Promotional Exam at the Koryo Dojo in Richmond, Va.

Over the weekend, the Annapolis Kendo Iaido Club attended the promotional exam being held by our friends at the Koryo Dojo in Richmond Virginia. None of our members needed to test.

We actually arrived late because of traffic; fortunately we weren’t the only ones who were late so the promotional exam did not start until 1:53 PM. We arrived at about 1:45 PM, so I had time to look around. I am impressed with the space the Koryo dojo has to practice on. The wooden floor has a lot of character and felt good to practice Kendo on.

The exam went up to Shodan, so no one from our club was there to test. Those testing for ranks below Ikkyo had to do kiri-kaeshi and keiko, those testing for Ikkyo and Shodan had to do keiko and kata.



During the test, being able to properly exit and enter the court was emphasized and explained. When those testing for Shodan started doing their keiko it was stopped towards the beginning as the judges explained that those testing should treat it as a real match in that if they score a point they win if they get a point scored on them they lose – don’t just give away points. Something else was emphasized during the test, however I do not know as it was emphasized in another language.

At the end of the test, the judging panel emphasized proper kendo etiquette and explained that they want you to pass. The judges are looking for those testing to prove that they deserve the rank they are testing for – the judges are looking for reasons to pass you. When you test, give them that reason to pass you. Furthermore, ki-ken-taichi was emphasized. It is important to deliver a good kendo manner. This includes good spirit and good kiai.

As the judges tallied the test scores, a general keiko was held. As I was participating in the practice I didn’t have any chance to take any pictures. I get a little confused at these but I still had the good fortune of practicing with Wayne Scanlon, Kim Sensei, and Phuong Sensei and walked away with quite a few very specific pointers.



Afterwards, about 12 or so of us went out to dinner and had a good time. All in all, it was a good experience for the Annapolis Kendo Iaido Club to attend, even if we had no one testing. The Koryo club has very good-natured and talented people and I hope I can make it to one of their practices sometime in the future.

More info on why the Annapolis Kendo Iaido Club tournament was cancelled.

More from sensei Scanlon:

Dear Kendoka:

The Sixth Annual Annapolis Tournament had to be cancelled due to administrative problems encountered at the Anne Arundel Community College. For the past five years we have offered the seminar/tournament at the college as a learning seminar (which is why the registration forms go to the college).

The purpose of the seminar has always been two fold: 1) To train our growing Mudansha members in proper court reiho, basic kendo,and testing procedures. 2) To train Yudansha in judging for tournaments and testing. Then we had the tournament as a practice of the lessons learned during the seminar. This year we planned to add a session on Kendo Kata and Kihon Kendo Kata since so many kendoka have expressed their lack of training in this aspect of their training (please note Strawn-Sensei's reference to the lack of training in kata from the Atlanta promotion).

Unfortunately, someone in administration took exception to our waiving the out-of-state/out-of-county fees on the registration form and decided to cancel the seminar while I was at the Omaha Iaido seminar (these fees have always been waived in the past due to the distance traveled by kendoka and the specialized population of our group). As soon as I saw this on my email I worked with the seminar coordinater at the college to resolve the problem. On Wednesday, I was informed that we could offer the seminar as a special event but had to go through Event Services at the college. They said that the fees for the event would be $2500 plus certificate of insurance for $2m from AUSKF. I tried to obtain the certificate from AUSKF but the time frame was too short. The college uses an online company for one day event insurance which was estimated between $7 & $800. Cutting the seminar/tournament to one day gave a cost of $950.

The fees for the tournament are designed for us to break even. With the one day event insurance, we would take a loss of $800, therefore I had to cancel the event with great regret. I am told that this kind of thing happens all the time, but I have never had this problem myself.

The point of this message is to inform the kendoka of some of the problems that tournament organizers run into. Strawn-Sensei has talked of the problems in organizing tournaments in the past. Keep them in mind for the future. Backup, backup, backup!!

For those kendoka who wish to comment about the "cancellation" of our tournament, please email the President of the college - Dr. Martha Smith at masmith@aacc.edu and myself at lfs_mekugi@att.net. Please keep in mind that I am asking for a meeting to discuss this mess and the continuation of our ten year program with the college.

Thank you for your encouragement and support.

Larry Scanlon - Annapolis Kendo Iaido Club

So get those emails going if you have comments about this.

Annapolis Kendo Iaido Tournament Canceled

From sensei Scanlon,

Unfortunately, due to insurance problems at AACC, we will have to cancel the Annapolis Kendo Iaido Club Tournament. Please notify others who may have planned to come and are not on this list. We will try to reschedule this event at another facility as soon as possible. Regretfully

- Larry Scanlon - President - Annapolis Kendo Iaido Club

Expect more news on this soon.