This is the fifth part of a five part article. Read the fourth part here.
Cascade Kendo Kai
Cascade Kendo Kai’s (CKK) story actually begins in the 1970s with Gary Imanishi, grandson of Umajiro Imanishi, the famous kantoku of prewar Seattle Kendo Kai (SKK). Before taking part in the family’s kendo legacy, the “prospect of putting on chest armor and skirt-like trousers, and running around yelling and carrying a big stick held little appeal [to Gary].” Gary preferred American pastimes and sports like baseball or basketball – kendo was the farthest thing from his mind. Then, while at the University of Washington in the 1970s, a friend would constantly drop by Gary’s dorm room and ask him to come to the Kendo Club; he recalls that when “he knocked on the door. Sometimes I answered it. And sometimes I didn’t.” Soon, Gary’s will broke and he joined his friend for a class and he never looked back. By 1979, Gary had the opportunity to compete in the Kendo World Championships in Sapporo, Japan, where he placed, but what his statistics were are not known.[1]
Some time after this, Gary assumed the role of Chief Instructor at SKK, lasting until the late 1980s. In 1988, he struck out on his own and established CKK, where he would later involve his children, Bryan and Taryn Imanishi, in leadership roles and his extended family in the training. The former assumed the “majority of teaching and setting the next generation’s tone for CKK” by 2017. Before his return, Taryn and her husband, Jake, “were huge in keeping the dojo together and advancing us.”[2]
Bryan, being the son of a kendo instructor, grew up “seeing and hearing kendo because of my dad’s training.” He wanted to learn karate, but he “was an introvert and too scared to try something outside my living room emulating the Ninja Turtles, so I never went to a karate class.” One day, when he was eight-and-a-half-years-old and was “open to going” with his father, he attended his first kendo class. He mainly trained under his father, recalling it was “frustrating to do kendo under him and teaching with him because we didn’t see eye to eye on methods.” He also remembers that Gary attempted to make kendo fun for him and the other children in the class; “He must have done something right though […] He passed down kendo well to us, I think. I’ll give him credit for that.”[3]
During the course of CKK’s life, there were a handful of guest instructors, two of whom stand out in Bryan’s mind. The first was “Mr. Suzuki,” who came to the US for work as a researcher. Bryan quips that Suzuki “might’ve been researching effective ways to break children’s bones because he hit so hard! I just remember my head and my elbow needing some TLC after keiko with him.”[4] After Suzuki came Shunji Hasanuma, with Bryan remembering the classes under him with much vividness:
He laid down the straight Japanese style keiko. He brought the pain. Kakari geiko was like his middle name and as children, when you don’t zanshin through your cuts fast enough, you’d better believe you’re going to feel his shinai on the small of your back folding you backwards, picking you up like a French crepe and flinging you across the floor.[5]
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the CKK had more than fifty members. During the coronavirus, it is unknown exactly how the school responded, but since most of the mandates regarding the pandemic have receded, it can be postulated that CKK is slowly building itself back up to pre-coronavirus standards.
Idaho Kendo Club
Robert Stroud, after being the Chief Instructor for the Obukan Kendo Club for eighteen years, moved back to his native Idaho in 2004. It was around this time that he found the Idaho Kendo Club at the Boise West YMCA. A renaissance-like man and university professor by the name of Maximo Callao founded the club. In addition to his many extracurricular pursuits, Callao was an avid fencer in both the Eastern and Western sense. Unfortunately, he passed away three years later after Stroud arrived at the club. He commented that Callao was a “very strong European fencer and also a very strong kendoka.” However, it seemed as though Callao did not have a consistent role in the club, as Stroud references three individuals as part of the senior group of kenshi: Mike Cooper, and the brothers Ryan and Rhett Atagi. Shortly after joining the club’s practice, the three of them found out the rank of Stroud, and “they kind of nudged [him] to teach, even though [he] just wanted to practice.” He eventually agreed to run the club the same year he joined for practice. It can be speculated that Cooper and the Atagi brothers too on more of an administration role once Stroud assumed teaching responsibilities.[6]
The Idaho Kendo Club has had a “small satellite club” at Boise State University for a few years, but it “never really attracted a lot of college students.” That, however, does not deter Stroud from teaching, saying, “because of the small club, we focus more on our main practice.” With that focus Stroud and the Idaho Kendo Club hold the US Nito Camp where about ninety kenshi come from around the world to learn Nito-ryu Kendo from specialists. Those events and practices, however, were halted by the coronavirus pandemic. In talking with Stroud in 2020, he and the club were about to start experimenting with Zoom classes, but how this impacted the club is not known. Given the relaxation of mandates regarding the pandemic, it can be postulated that the Idaho Kendo Club and Stroud are slowly building their respective presences back up in the community.[7]
Coronavirus Effects on American Kendo
Like the rest of the country and other martial arts, the coronavirus pandemic forced many a kenshi and dojo to halt their training, finding new ways to conduct practices, either within their homes or outside. Many of the schools and kenshi followed the All Japan Kendo Federation’s (AJKF) and AUSKF’s guidelines, but with their practice spaces (usually community centers) following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines, practices could not resume. With the regression of the pandemic mandates, kenshi and schools are now able to return to their scheduled practices and rebuild their communities again, perhaps with new, revitalized zeal.
