flickr : Kendo and Koryu Pictures

[Jaso h]

Not sure where to post this, so I hope here is ok.

I'm not a professional photographer by any means, but I realised that - living in Japan - I have a lot of chance to visit some cool kendo and koryu shiai/keiko/embukai/etc, so a couple of years ago I started taking some pics. Ive only recently started to get anything near semi-serious, so please dont be dissapointed.

I have kendo pics spanning 4+ years, and koryu pics from about 3 embu, including an ace one just this past weekend in Nara.

Anyway, if you are interested please check my pics out. Those of you that are flickr members, please feel free to comment...

My pictures on flickr

My friend also took some good pics from the embukai last weekend. You can see his stuff here.

Enjoy!!!

Love this pic form your flickr page "Gohyakurakan (五百羅漢)" How old are them statues?

[George M.]

I havent commented on here in a while, but let me add a short update:

My latest project is a (mainly) kendo vs iphone photoblog. The idea being I will upload a budo related picture once a day for a year (if I can).

Anyway, if you guy are interested you can find it here: http://kenshi247.net/photoblog/

Cheers!

[Richard S.]

It's been a long time since I last posted here, but I'd like let you know that my photos from the 106th Zen Nihon Kendo Enbu Taikai are now available to view online. These feature various koryu bujutsu as well as gendai kendo, iaido, naginata and jodo.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oroshi/...7624000341357/

This year I attempted to address a criticism made by my budo seniors here in Japan that from a budo perspective, my photos ought to show more of the shape of a technique and capture movement better. I can't say I was very successful, but it provided an interesting challenge.

My thanks go to Ron Beaubien for his valuable advice and help in selecting and cropping the photos.

I would appreciate any feedback, comments and constructive criticism. If I have misidentified any ryuha, please correct me. Please note that what was last year identified for me as Hikita Kage-ryu was once again this year listed as Shinkage-ryu, so I have maintained that in the title of the photos.

Thanks for your interest.

[Meik Skoss]

Those are good photographs. I liked the way you focused on different aspects of the techniques. And, as Ron mentioned, your candid shots were very good.

You got some good pictures of Seia-ryu, which I've never seen before, so that was very interesting for me. I presume the people using fukuro shinai in the Shinto-ryu photos were from Kyushu? Also very interesting.

Meik Skoss
Shutokukan Dojo
Koryu.com

[Richard S.]

Thank you. Yes, the people using the fukuro shinai are from Fukuoka.

I also found Seia-ryu very interesting to watch. I've been lucky enough to see it demonstrated twice, both times at the Kyoto Taikai.

One of my favourite demonstrations this year was Tatsumi-ryu, which I had not seen before. It also produced what is probably my best photograph from the taikai.

[Dave Drawdy]

All, just updating the stickies a bit. This is the site from a good friend who does sports photography. Several folios of good budo pics, including recent East Coast Tai Kai and last year's IBF Tai Kai in DC.

http://relentlesswarriorstudios.zenfolio.com/

Dave