Training was divided in two sessions, both attended by some 17 practitioners - from University Budo club and from kendo and iaido clubs. There were also couple of practitioners with previous experience in western fencing. The first session started at 9:30 AM and lasted 4 hours - covering detailed instruction in reiho, katana no meisho, te no uchi, kamae, suburi (kiri kaeshi), uchi waza, maai, etc. On the end of this first session everyone experienced a bit of Kakari sparring, a light form of kenjutsu kumite.
On second class, which began at 2:30 PM and lasted till 6:00 PM, more advanced techniques were shown, as well as Shinbukan kenjutsu kata. The afternoon class was opened with uchi kaeshi drills, then it was continued with small distance techniques, left sided techniques one handed and reverse grip techniques, etc. throughout the day the practice was done in an the excellent friendly atmosphere in the Martial Arts Center Hostivar in Prague.
Additional parts of the Shinbukan kenjutsu system were shown on Sunday, including tachi dori and hanbo jutsu, and there was also some exchange of experiences in Seitei iaido. On the end of the whole event, Zdravkovic sensei was pleased to promote Dejan Kostic into Menkyo Hiden (3rd Dan) Shinbukan Kenjutsu, Radim Ballner into Menkyo Shoden (1st Dan) Shinbukan Kenjutsu, and Jaroslav Pavelka into Menkyo Shoden (1st Dan) Jissen Kenjutsu. Both Dejan and Radim sensei have demonstrated excellent knowledge of Shinbukan Kenjutsu, which is official style in Serbian Budo Council and Martial Arts International Federation. Jaroslav sensei, who is experienced kendo and iaido student, and has even spent two years in studying kenjutsu on Hokkaido, Japan, earned his teaching license in Jissen Kenjutsu, which is official system recognized by Kokusai Jisen Budo Kyokai, and also accepted in several other martial arts organizations.
We hope to see more of similar international events, with more KIAI members meeting and training together
For more photos, check the site of Prague University Budo club at: http://budo.iterity.cz/
