Kenny the Kendo dummy

Sometime last year, Mushin was fortunate enough to receive a surprise visit from Boki sensei, a 5th dan Kendoka from Korea.

It was quite by chance that this happened. Boki-sensei was not aware that kendo was even practiced in South Africa untill a good friend of him told him of his kendo adventures in SA. That good friend is Dongoon, a new addition to kendo. Dongoon initially just brought his son to kendo, but after a few classes he was adamant on starting his own kendo journey. It was not long before he caught up to his son and now they have recently joined in on the senior class.

The fact of the matter is, we are very gratefull for this very by chance meeting that happened. I myself was not able to attend the class where Boki-sensei visited the dojo, but from what I hear it was great fun, learning how to incorporate "kenny" into training.

I have spent many an hour or any free time that I get before class to practice my kendo on Kenny. The best thing for me is the fact that you can practice to commit to "painfull" (do and kaeshi-do) and "dangerous" (tsuki, katate tsuki and tsuki-men) cuts without the fear of injuring someone. I know that especially for these cuts that I hold back so much during class that I can't actually even perform them correctly.

At Mushin's interdojo we had hoped to use kenny in the warm-up and training hall, but due to some unforseen circumstances that was not possible on the day. I know many of the visiting kendoka wanted a chance to practice and see kenny, and we hope that in future events hosted by mushin we have to opportunity to give everyone a chance to practice in it.

In the short time that Kenny has been with us, I have seen many a senior practice on it, and I know that they love it just as much as I do.

Thank you Boki-sensei. We can not wait until you come back one day to SA to train with us again.