Sensei’s Blog

Right down the tubes, except for a bit of gluing (it's laminating season). It was shipment day so I spent the morning waiting at the warehouse for a truck to arrive with 19 boxes of wooden swords for the business. The truck never arrived although they say they did, so we'll end up charged for … Continue reading Another Day Down – July 8, 2014, Kim Taylor, Renshi, CI Sei Do Kai Guelph ON, Nanadan

I see a lot of schools around these days that are so and so ha where once they might have simply had a new name. This might reflect a move away from the "new is better" idea to the more traditional "more traditional is better".I suppose it made sense once for an instructor of X … Continue reading Ha Ha Ha – July 3, 2014, Kim Taylor, Renshi, CI Sei Do Kai Guelph ON, Nanadan

Le Corbusier prints an illustration of a pipe and labels it "a pipe". Magritte paints a pipe and labels it "this is not a pipe". If you haven't seen this painting your art history class was a bust.In order to fully understand Magritte's statement you should know what it is responding to, everything is call … Continue reading This is not a pipe – June 28, 2014, Kim Taylor, Renshi, CI Sei Do Kai Guelph ON, Nanadan

Niten Ichiryu is a tiny achool, there may just be more people practising in Europe than there are in Japan these days. It is of course the sword school of Miyamoto Musashi. I am half way through a weekend seminar and last evening we spent a while going through the various videos we could find … Continue reading But I Won’t – June 22, 2014, Kim Taylor, Renshi, CI Sei Do Kai Guelph ON, Nanadan

Without the darkness there can be no light, or maybe nature abhors a vacuum?I cleaned off my memory card in my camera and when I reformatted it to see that I had 2854 more photos to take I had a great urge to go out and photograph something.I cleaned up a large pile of rippings … Continue reading The Value of Mess – June 27, 2014, Kim Taylor, Renshi, CI Sei Do Kai Guelph ON, Nanadan

Nobody's home. It hasn't happened for a while but last night I went to class and nobody showed up. Since my back was killing me and I was tired to boot I went to the bar early. An aspirin and a couple pints of muscle relaxant helped quite a bit.I don't feel too guilty about … Continue reading The lights are on but – June 25, 2014, Kim Taylor, Renshi, CI Sei Do Kai Guelph ON, Nanadan

Yesterday was a successful day for the Juku!! Genaro Liriano, CI Naha Dojo TO, headed the grading board with Shawn Fisk CI Hook Up Muay Thai Peterborough, and Rob O'Brien, my student. From 1130 to 530pm, three separate gradings took place and all were successful for all the candidates. Passed: Yellow (9th Kyu) - Santiago, … Continue reading Mudansha Grading Report 21 June 2014

And they are not weak. Nor are your intestines shorter, or your brain function different because your language has too many consonants. You can't use these excuses as a general reason why your iaido is garbage, no matter who has told you that's the reason.Your iaido is garbage because you don't practice, and if you … Continue reading Your legs are not too long – June 21, 2014, Kim Taylor, Renshi, CI Sei Do Kai Guelph ON, Nanadan

I am not surprised to see one of the groups that I was volunteered onto has become embroiled in a large discussion over whether or not we ought to be outing the fakes and denouncing the frauds of the budo world. I remembered a much more interesting discussion from the past where someone was wondering … Continue reading Legitimate First – June 12, 2014, Kim Taylor, Renshi, CI Sei Do Kai Guelph ON, Nanadan

“No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.”