15 toru giga prague kendo cup & Kendo seminar

Tournament and seminar was held on 20th to 24th September in Prague, Czech Republic and was hosted by the Czech Kendo Federation.

The event commemorated the 20th anniversaty of Kendo being practiced in the Czech Republic. On this occasion we also had the honor to welcome Mr. Alain Ducarme, president of the European Kendo Federation, who took part in the whole event.

Many senseis took part in the event. The seminar was lead by Hiroshi Ozawa sensei (7 dan) from Japan and was assisted by others.

On the seminar the focus on the correct basic moves and breathing. The basics were practiced all together, advanced topics were trained in groups of Dan holders, Kyu holders, women and beginners, each supervised by several senseis. On the end of each session there was time for jigeiko. We also practiced Kendo kata.

Ozawa sensei also held a very interesting lecture on "Essence of Keiko (training) in the Japanese culture".

There was also a party with a table football tournament :-)

List of senseis:

Seminar leader and chief referee:
Hiroshi Ozawa 7 Dan (JAP)

Senseis and referees:
Wolfgang Demski 7 Dan (GER)
Alain Ducarme 7 Dan (BEL)
Hideharu Meguro 7 Dan (JAP)
Jörg Potrafki 7 Dan (GER)
Ryutaro Kamemoto 6 Dan (AUT)
Hiroshi Kamakura 5 Dan (POL)
Andrzej Kustosz 5 Dan (POL)
Atsushi Takita 5 Dan (ROM)
Yasuko Iinuma 4 Dan (JAP)
Kenji Kawamoto 4 Dan (POL)
Hideyuki Kuroda 4 Dan (JAP)
Zbigniew Misiak 4 Dan (POL)

(ordered by a Dan grade and alphabet)

In total more than 120 participants from 11 countries took part in the seminar and tournament.

On Sunday the 15th Toru Giga Prague Kendo Cup was held. There was a great variety of competitors at the tournament and many good matches were seen. Check out the results here here.

We would like to thank all the senseis and participants and also organizers!

To see the results click here.

To see the pictures click here.