May 2012. It was a busy month for Naginata in Finland.
As the martial art is being accepted as part of the Finnish Kendo Association, which would act as a national federation for Naginata, the spreading of the art shall begin on a larger scale. A good way to start this is via short one-day seminars.
The first mini seminar was held in Tapanila, Helsinki, at the Tapanilan Erä Kendo Club training hall, on Sunday, 6th May, from 13:00 - 17:00. There were 14 participants, most with a Kendo background. Pictures available at Flickr.
A week later, during Mother’s Day, there was a demonstration in the Hanami Festival at Roihuvuori, Helsinki. A picture available at Twitter.
Later that same day, yet another mini seminar of Naginata took place at the Helsinki Kendo Club Dojo, inside the east wing of the famous Olympic Stadium. Secretly, without an earlier announcement, an unofficial Finnish Championships of Engi in Naginata were held, with three participating pairs. Altogether, there were six (6) participants, thus leaving only one to judge.
The competition judge flags I had ordered from “Paazmaya Design” were put in use. For their first time.
Other than the Engi competition, the mini seminar contained teachings of passing judge flags and Shikake-Oji training.
Third mini seminar was in Kotka, located some 133 kilometres due East from Helsinki. Thursday 17th May evening was devoted for Naginata, in what is described most authentic Kendo Dojo in Finland, used by Kotka Kendo Club. This time there were ten (10) participants, again most with Kendo background. Pictures available again at Flickr.
Suffice to say that May 2012 was pretty busy for Naginata in Finland. June will continue with similar pressure, as the first Naginata instructor course will be concluded, and the first Kyu-grading in Finland will take place on Tuesday, 12th June 2012.