Road To Asia 2009

Tokumeikan demonstrated once again at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre's annual Fall festival, The Road to Asia 2009, on Saturday, November 7.



It was a good chance for all our students to meet and practice together.



Join us next at Haru Matsuri 2010, the JCCC's annual Spring Festival in March.

Congratulations

Hello Everyone:

I know that you will all want to join me in congratulating Eri Kusano Larsen Sensei on passing her 7th dan test in Katori Shinto Ryu. It is quite an accomplishment. For more information, go to: http://www.kakudokan.no/index.lasso

I have known her for almost 20 years and I know that she is a very skilled practitioner and teacher in this art. Equally important, it is a well-deserved recognition for her decades of hard work and contribution to the growth of the art and to the growth of Sugino Dojo.

____________________

With gasshō,

Douglas Tong
Tokumeikan

Sozen Sensei Seminar 2009

Sozen Larsen Kusano Sensei once again paid us a visit this year and held his annual seminar in Katori Shinto Ryu at the Tokumeikan dojo in St. Catharines. Sozen Sensei treated us to 2 days of intensive training in kenjutsu and iaijutsu. The participants left the seminar with a greater understanding of this very special sword art. While he was here, Mr. Tong had the opportunity to interview Sozen Sensei about his views on Katori Shinto Ryu. Please read the interview below.

Part 1: http://ejmas.com/tin/2009tin/tinart_tong-sozan1_0909.html
Part 2: http://ejmas.com/tin/2009tin/tinart_tong-sozan2_0910.html
Part 3: http://ejmas.com/tin/2009tin/tinart_tong-sozan3_0912.html

Anime North 2009

Tokumeikan put on a demonstration of Japanese swordfighting at the Anime North convention in Toronto on Saturday, May 23, 2009. We also ran short workshops in Katori Shinto Ryu. 120 lucky fans of anime got the rare chance to try out some real samurai swordfighting techniques.



Anime North is Canada's premier fan-run anime convention and a major fund-raiser for SickKids Hospital in Toronto. This year, 14,800 people attended this event. Tokumeikan was proud to be a part of this event and to help out and contribute to such a worthy cause.



"Douglas Tong's demonstration and workshops were a big hit with our convention attendees, and were a welcome addition to Anime North 2009."
Donald Simmons - Head of Operations, Anime North

For more information about Anime North, look here.

Haru Matsuri 2009

The Tokumeikan Group performed their demonstration in Katori Shinto Ryu at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre as part of the JCCC's Haru Matsuri (Spring Festival) on Sunday, March 8 from 3:00 - 5:00 pm.

Once again a very big thank you to everyone who participated to make yesterday's demo class a truly memorable event. We had a film crew come and film us. That was exciting. Many people came to watch our practice. We also had many friends and family come to watch our demonstration and also to enjoy the festivities at the JCCC on this special day. I could tell that many of them were impressed. You all did a great job performing. And I saw some great spirit and a lot of camaraderie.

Thank you once again and well done everyone!

____________________
Deep bow,
Douglas Tong
Tokumeikan