Naoki Eiga
Encyclopedia
Naoki Eiga is a Japanese kendo
ist who in 2000 won the individual event at World Kendo Championship (WKC) as well as the highest title in Kendo: All Japan Kendo Champion. His progress toward the championship was documented by the Japanese broadcaster NHK
in a 2003 program named A Single Blow.
Naoki Eiga started kendo under the influence of his brother, Hideyuki. Both competed at the highest level of the sport. Eiga's wife Naomi was also a kendo
practitioner. She was his younger classmate at Tokai University
and a member of the same kendo dojo
. Eiga joined the Hokkaido
police force and became a member of the Hokkaido Police Kendo Team. From 1997 he was also a member of the Japanese national kendo team. But his rank on the team was a substitute, and he was allowed to participate only in the preliminary bouts of the WKC team event in 1997.
Feeling that he had to earn the respect of his fellow team members and coaches of the team, he decided to concentrate on the All Japan Kendo Champion tournament. At that time, the event had been dominated for years by Masahiro Miyazaki, one of the greatest kendoists of modern times. Eiga faced Miyazaki in the finals of the 1999 tournament, but lost.
After his defeat in 1999, Eiga entered the All Japan tournament once more in 2000, and faced Miyazaki again in the finals. This time, he was able to win with za kote strike just before the match went into overtime. By winning the title of All Japan Kendo Champion of the year 2000, Eiga ended the Miyazaki era. He attributed his success to his teacher, Kazuo Furukawa.
Based on his success in the AJKC in November of 2000, Eiga was chosen as team captain of the Japanese national team for the World Kendo Championship 2003 in Glasgow
, Scotland.
Kendo
, meaning "Way of The Sword", is a modern Japanese martial art of sword-fighting based on traditional Japanese swordsmanship, or kenjutsu.Kendo is a physically and mentally challenging activity that combines strong martial arts values with sport-like physical elements.-Practitioners:Practitioners...
ist who in 2000 won the individual event at World Kendo Championship (WKC) as well as the highest title in Kendo: All Japan Kendo Champion. His progress toward the championship was documented by the Japanese broadcaster NHK
NHK
NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....
in a 2003 program named A Single Blow.
Naoki Eiga started kendo under the influence of his brother, Hideyuki. Both competed at the highest level of the sport. Eiga's wife Naomi was also a kendo
Kendo
, meaning "Way of The Sword", is a modern Japanese martial art of sword-fighting based on traditional Japanese swordsmanship, or kenjutsu.Kendo is a physically and mentally challenging activity that combines strong martial arts values with sport-like physical elements.-Practitioners:Practitioners...
practitioner. She was his younger classmate at Tokai University
Tokai University
is a private university in Tokyo, Japan. It was established in 1943 by Shigeyoshi Matsumae, who had formerly been the engineering president of the Ministry of Communications...
and a member of the same kendo dojo
Dojo
A is a Japanese term which literally means "place of the way". Initially, dōjōs were adjunct to temples. The term can refer to a formal training place for any of the Japanese do arts but typically it is considered the formal gathering place for students of any Japanese martial arts style to...
. Eiga joined the Hokkaido
Hokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...
police force and became a member of the Hokkaido Police Kendo Team. From 1997 he was also a member of the Japanese national kendo team. But his rank on the team was a substitute, and he was allowed to participate only in the preliminary bouts of the WKC team event in 1997.
Feeling that he had to earn the respect of his fellow team members and coaches of the team, he decided to concentrate on the All Japan Kendo Champion tournament. At that time, the event had been dominated for years by Masahiro Miyazaki, one of the greatest kendoists of modern times. Eiga faced Miyazaki in the finals of the 1999 tournament, but lost.
After his defeat in 1999, Eiga entered the All Japan tournament once more in 2000, and faced Miyazaki again in the finals. This time, he was able to win with za kote strike just before the match went into overtime. By winning the title of All Japan Kendo Champion of the year 2000, Eiga ended the Miyazaki era. He attributed his success to his teacher, Kazuo Furukawa.
Based on his success in the AJKC in November of 2000, Eiga was chosen as team captain of the Japanese national team for the World Kendo Championship 2003 in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Scotland.
External links
- My friend, Eiga and Japan kendo story
- The 13th World Kendo Championships (13WKC)
- Outline of All Japan Kendo Federation (AJKF)
- The History of Kendo
See also
- KendoKendo, meaning "Way of The Sword", is a modern Japanese martial art of sword-fighting based on traditional Japanese swordsmanship, or kenjutsu.Kendo is a physically and mentally challenging activity that combines strong martial arts values with sport-like physical elements.-Practitioners:Practitioners...
- TsukiTsuki, is the Japanese word for "thrust", coming from the verb , meaning "to thrust". It sounds the same as the Japanese word for "moon"/"month" .-Kendo:...
- SenseiSensei' is a Japanese word that basically means "person born before another." In general usage, it means "master" or "teacher," and the word is used as a title to refer to or address teachers, professors, professionals such as lawyers, CPA and doctors, politicians, clergymen, and other figures of authority...
- Ishizuka Yoshifumi
- KizemeKizemeKizeme is a Japanese term describing the advanced form of seme when a kendo player has succeeded in causing shift in the mind of the opponent...
- Muga-mushinMuga-mushinis a compound term of muga and mushin. Muga literally means no-self and Mushin no-mind . What is negated is the empirical body-mind as an ontological independent state of existence. Muga and mushin point to the same thing, the state of egolessness, but from different perspectives...