News
by Connie Borden, Shintaido of America President
January 2018 to December 2018
Four SOA board meetings were held in March, June, September and December of 2018. The minutes are on the SOA website. Two joint informational meetings of the SOA board members and SOA TC members were held June and November of 2018.
In July 2018 a membership letter was sent to supporters of Shintaido of America. The list serve of MailChimp was used to send these electronic letters along with personal emails. SOA membership grew to 40 members in 2018 from 17 members in 2017.
National Liability coverage was renewed for 2019 and the tax report for 2017 was filed.
Rob Kedoin, SOA webmaster, in March of 2018 implemented changes for the SOA website to have it compatible with iPhone, tablets and with the current blog style newsletter. Rob now tracks the usage of the website and generates quarterly reports for the SOA Board. There has been more usage of the website, with one quarter showing a 36% increase. The blog style newsletter is used more than 3 times from last year. The next update to the website will be the instructor’s page.
The SOA board approved a stipend for the consultation services of HF Ito for continued instruction and development of Shintaido Kenjutsu for 2019. (see budget)
Shin Aoki as Director of Instruction for Kangeiko 2019, being organized by PacShin, has given regular updates for this gasshuku with Minagawa sensei as guest
Planned dates for 2019 for the SOA Board are 3 March, 2 June, 22 Sept and 8 December. Planned dates for informational meeting between the Board and NTC members are 23 June and 15 December 2019. The SOA board plans for an electronic election for August 2019. The board serves two-year terms with the term ending September 2019.
- 2017 – 2019 Elected members for two-year terms:
- Nancy Billias
- Connie Borden, President and Board Chair
- David Franklin
- Brad Larson, Treasurer
- Permanent Members:
- Haruyoshi F. Ito
- Michael Thompson
- Officers (not elected):
- Stephen Billias, Editor Body Dialogue
- Shin Aoki, NTC Chairperson
- Chris Ikeda-Nash, Financial Officer
- Robert Kedoin, Webmaster
|
2018
FINAL |
2019
budget |
2020
budget |
| Start |
9327 |
11368 |
11,118 |
| Membership Dues |
2220 |
2100 |
2400 |
| Donations (restricted) |
820 |
|
|
| Exam/Diploma fees |
300 |
|
|
| Total |
12667 |
13468 |
13518 |
|
|
|
|
| Expenses |
|
|
|
| Insurance |
554 |
565 |
570 |
| Kenjutsu |
500 |
500 |
500 |
| NTC |
0 |
500 |
500 |
| ISP dues for MT and ITO |
120 |
60 |
120 |
| Awards (pd by donations) |
0 |
|
|
| PO mailbox |
125 |
125 |
125 |
| General Scholarship |
|
600 |
|
| Total Expenses |
1299 |
2350 |
1815 |
|
|
|
|
| Balance |
11368 |
11118 |
11703 |
|
|
|
|
| Loss/Profit |
2,041 |
-250 |
585 |
News
The International Shintaido Project (ISP) is the international organization for Shintaido practitioners who have reached the rank of Shintaido Graduate or Shodan in any discipline.
There are many items in the most recent newsletter that people may be interested in:
- In February 2019 the first General Membership Meeting will take place as an online meeting. At this meeting the new Board members will be elected. The ISP is seeking, “two members from North America to ensure a balanced representation of all regions”. If you are interested in running for a Board position, please contact Jean-Louis De Gandt at jean-louis@degandt.net.
- A new website is being created for the organization and they need graphic designers and people with WordPress experience. To help, please contacrt Pierre Quettier at pierre@quettier.net.
- ISP is also looking for article writers, editors and translators. To help, please contact Lee Ordeman at leeordeman@gmail.com.
- The 2020 International Gasshuku will take place in Kansai region of Japan near Lake Biwa and will be organized by Soichiro Iida.
2018, All Years, Body Dialogue Newsletter, News
Carole Brouillette wrote with the sad news that Anne-Marie Grandtner passed away on December 18, 2018.
