Chakuso for shinpan or ”A Tale of Two Buttons”

I got a new blazer as a Christmas present, shortly after hearing of my selection as a referee for the 15WKC. I had lost a little weight since buying my last blazer, so decided on one with a smart tailored fit. I decided to break it in before the event and wore it to the [...]

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The Nito kodachi conundrum

I was happily browsing through the new Official Guide for Kendo Instruction; nodding sagely at the explanations of things I knew, when I reached the section on yuko datotsu. Having refereed internationally on many occasions and attended all the regional referee training courses, I like to think that I have a fairly clear idea of [...]

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Training for Shiai

Tomorrow is the day of the British Open Championship and during the past few weeks several people have asked me about the best way of training for shiai. Other than the answer that ” it is too late” if you are asking now, I am not sure if there is any training that is solely [...]

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Refereeing

It is arguably much harder to become a good referee than a good kendoka. Having watched people trying to get to grips with refereeing at last weekends seminar, it is obvious that the combination of correctly judging yuko datotsu, moving as a team and confidently coordinating flags and voice commands is a massive task. It [...]

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