As a result of the pandemic, the AJKF issued a new set of rules entitled, “Provisional Shiai and Shinpan Rules in Place Until the COVID-19 Pandemic is Brought Under Control.” These new set of rules revolve around the position of tsubazeriai, which is where two kenshi are close and their respective shinai are locked with the sword guards together. While the Outline Point 1 discusses how kenshi should “adhere to stipulated guidelines to mitigate the spread of infection when running tournaments,” the following point, Outline Point 2, asserts that, “approximately half of match time is spent with shiai-sha locked in the tsubazeriai position. This needs to be rectified so that in matches shiai-sha both take kamae and attack each other.” Moreover, Doug Imanishi mentioned that this course of action taken during matches was “degrading the level of the matches and kendo in general,” and something needed to be done.[8]
The amount of time spent in tsubazeriai now allowed by the AJKF, “can be no longer than one breath.” When asked about what the set length of time is meant by “one breath,” Doug explained, in March 2023, that instructors had to come up with “something[,] like basically two to three, maybe four, seconds.” He further clarified that there are “many things in martial arts, many things with a cultural background [that] don’t have a finite meter on them. It’s a philosophy or an application of a concept, rather than that meter.” The next month [April 2023], the AJKF specified the amount of time for “one breath:” “The time taken to move out of tsubazeriai should be approximately one breath (about 3 seconds).”[9] Only time will tell how long these rules will remain in place.
Conclusion
As demonstrated throughout this historical narrative, the Pacific Northwest has a rich foundation of kendo and has rooted itself in the region’s history, especially within the Japanese American communities. The Way of the Sword has called a few to stay with the art for years, ultimately giving back to the kendo community – some even transforming kendo into a higher-plane activity as these kenshi explained the philosophical meanings behind the yelling, stomping, and thwacking at each other. Prewar pioneers and influential kenshi like Umajiro Imanishi, Tamotsu Takizaki, Goro Mochizuki, and Richard Yamamoto helped establish the foundations for kendo in the region.
While the onset of the Second World War and Internment for Japanese Americans, some of these same prewar kenshi took to rebuilding kendo. Soon, the next generation began pitching in to take the art to newer heights. Nobuto “Rod” Omoto offered his assistance and teaching ability to establish to prop up newly formed kendo schools at a variety of locations, even expanding on the philosophical underpinnings of the art. Jeff Marsten made inroads in both the regional federation and national federation, increasing membership to numbers not previously seen before. Additionally, he was the sole negotiator, bringing peace between the Kendo Federation of the United States and the Beikoku Kendo Renmei, and expanding women’s roles in competition with the advent of a Women’s Division. Others with less impact than the aforementioned still helped solidify kendo in the region; Doug Imanishi and his cousin, Gary, Robert Stroud, Stephen Strauch, Ken Strawn, Masao and Yoshihiko Tanabe, John Hancock, Masayasu Ando, and still others ensured that kendo schools remain active, even during the pandemic, as a place for kenshi to train and hopefully participate in the national kendo community in similar ways their predecessors did.
This is the fifth part of a five part article. Read the fourth part here.
[1] Kossen, “Gary Imanishi: Carries a Big Stick While Bringing an Ancient Art into the Mainstream.”
[2] Aloia, “Interview with Seattle Kendo Kai Head Instructor Doug Imanishi,” August 28, 2020; “Welcome to Cascade Kendo Kai”; “Leadership”; Aloia, “Interview with Longtime Kenshi Bryan Imanishi.”
[3] Aloia, “Interview with Longtime Kenshi Bryan Imanishi.”
[4] Aloia.
[5] Aloia.
[6] Idaho Statesman, “Maximo Callao Obituary (2007),” Legacy.com, 2007, https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/idahostatesman/name/maximo-callao-obituary?id=13486972; Aloia, “Interview with Robert Stroud,” June 5, 2020; Some of the activities Maximo Callao participated in were kendo, Olympic Fencing, psychologist, the Peace Corps, played the bagpipes with the Boise Highlanders, bought a horse and took riding lessons, made candles and jewelry, and a collector and anything and everything.
[7] Aloia, “Interview with Robert Stroud,” June 5, 2020.
[8] Aloia, “Interview with Seattle Kendo Kai Head Instructor Doug Imanishi,” June 21, 2023; All Japan Kendo Federation Shiai and Shinpan Committee, “Provisional Shiai and Shinpan Rules in Place Until the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Brought Under Control,” April 1, 2023, https://www.kendo.or.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/provisional_shiai_and_shinpan_rules_en_20230401.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1OdtEde80t0sSR8xDBCFckNF45gxWK9q3L9lC0sS86ajl4uTYS78bmWpI.
[9] Aloia, “Interview with Seattle Kendo Kai Head Instructor Doug Imanishi,” June 21, 2023; All Japan Kendo Federation Shiai and Shinpan Committee, “Provisional Shiai and Shinpan Rules in Place Until the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Brought Under Control.”
Martial Arts of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow 