year), Hungary and Aruba. Not sure how the selection works but it seems somewhat arbitrary. Of course we're very happy about this and there is no doubt it will help the development of Kendo in T&T. Normally the bogu are sent to the Japanese embassy of the country, and the Kendo Federation/Association president has to go and pick them up. No problem for us, since I have a good relationship with the Embassy here.

How this came about? Well I wrote a letter

I think that, in order, those were the significant steps:
- writing the original letter
- following up with "kendo in trinidad" story and update
- displaying proper Kendo the first time they saw us (including my 4-dan test and passing) in Aruba
- following up with AJKF, including possible involvement by our regional "sponsor" Ebihara-sensei