仁心館 - Jinshinkan Australia

Great event indeed!

Congratulations Jinshinkan

Gigi: Training over the two days of the 2nd Australia Women's Seminar with a primary focus on jōdō under Kozuka Sensei (7dan renshi) was an exceptionally enriching experience.

Having the opportunity to learn directly from someone with such depth in both jōdō and iaidō brought a level of clarity that is difficult to replicate in regular practice. Her movements were precise yet natural, and more importantly, everything she demonstrated carried a clear intention that connected technique to purpose.

A key takeaway from the seminar was the emphasis on understanding not just how to move, but why each movement exists. Throughout the sessions, we did our best to capture her teachings in copying and understanding her moves and in notes - albeit sometimes incomplete - each noted point reflected an attempt to grasp the underlying principles behind the kata. Whether it was the control of distance, the timing of engagement, or the direction and pressure within a technique, Kozuka Sensei consistently reinforced that every action must communicate and flow naturally. Movements were not isolated steps, but part of a continuous flow that only makes sense when viewed as a whole. What became increasingly apparent was how small adjustments could fundamentally change the effectiveness and feeling of a technique. Details such as a small change in angle of the jō, the positioning of the body, or the intention behind seme were not merely corrections, but keys that tied the entire kata together. Even when our understanding felt partial, writing these points down helped anchor those moments of clarity, giving us something to revisit and refine in future practice.

Kate: For those of us with a focus on iaidō, our weekend with Takizawa Sensei was equally stimulating and intensive. Takizawa Sensei’s teaching reflected a depth of knowledge and experience across both the core skills of seitei iaidō and the expression of those skills in different scenarios, such as when competing. Her technical prowess was matched by her mindset, with our training reflecting an equal focus on both the physical and mental components of our iaidō.

Each day of the event involved establishing a layer of foundational skills upon which to build robust and intentional kata, coordinating movement of the blade with steady footwork and a stable core. While this detailed work of combining precision with movement seemed simple at first, the mindful nature being encouraged within each of us resulted in iai that both looked and felt more powerful, despite not necessarily being faster or stronger.

The precision demanded in high level iai is made more difficult by the lack of a partner, meaning we are often asked to be our own judges in our practice. This was mitigated throughout the weekend by a substantial amount of partner-based exercises, in which our partner would observe our iai and act as a mirror, watching specifically for points outlined by Takizawa Sensei and ensuring we all received accurate direction as to whether we were achieving the priorities she had emphasised for each kata. Working with each other also gave us an opportunity to reflect upon what we admired about each other’s movements, such that we could build these changes into our own practice.

Takizawa Sensei’s teaching grounded us in our own movements and established a better foundation upon which we could all express the specific strength of our own iai.

Gigi: By the end of the seminar, the experience felt less about how much was physically performed and more about how much could be retained. There was a strong sense that what we had written, and what we managed to understand at the time was only the beginning of a deeper process. Senseis teaching provided not just technical instruction, but a framework for thinking about budō more cohesively, where movement, intention, and structure come together as one.

Gigi Kun
Kate Champ

Suzuki sensei has successfully passed the iaidō 7 dan examination.

Congratulations!

6/26に滋賀県で開催されました居合道七段・六段審査会で当会の鈴木宏明さんが七段に合格しました。

Honbu Team participants of the 53rd Central and Regional Iaidō Seminar held in Fukushima prefecture.

Absolutely great event!

I love ❤️ this seminar, thank you teachers and colleagues

The 2026 Australian Jōdō Seminar and Championships took place at Monash University Clayton in Melbourne from Saturday, the 11th to Monday, the 13th of April. The guest senseis were Tsuriga sensei, hanshi 8 dan, Miyawaki sensei, kyōshi 8 dan, and Butsui sensei, renshi 6 dan.

The first day of the AJSC covered seminar content and a practice of the basic forms. For someone who is so new to jōdō, most of the content covered was new for me, and I received nothing but encouragement and practical feedback for improvement! This seminar was followed by the grading, which was held in the afternoon. Spectating was a great opportunity to observe jōdō being performed at all levels, from 1 dan gradings displaying techniques more familiar to me, to 5 dan displaying much more refinement and expertise. This was followed by more training sessions until the end of the day.

After the seminar and grading, many attendees and the senseis met up at a pub near the AJSC location. It was a great opportunity to learn more about the individual experiences and journeys that fellow members have walked, and to share some of my own. It helped to build on a greater sense of community with all of us gathering for a shared love of a martial art.

The second day of the AJSC started with the competition in the morning. Thanks to the loving encouragement of my fellow dōjō members who signed me up for competition on my behalf (🙃), I found the experience of time-pressured preparation to be somewhat exhilarating. Everyone was encouraging and offering advice. The competition displayed some amazing examples of jōdō and provided me with a lot of motivation and drive to empower my own learning. We also finished second in the Team competition! These feelings continued into the seminar, and for the beginners and lower grades, Miyawaki sensei had some advice for footwork and movement through techniques regarding balance that will always stick with me. He had said that at any point during a movement, you should be balanced such that you could pause your feet and jump on the spot without losing balance. It has given me an excellent tool when doing individual practice to check my posture and positioning.

The training pushed me to overcome any embarrassment or unease at looking potentially looking silly or lost in the space, as I had to try and copy movements of my fellow students as we got into kata that I had never done before. Despite my, or anyone else’s, unfamiliarity with the techniques, advice and corrections were always provided constructively and encouragingly.

We had the farewell dinner for the senseis at a lovely location, a short drive away, that had many mixed cuisines. Despite there being another training day still to come, it allowed those unable to attend on a Monday to still come along to show their appreciation and participate in a more casual expression of shared community. It was an important night to participate in, for me, and I am happy for the opportunity to have gone to it.

Monday brought a smaller cohort of us attending the shorter seminar, as many had to return to work. This day was spent mostly with Miyawaki sensei on going over the first seven kata to revise what was learned and practice some pointers in both tachi and jō sides. This was invaluable for me to practice the tachi sides, as I’ve had significantly less practice with it.

I am so glad that I attended the Nationals, as it was not only an incredible opportunity to meet more of our jōdō community from across Australia and the visiting senseis, but also an invaluable training opportunity. I’m grateful to the Japanese senseis for having made the journey over to Australia and for taking the time to teach us and impart wisdom. The experience as a whole has solidified my desire to continue with jōdō, and I highly recommend anyone who practices our art, be they very experienced or brand new like me, to come along to these seminars!

Nikhila Watson

This year's participants of the Kyōto Enbu Taikai.

Congratulations to everyone! It's really inspiring to see a such a great ex*****on of the techniques.

全日本剣道演武大会に出場しました。