Just back from the 26 th European Iaido Championship in Athens, the largest until now with over 300 participants and 25 countries. As it was the first time Greece organized the EIC, they did a fantastic job. The hotel was fine, the sayonara party was great and the championship itself went smoothly, thanks to the dedication of the many Greek voluntary assistants. The kakari-in knew what they were doing, results were correctly noted and send trough to the head tables. Thank you, Greece.
The Belgian team came on Thursday, to be in time for the seminar on Friday morning. Thanks to the effort and help of Efi, several taxicabs were awaiting us at the airport of both flights and on this first evening, she had made a reservation for all 21 Belgians in a fine restaurant. Where the Fix beer was greatly enjoyed.
On Friday ZKR Iai was demonstrated by Tanno sensei and explained by Kusama sensei, in the presence of Nakamura sensei. In the afternoon there was also a referee seminar for the shinpan of the championship. Kusama sensei also gave a seminar for the rokudan present, who were not shinpan on this event. This was greatly appreciated.
On Saturday, the individual championship. Belgian shinpan were Patrik Demuynck, Emilio Gomez, Philippe Bruwier and Luc Defraeye. From the 11 Belgian competitors , 8 passed the pools and started the knock outs. Almost everybody continued until the quarter finals, to be stopped just before the medals. Although all Belgians demonstrated great iai !!! Liviu, the coach of the Belgian team, and myself were very proud of the iaido our members showed on this event. As Kusama sensei told in his final speech, the quality of the European iaido is increasing every year. Our both rokudan competitors, Yuki Kanto and Michael Simonini gained the well deserved bronze and silver medal. Karen Vermeulen received a fighting spirit for her performance in the sandan division.
On Sunday, the team championship took place and the Belgian team passed the pool competition to be stopped by the Swedish team with 1fight won but 2 lost. But again, nice iaido was shown. In the afternoon came the peak of the day. All Belgians who took exam in Athens passed !!!
Sander 1st Dan, Anissa , Soumaya and Pramit 2nd Dan, Yoshi 3rd Dan and Michael 7th Dan.
Great, wonderful …. many reasons to celebrate at the sayonara party in the evening.
A big congratulation to the Belgian team !!
Report by Carlier Freddy – Belgian Iaido Team Manager
Dojo teachers, leaders and adult members who are interested in are also welcome.
We are waiting many participants and looking forward to having keiko with you. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact below email address.
Guidance regarding our study “Questionnaire about the relationship between budo habits and children’s mental health”
Guidance regarding our study “Questionnaire about the relationship between budo habits and children’s mental health”
For the maintenance and promotion of mental health, we hope to offer information about a joyful and healthy way of practicing budo through research into what things Budo habits cultivate.
For those who
would like to help with our research, please access the website linked
by URL below and answer the all the questions.
English and Italian/French language are found in mixed manner in Italian and French version of the questionnaire
<How to Participate> →Read through the Objectives of the Study and the Explanatory Brief →Register your own ID and password →Log in to your account for the first time →Start to answer
Anyone who has a 4 to 17-year-old child who learns budo can participate
in the questionnaire. We hope for you not only to answer them, but also
to forward or share the URL with acquaintances whose children also
learn a budo.
The time it takes to complete the questionnaire is approximately 10 minutes. You will be asked to cooperate once again, a year later, so we would be grateful if you could remember your ID and password.
In this first questionnaire, you will answer about your “current state”. There will be a follow up a year later.
Hironobu Fujiwara M.D., Ph.D. Lecturer, Department of Neuropsychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University Visiting Researcher, RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project Artificial Intelligence Ethics and Society Team
For the maintenance and promotion of mental health, we hope to offer
information about a joyful and healthy way of practicing budo through
research into what things Budo habits cultivate.
For those who would like to help with our research, please access the website linked by URL below and answer the all the questions.