Conclusion Proudly, the Canadian Kendo Federation celebrated

insteadwere told to practice
forward, backward, and sideward footwork for quite a
l o n g ti m e. F inallywe l e a rn e ds u b u ri (c u ts )a n d p ra cti ced
it after we returned to our huts, repeatedlycoordinating
o u r sw ings wit h our fo o tw o rk i n h u t c o rri d o rs , w hi l e
taking care not to get in anybody'sway. That's how we
accustomedourselvesto attain te na uchi (light but sharp
squeezing
o f t h e h a n d sa n d w r i s t su p o n i m p a c t ) .
made with these slim, white colored "shinai" were lighter
and sw i fter than w i th the [ol d] dri ed-out bamboo shinsi
that we had bound with cloth bandagesto keep intact.
I had never used this kind of a shinai before, which we
nicknamed "Shokoshinsi." I would take one to practice,
which I pursued devotedly,and advancedto 2nd-Danby
the time I got out of Angler;a feat that I remain proud of
to thi s day.
Th e h ead ins t r uc t ora t Sh o k oD o j o w a s Ma ts u s h i taMoto
A fter l eavi ngthe A ngl erC amp,I l ed a rootl essl i fefor quit e
se n sei, but Hibi K a ta s h i Z n d -D a n l,c h i k a w a H a n u o 1st- awh i le i n the postwar e ra,changingjobs and movinga bout,
D o n , Fur uk awat ' t - Da n , a n d s o m e o th e r s e n s e iw l thout
but I got marri ed i n 1952 and fi nal l ysettl eddow n wit h a
dan ranking were also there. They looked after do.jo fami l y i n V ancouver.S ometi mebackthen, the V an couver
a d mi n is t r at ionin bet w e e n l e s s o n sto o , s o th e y a l l k ept i n
K endo C l ub started up, and I j oi ned i t. Together wit h
cl o se c ont ac t wit h us u n ti l i t c a me ti m e to l e a v eAngl er former Shoko Dojo members-suchas Kimoto, Kawahira,
l n te rn m ent Cam p. E x c e p t fo r F u ru k a w a s e n s e i ,I got
K oyama,Y oshi maru,and l magaw a,I taught student sf or
to g e th er wit h t hes e s e n s e io, n e , tw o , o r th re e ti me s after
about thi rty years w hi l e trai ni ng mysel f and hel p ing t o
our releasefrom that prison (shussho).Matsushitasensei, run the cl ub as w el l . Today,Mr. K i moto K aoru i s th e only
wh o went bac kt o J ap a n ,re tu rn e dto C a n a d ath re e t i mes
member of Shoko Dojo left around here; and, sadly,the
i n d e v ot ed s er v ic et o k e n d o i n C a n a d a .T h e n i n e ty -three onl y othensw hosew hereaboutsI know of are H i bi Kat ashi
ye a r o ld Hibi s ens eis ti l l s e n d s m e C h ri s tma sc a rd sfrom
sensei i nThunderB ayand Mr. Takahashi
A ki ra i n Tor ont o.
h i s h o m e in T hunder Ba y .H i sk e n d ow a s re a l l ys h a r p;but
S ti l l ,l ' d be overj oyedi f thi s poorl y composedsubmission
n o t o n ly t hat , his wr iti n g s k i l l sw e re s u p e rb ,s o h e s erved i s of even a l i ttl e hel p i n conveyi ngw hat thi ngs w er e like
as club secretary,and wrote out the dan certificates.His
i n t h e S h o k oD o j o .
p e n mans hipgr ac est h e c e rti fi c a te /re p o rtc a rd th a t I sti l l
k e e pc l o s ea t h a n d .
As I re c all,int er nm en t c a m p p ra c ti c e sto o k p l a c e tw i ce
a w e e k i n t h e R e c r e a t i o nB u i l d i n go n t h e f a r s i d e o f t h e
a t h l e t i cf i e l d . S o m a n y p e o p l ej o i n e d t h e c l u b l a t e r o n
th a t we had t o add a s e t o f n i g h t ti m e p ra c ti c e sWi
, th thi s
ma n y p eople us ing t he b o g u , th e s e w e re a l w a y si n need
o f re p air .A ur s hinar ,in p a rti c u l a r,c ra c k e da n d b ro k ea l otw h i c h w a s t h e b i g g e s th e a d a c h ef o r m e m b e r s .S o m e o n e
su g g e s t ed," W hv not m a k e u s e o f th e p l e n ti fu l w h i tebi rch
tre e s near by ?"W e got p e rm i s s i o nfro m c a mp a u th ori ti es
to g o out s ide and cu t d o w n g o o d w h i te b i rc h t rees
w i t h o u t k n o t s t h a t g r e w i n t h e r n o u n t a i n sW
. e spliced
t h e m t h i n l y ,d r i e dt h e m , f o r m e dt h e m i n t o s o m e t h i n gl i k e
th e sh ape of a s hinor,a n d fo u n d th a t th e y s to o d up to
h e a v yu s e a l t h o u g ht h e y l a c k e dt h e f l e x i b i l i t yo f b a m b o o ;
so , we b egant o pr odu c e" w h i te b i rc h s h i n o i ."T h e y w ere
a l i ttl e heav y [ t o s t ar t w i th j , s i n c e w e ma d e th e m t hi ck
e n o u g h t o wit hs t and l o ts o f h i tti n g ; b u t, b e c a u s eo u r fe
n o u chi ( gr ip: lit : hand o f i n s i d e )w a s s o s ti ff,w e p u t too
m u c h p o w e r i n t o o u r h i t sa n d t h e s h i n o i w o u l db r e a ka b i t
a b o veth et s ubo ( s wor dg u a rd ).We re fi n e do u r p ro d u cti on
m e t h o d t o a t t a i n b e t t e r b a l a n c e ;a n d , c o m b i n e d w i t h
o u r i mpr ov em ent in te n o u c h i , w e s ta rte d to make
d u ra b l ey et eas y - t o- u s es h i n o i . l ' m s u re l ' m n o t th e onl y
o n e w h o f elt t hat hit sf r o rn k a ma e (s ty l e sty
: p e s o f s tri kes)
Conclusion
Proudly,
the Canadian
KendoFederation
celebrated
theircentenaryin 2011.TheSteveston
KendoClub
celebrates50 yearsafter the war in 2012. The
senseifrom the Stevestonclub instructedkendo
in interiorcampssuch as H. Hyashiin Kaslo,K.
Kobayashi
in Slocan,M. Hayashiin Sandon{BC.}
andY.Akunein Raymond(Alberta)duringthe war.
Someof the Shokokenshiin this articlebecame
the foundersof the post war VancouverKendo
Clubsoon to celebrate50 years. Kendapioneers
in Canadakept practicingduring the war time
despite of hard times. The legacyof Canadian
K e n d oi s l o n ga n dc o n f i n u o u s .
Hirokazu
Ckusa
CKFPresident