Anne-Marie lived in Montreal, Canada. She often attended Shintaido North East events.
At home in Montreal she taught Shintaido classes and in 2015 arranged for Shintaido to be included in a chorale performance in the Chapelle Notre-Dame du Sacre Coeur in Montreal.
You can see more photos of Anne-Marie from that 2015 event online.
Anne-Marie and Barbara Barnard
2018, All Years, Body Dialogue Newsletter
31 October to 4 November 2018
By Connie Borden and Shin Aoki
For five days, sixty Shintaido Practitioners practiced in Tirrenia, in the Italian region of Tuscany. From pasta to wine, from early morning meditation to late evening meetings, the group was united in the theme Toitsu Tai. Organizers Davide, Patrizio and Gianni had the vision of each keiko trying to reach the core of Shintaido. They asked the teachers of the subjects of karate, bojutsu, kenjutsu, meditation and open hand Shintaido to show these disciplines as expressions of the same spirit from the deep heart of Shintaido. As Mike Sheets said: “The instructors had us work very hard to find the center of both yourself and your partner. The other reminder was not about pieces of Shintaido but the whole – how they are connected.”
Master Instructor Masashi Minagawa spoke of the theme Toitsu Tai – Unification. Here are his words:
“We (Gianni and I) agreed that when you let go of unnecessary things, only the character ichi- one -Oneness is left. . . .
Ichi – One
For me, this one line contains everything. It is the ‘Line of Life’, the starting line, the goal line, the beginning and the end. It is my Golden Line, The Diamond Eight, One swing of the sword and “Ichi no Tachi” – the first movement of Jissen Kumitachi.”
The advanced group spent the first three keiko studying with Ito Sensei. Chuden no Kata and Okuden no Kata in the kenjutsu program were practiced. In addition, the group selected a few of the advanced Jissen Kumitachi to focus their study.
Advanced workshop group
Minagawa Sensei lead the next three advanced keiko to focus on Jissen Kumitachi #1 to 11. Each morning started with an hour of collegial practice to review the teaching from the day before. Each evening concluded with meetings: the Kenjutsu Task Force, the European Technical Committee, and the general membership meeting of the European Shintaido College.
The last night was a party that included Ula leading ice-breaker activities and Shin teaching line dancing!
High level exams were offered Friday afternoon on 3 November. Congratulations to
- Shigeru Watanabe – San Dan Karate
- Daisuke Uchida – San Dan Bojutsu
- David Eve, Alex Hooper, Georg Muller, Marc Plantec, Daisuke Uchida and Shigeru Watanabe – Ni Dan Kenjutsu
- Shigeru Watanabe – Shintaido Sei-Shidoin/Instructor
- Jean-Louis de Gandt, Serge Magne, Mike Sheets and Soichiro Iida – Shintaido Sei-Shihan/Senior Instructor
The general gasshuku began Friday afternoon with a keiko taught by Gianni Rossi. Two keiko were taught on Saturday. Weather cleared enough to be at the beach with a stunning view of the mountains to the north and a calm sea to the west. Shin Aoki and David Franklin taught karate.
Shin Aoki teaching in Italy
The second beach keiko was bojutsu lead by Alain Chevet, Georg Muller and Stephan Seddiki. The group experienced an Italian sunset over the water.
Bojutsu keiko at sunset Italy
Saturday morning and Sunday morning, Ito Sensei lead a 6:30am Taimyo meditation.
The fourth keiko was kenjutsu by Pierre Quettier and Ula Chambers. Pierre gave a demonstration with his katana showing Chuden no Kata and Okuden no Kata. Masashi Minagawa lead the closing keiko with open hand Shintaido.
Three masters of Shintaido
The United States was represented by David Franklin, Mike Sheets, Connie Borden, Michael Thompson, Mark Bannon, HF Ito and Shin Aoki.
USA group at Italy semi international
Photos by Marc Plantec.
