Grasping Naginata

Sorry for the long, long hiatus!  I've been either 1) too busy, 2) not practicing Naginata, or 3) both.  But I'm still here, and sti...

The new school year started at the beginning of April, which means lots of changes have occurred: At my base school, there are some new stu...

Since I recently wrote about my grading, I thought I would add links to the U.S. Naginata Federation's standards for ranks. I make no c...

Sorry for the long delay in between posts! Last school term was especially busy, and when I feel inclined to write I've been directing t...

A few weeks ago I had my first Naginata competition.  It was for Saga prefecture and included all ages, which were broken up into elementary...

Back in July , I briefly mentioned using baby powder to keep my hands from sticking to my naginata when I'm sweaty.  I used to keep reg...

This post should actually be titled, "Wearing Bogu for the First, Second, and Third Times". I practiced in bogu for the first t...

I have three semi-sizable (6, 8, and 14 gauge) piercings in each ear. Since I've started training with bogu (armor)[1], figuring out w...

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted!  The past couple months have been particularly busy.  Many new ALTs (assistant language t...

Another friend of mine recently started practicing with my Naginata club.  Because the club meets only once a week at most and she sometimes...

I went to see the 5th INF World Naginata Championships on Sunday July 3rd in Himeji. It was really interesting! I'm very lucky to be l...

Last week my Naginata club went to Himeji to watch the 5th INF World Naginata Championships.  Some of the other members only took a day trip...

I'm still here, and I'm still practicing Naginata.  I haven't written anything because the things going through my head lately w...

(click to view larger) After I bought my naginata , I wanted to get something to carry it in.  In Japan, people use naginata bags, which...

One of the things that has bothered me about Naginata information in English is that usually the romaji (English alphabetic interpretation ...

The 1st-year students at my base school just got their Naginata gi (uniforms) yesterday (before that they just wore their regular gym unifo...

In Naginata, for a strike to be considered valid you have to kiai the name of the target just before you hit it. One of these is ' tsu...

- All the happoburi - uchikaeshi , both uchi and uke - ipponme to gohonme , both shikake and oji And all the skills required to do tho...

I commute by bicycle. I don't like carrying bags on me because they trap sweat underneath them (which is especially bothersome in Japan...