KAMINARIKAN News Digest — Q3 2021

We participated in the filming of a music video for the band KANATAMI's single 'Revenge'. Anna played the lead role, portraying a warrior fighting multiple opponents on the path of Ashura — a dynamic and realistic battle sequence. The video was released in July. We thank KANATAMI for the invitation and wish them success in the music charts.

We attended a three-day atarashi naginata seminar in St Petersburg, featuring intensive keiko, waza practice and a touch of Tendo-ryu naginatajutsu. The seminar concluded with two gradings.

The first examination, organised by the Greater New York Naginata Federation, was particularly intense. Andrew, Ann and our friend Igor Sharov successfully graded to 1st kyu, while Maxim graded to 2nd kyu. In the second local grading, our clubmate Dasha successfully passed her 5th kyu examination. Congratulations to all!

Our members competed in the Open Kyu Kendo Championships across multiple categories. Alexey Munirov secured bronze in the men's individual competition, while Anastasia Sudovikova claimed silver in the women's individual. In the team events, KAMINARIKAN took bronze in both the men's (Alexey Munirov, Oleg Kornev) and women's (Anastasia Sudovikova, Daria Belova) team competitions. Anastasia also received the Outstanding Kendo Award from the Ladies Kendo Moscow community. Well done to all!

We visited a seminar with Alexey Magnushevsky in Moscow, focused on exam preparation and understanding the grading process from both the participant's and the examiner's perspective. The seminar offered valuable insights into ki-ken-tai-ichi with the right foot, along with practical exercises that we continue to incorporate into our regular training.