[PriniMai]

White keikogi and red do makes a dojo special? I gotta suggest this to my sensei. Nah.

Once a sempai of mine suggested that we ask our sensei to let us bring zabuton to sit on in seiza. That would really set us apart as the the wimpiest dojo ever.

I heard a dojo in Norcal used to wear red dous back in the day before i started.. I think it was mountain view.

Tim

[Nautilus]

hahaha zabuton.... how about some tea and chips too shelley?? is that comfortable enough for rei? lol

my dojo is particular and unique for some of the crazy 'zekken' some people use.... i got to admit it's sort of embarassing on seminars with japanese sensei... i swear they fall flat on their butts laughing their asses off....

(all in big madass kanji, to make it worse) we got.... kamikaze dude... ocha(tea) person... hige(beard) mate... irezumi(tattoo) man... etc. some guy even requested a red and white zekken with the kanji AKUZOKUZAN or something fancy like that... oh man. glad sensei caught this request on time and aborted it.

other than that... perhaps being the biggest(in terms of students) dojo in spain makes us special too....

cause sometimes we're crowded and packed like tokyo's metro on peak hours. i once did men-kaeshi-dou waza and hit 3 different random people (no joke).

aside from that, i think one might say it's a normal dojo......


<i>i'm lovin' it <font color="DarkRed">

[beriarele]

Just wondering what seperates yoru dojo from others?
or to rephrase it ,

what makes your dojo special?

Do you all wear white keikogis? do you all have red do's?
etc

lets hear em!

well first of all we are the ghetto dojo of the SCKF, you know VENICE, WESTSIIIIIIIDE!! but yet we have the most KWF members in our Dojo, including guests, We have some members from the last WKC coming to practice, people from the U.S. Nationals coming, must be the locale, ocean breeze blowing through during the muggy summer nights, the beer, the food, ahhh the food, I think we are the Elmer Dills of kendo, but for some reason we don't get any imports joining, must be because we don't teach in japanese, I speak jinglish, example, hey , nani you doing ? or what you shiterunda ? most of the people who leave our dojo after keiko, take with them some kind of memory about venice, I'm pretty sure Samurai999 has a journal full of things he's heard and seen..well need to go sleep, maybe somebody else will add to this ...

[bWxNFI3c]

1. Class from monday to saturday, so i can get to class up to 6 times a week. My record is 5 times in 1 week, which isnt so bad.
2. Awsome instruction, our tournament records prove this. HMK!!!!
3. Cool dojo mates.
4 . Im arabic and i get along with all the koreans as if i was korean, nice!!!
5. 3 sensei that practice with us on a regular basis.
6. Damn, i cant realy think of anything else, but my dojo is awsome, and i realy dont know whats "special" about it, cuz i never got to train at another dojo.

[Abanijo]

what makes your dojo special?

The only one I know of in Bloomington/Normal. XD

And all the mushy, sentimental stuff too.

[usadatronourl]

I think it's just the isolation from mainstream kendo in Canada. Miyaoka-sensei is the only high level instructor between Vancouver and Toronto. We don't get much opportunity to attend tournaments unless we feel like springing for plane tickets or taking a 20 hour drive, so we're probably one of the least competition-oriented dojos you'll find. The only odd thing we do is to award zekken as acknowledgement of getting shodan. So sensei who visit are a little surprised by all the anonymous kendoka.

[lisualsethelp]

I'm buzzing so i'm gonna write something.. maybe nonsensical but this is what I think sets my ol' Norcal dojo apart from the others.

1.) Our sensei.

Hashimoto Sensei - one of the most laid back and most understanding senseis out there. He is always there to teach and I always appreciated him being there for us. I have seen some scary similarities between him and the current Venice head instructor.

Yoon Sensei - OMG! This guy can chomp down food. I have caught him eating the following before practice. Mcdonalds fries. McRib sandwich. Chimichangas. And you know what? You can fit two of him in me! His favorite condiment is BBQ sauce and meat consumption and meat cooking are his specialties. And oh ya... hes really good at kendo.

Shig Hamamatsu sensei. I gotta give my props to shig because he basically taught me a lot when he was there. Some have said that if i do kendo in my straightest, purest form, i start to look like him. (if shig is looking at this, he MUST be insulted! ) He can not show up to regular dojo practices, come to godo keikos (1x a month only) and still kick ass in a tournament for 5dan and up...

2.) Games. we did suriashi dodgeball. that was carazy!

3.) This is the only dojo where we can bribe the sensei (guess who) with meat to lessen the number of concentration drill suburi we do. We all were playing online Diablo 2 for a while. We can be talking about kendo at one point, talking about rockets the next, heat transfer (we had engineers at our dojo from Stanford, me being one of them), airplanes, cars, and back to kendo again.

4.) Good mix of ppl. Races, backgrounds, religions, etc. And we had no problem bowing to shomen!

5.) *on a more serious note* It was the first place ANYWHERE where i really didn't feel like i had to live up to anybody elses expectations and I was free to go at it on my own terms and my own pace. (of course I still went every week.. but thats another story)

[reachmanxx]

6 times a week! man, mine is only open 2 times a week.

[Kalobbis]

Just wondering what seperates yoru dojo from others?

Air and distance.

or to rephrase it ,

what makes your dojo special?

We have a different dojo name.

Do you all wear white keikogis?

