Hatsumi Soke with the Shindenfudo-ryu Sword in STHLM 1998

We updated the web site with a new video of Steve Olsen who will be one of the four Shihan teaching at the Sweden Tai Kai in September.

We have the venue booked now. We wanted the bigger venue, but it was fully booked. But we booked another gym hall we used many times before (same place where most of the Kaigousuru Taikai in the past was). The address is…
Lilla Alby Skola, Humblegatan 19-21, Sundbyberg, Stockholm, Sweden.

Apparently Hatsumi Soke started teaching Shindenfudo-ryu Iai, as a second theme for this year in May. In 1998 Hatsumi Soke taught Shindenfudo-ryu taijutsu and sword, you might want to check out the videos from 1998 to see how Soke used this big sword. However, he might teach with a different sword now (I don’t know). However there is still three more months for the guys in Japan to figure it out. I’m sure the Taikai will be interesting for everyone attending, I hope you can make it.

The sign-up form will be available later in July.

On the Facebook event page we can see that there is 51 attending, 118 maybes, and 776 people who hasn’t made up their minds yet. This is interesting for us to see, but from experience we can’t trust this system. People have confirmed before and never showed up, it is to easy to just say yes without meaning it. The only way to confirm your place is through our sign-up form that will be up later in July.

We also updated the Information page, please read it before sending us questions!

Edit: I also added a new video with Duncan Stewart.

Pictures of Sundbyberg and Stockholm

Happy training!

/Mats

After a long trip without getting any sleep on the plane I had a hard time keeping awake before the training started. All my luggage was left at the London airport (thanks British Airways, second time in a row!), but the training was good. I will give you a few hints about what we did.

Hatsumi Soke taught the first technique from Ten no kata called Nichigeki, he showed a lot of variations unarmed and with Daisho. Going through your old videos from the Taikai and Daikomyousai 1998 would be handy.

He also said that we should bring Daisho with us for training. As there will be a lot of training with swords this year, again

Also the theme of this year is Shindenfudo-ryu and the nature. My memory is a bit vague but he might have said the nature of man?

Well it was only the first training and the theme and feeling for this year will surely evolve in to something interesting.

Oh, I also got the new Sword fighting book, woooow! I read the first chapter already, it’s really interesting. I already feel that I should read this book many times again in the future, it is not a simple read and forget the book. He writes about mutodori, shinkengata, bikenjutsu… lots of pictures from old scrolls. There is a link for this book at the main page (left side under my schedule). You should buy this book if you are interested in Sword fighting.

Happy Training!