Denton Japan News schedule shodan shiken Taikai Tanida-Sensei Tanida-Sensei koshukai

two-year highlights

The past year and a half have been our busiest ever, hence the lack of updates to this site since 2003 August. Many things have happened and a few things have changed. Please see the Past Events section for some of the major events that we have participated in. Amazingly enough the class schedule is unchanged, but the fee has increased from $25 to $40 per month.

 

Notable Milestones

In 2003 Joe, Neil, and I went to Japan for the first time in our lives. It was a wonderful experience. In addition to participating in the ZNIR Embukai in Yamagata, we were able to attend a special practice presided over by Ikeda-soke. Tanida-sensei and Kogushi-sensei were very kind to us, and made our trip a great success.

At the 2004 Tanida-sensei koshukai & shodan shiken in Denton, for the first time Joe and I were not the only ones from our dojo testing. We had four people testing for shodan. These were Sue Curtis, Linden Sisk, Matthew Burke, and Ali Lawson. All who tested achieved their rank (including Joe and I who tested for sandan).

Also in 2004, for the first time ever, one of the students successfully applied at their High School to take Iaido for PE credit.

At the 2005 shodan shiken we had the following testing: Jon Andresen & William Huckaba for shodan, Ali Lawson for nidan, and Joe & I for yondan. Also, Jessica Culler, who started Iaido in Clear Lake and relocated to Oklahoma, tested for shodan. She is currently training with Susan Burke-Sensei in Oklahoma City. Results of this grading are currently unknown.

 

Future Happenings

Next month I will travel to Denton to train with Sensei one last time before I return to Japan in June for three weeks. I look forward to attending Tanida-Sensei’s classes, and hopefully participating in the all Japan Eishin-Ryu Embukai. While I am gone, classes at Clear Lake Iaido will continue as usual with the help of Joe and the other senior students.

Denton hatsunuki Japan News San Antonio Sword Show shodan shiken US Embukai

Certificates, Events catch-up

Certificates Arrive

While at The Dojo in Denton earlier this month, Sensei surprised me at the Thursday class when he presented me with my nidan certificate. He also gave Joe’s certificate to bring back to him. At the very next class Joe was at, I surprised him with it.

 

Events Past and Future

The San Antonio Sword Show is now just a fond memory, as is the training trip to Denton which occured July 31- August 3. Coming up fast is the trip to Japan to train with Sensei’s Sensei. During the two weeks (Oct. 8-22) that Joe and I will both be gone formal classes will be cancelled. Prospective students and other visitors are advised to wait until after the 22nd to arrange to watch a class. Coming on the heels of that trip is the U.S. Embukai in Texas which will occur on the first weekend in November. Then in December is our dojo Xmas party. We will bring in 2004 at dawn on New Years Day with hatsunuki, first draw.

Denton hatsunuki Houston Japan Festival Japan News San Antonio Sword Show schedule shodan shiken Tanida-Sensei Tanida-Sensei koshukai US Embukai

Lots going on; Mirror installed

Saturday Practice Moves to Sunday & Friday Practice Time Change

I am finally getting around to making some much needed changes to the web site. Thank you for your patience, and thanks to those who offered to help. As the regular students already know, the Saturday practice has moved to Sunday from 12:30 – 2:30. Also, as of April 25, the Friday practice is now 8:30 – 9:30.

 

Events Past

This is a quick overview of events past.  In October the 2nd Annual Texas Embukai was a great success with six instructors in attendance. Four from our group attended. In December Jack Bieler of Denton visited us one day and lead a special practice. On New Year’s Day we had our first ever Hatsunuki celebration in Houston. In January Charles Mahan of Denton visited us one weekend, leading practices on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In early February Joe and I went to Denton for training with sensei. Later that same month, four of us journeyed to Denton for Tanida-sensei’s seminar, and two of us tested for nidan in the shodan shiken held on Sunday. In March most of the school was involved in one way or another in the wall construction (for a large mirror), and general dojo upgrade/remodeling. In April three of us and Charles Mahan, who happened to be in town, demonstrated at the 2003 Japan Festival in Hermann Park in downtown Houston. Also that same weekend, Charles lead our Sunday practice, and two of us entered the traditional sword division at a local martial arts tournament,– Joe Charles won first place and I took second in the advanced track. The very next weekend Sensei and Tom Thomas came down to spend a very enjoyable weekend with us. We trained hard during the day, and at night watched videos and had a lot of fun (and little sleep). In May I had two five foot tall sections of mirror installed on the newly built wall. This was a tremendous improvement over the hanging closet door mirrors.

 

Events Future

The San Antonio Sword Show, May 23-25, is rapidly approaching. We will be joining Sensei and his local students in a demonstration of Eishin Ryu from 2 -2:30. In the future is a trip to Baton Rouge when Sensei travels there to visit Neil and Doug. In the not-too-far future is our trip to Japan in October.

News schedule US Embukai

Thanks, Jack

We have lost the Thursday time slot and are back to meeting on Friday from 5:30 to 6:30, or whenever the following Aikido gets started. The Wednesday class is unaffected. Due to an increase in students who live far away, a Saturday class has been added from noon to 2.

 

The next big event is the Embukai in Denton coming up in October. All members of Clear Lake Iaido are invited.

 

Thanks to Jack Bieler for taking time out from his busy schedule on Sunday, August 18, to come work with us on Batto Ho 1-11. There were five students in all,– Joe & I, in addition to three new students who just recently started. Jack did a wonderful job, and everyone came away with new insights. The phrase that stuck in my mind, and this was one of the dominant themes of the seminar, was ‘grab the cut’.

News

Congratulations

Congratulations to the following Clear Lake Iaido students who received advancement on January 27:

Joe – shodan

Emily – shodan

Tanida-Sensei Tanida-Sensei koshukai

Tanida-Sensei coming to Houston

Tanida-sensei will definitely be in Houston during the last weekend of January, and we are looking forward to practicing with him and everyone else who is coming from Denton, Dallas, Baton Rouge, and Nacogdoches.

Denton hatsunuki News San Antonio Sword Show Tanida-Sensei

News Update

We were very fortunate to have Jack Bieler of Denton visit us for a training session Saturday, December 29. He patiently worked with us on Seiza and Batto Ho no Bu for almost four hours. Thanks Jack. Afterwards we retired to a local restaurant for dinner and more visiting.

Recently I have heard that there will be no San Antonio Sword Show this year, reportedly due to the organizer needing a break after about 20 years of putting one on every year. This is unfortunate, not just for the vendors it draws, but also because there are some folks that I rarely see outside of that event. Perhaps next year.

I traveled to Denton for hatsunuki. In addition I was able to train with Sensei, and Charles on New Year’s Eve. Thank you to both.

There is a slight possibility that Tanida-Sensei will be in Houston during the last weekend of January. If so we could see a number of folks from Denton, as well as Baton Rouge and Nacogdoches, converge on our dojo.