No.

do you all have red do's?

No.

etc

Maybe, but only on Tuesdays.

[Emapymosy]

We intend to get zekken with the Thundercats symbol on it. Good enough?

Does that mean your kiai is "Thundercats, HOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"?

[bettingonosports]

Hahaha. Yeah, Hawaiian termites are scary.

Ikenaga-sensei was just telling us that if you're doing "right Kendo" the type of floor doesn't matter. He's totally right, but I still covet those wooden floors, especially when we've been sitting in seiza for a while.

You'd love it here in February - ice won't melt on the tile floor at the Tacoma Junior Taikai. (Not that anyone's complaining, Marsten-sensei)

[hujdrftgkas]

hahaha zabuton.... how about some tea and chips too shelley?? is that comfortable enough for rei? lol

What a good idea, Paburo-san! Tea and snack cakes before each practice. Maybe serving girls with hot towels to come and wipe our faces after keiko. We would have the best dojo ever! Hahaha.

As for crowded dojos... last week we had 15 kendokas from Japan come and visit us. I tried a hiki-do in jigeiko and nearly ended up in some girl's lap.

I think one physical thing that makes a dojo special is the floors. Our dojo is tile over concrete. Owie. The visiting Japanese sensei mentioned that's why our ashi-sabaki was not so good. :C There are only three dojos that I know of on Oahu that have wooden floors (the dojo at JCC, Kaimuki Honbu, and the UH Kendo club).

[raskrutkaseo]

Just wondering what seperates yoru dojo from others?
or to rephrase it ,

what makes your dojo special?

Do you all wear white keikogis? do you all have red do's?
etc

lets hear em!

White keikogi and red do makes a dojo special? I gotta suggest this to my sensei. Nah.

Once a sempai of mine suggested that we ask our sensei to let us bring zabuton to sit on in seiza. That would really set us apart as the the wimpiest dojo ever.

[extessarere]

I think one physical thing that makes a dojo special is the floors. Our dojo is tile over concrete. Owie. The visiting Japanese sensei mentioned that's why our ashi-sabaki was not so good. :C There are only three dojos that I know of on Oahu that have wooden floors (the dojo at JCC, Kaimuki Honbu, and the UH Kendo club).

Heheh...boy, did I hear about THAT when the kid came home. I had to explain about Hawaiian termites being somewhat more butch than the mainland ones.

[Scukonah]

Just wondering what separates your dojo from others?

about 300 miles

what makes your dojo special?Do you all wear white keikogis? do you all have red do's? etc... lets hear em!

I think it's special because it is the one I go to
We are relatively new so most of the armor looks the same but new colors and combinations are starting to appear in uniform / bogu and especially shinai bags as people are making their own custom ones
Also because it is relatively new (3-4 yrs) you not only get the fun of learning kendo but get to help build a club and presence in a place where a short time ago there wasn't one

[MatueHarton]

I dont know.

[inownsuipsy]

I'm buzzing so i'm gonna write something.. maybe nonsensical but this is what I think sets my ol' Norcal dojo apart from the others.

1.) Our sensei.

Hashimoto Sensei - one of the most laid back and most understanding senseis out there. He is always there to teach and I always appreciated him being there for us. I have seen some scary similarities between him and the current Venice head instructor.

Yoon Sensei - OMG! This guy can chomp down food. I have caught him eating the following before practice. Mcdonalds fries. McRib sandwich. Chimichangas. And you know what? You can fit two of him in me! His favorite condiment is BBQ sauce and meat consumption and meat cooking are his specialties. And oh ya... hes really good at kendo.

Shig Hamamatsu sensei. I gotta give my props to shig because he basically taught me a lot when he was there. Some have said that if i do kendo in my straightest, purest form, i start to look like him. (if shig is looking at this, he MUST be insulted! ) He can not show up to regular dojo practices, come to godo keikos (1x a month only) and still kick ass in a tournament for 5dan and up...

2.) Games. we did suriashi dodgeball. that was carazy!

3.) This is the only dojo where we can bribe the sensei (guess who) with meat to lessen the number of concentration drill suburi we do. We all were playing online Diablo 2 for a while. We can be talking about kendo at one point, talking about rockets the next, heat transfer (we had engineers at our dojo from Stanford, me being one of them), airplanes, cars, and back to kendo again.

4.) Good mix of ppl. Races, backgrounds, religions, etc. And we had no problem bowing to shomen!

5.) *on a more serious note* It was the first place ANYWHERE where i really didn't feel like i had to live up to anybody elses expectations and I was free to go at it on my own terms and my own pace. (of course I still went every week.. but thats another story)

Yeah...what he said

[ruforumczspam]

at the east west connection, i think its the variation in height of all the kendoka's. and there's a college class with us now, so it's really packed. it went from like 5 to 15 people one day.

[IrrettelatWet]

Heheh...boy, did I hear about THAT when the kid came home. I had to explain about Hawaiian termites being somewhat more butch than the mainland ones.

Hahaha. Yeah, Hawaiian termites are scary.

Ikenaga-sensei was just telling us that if you're doing "right Kendo" the type of floor doesn't matter. He's totally right, but I still covet those wooden floors, especially when we've been sitting in seiza for a while.

[sharpyure]

I don't know how rare this is, but there's only 3 students in our program right now. This makes for some great ono-on-one instruction.