British Shintaido now has a beautiful, new website you might want to visit.
It is now very easy to find:
They have also added a very interesting “Technical notes” section which practitioners may enjoy.
If you enjoy their new website, please send your compliments to Charles Burns.
After more than two decades of dedicated service, we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Rob Kedoin, who will be concluding his role as SOA webmaster in September 2025. Rob has faithfully stewarded our online presence since at least 2004, helping to make the SOA website an invaluable resource for both members and the public.
Under his guidance, the website has continually evolved—sharing information about Shintaido classes, our curriculum in karate, bojutsu, and kenjutsu, as well as providing vital updates about SOA examinations. Rob’s steady, behind-the-scenes support has ensured that these resources remained reliable and accessible to all.
In 2018, with the support of the SOA Board, Rob spearheaded a major upgrade that made the website fully compatible with iPhones and iPads—an improvement that drew many positive comments from our community. Most recently, in 2025, Rob worked with Board member David Palmer to successfully migrate the SOA website to Dreamhost, a new platform offering enhanced security and SSL certification. These improvements have strengthened our online presence and ensured that SOA continues to serve members with professionalism and care.
In addition to his technical expertise, Rob also contributed as a member of the SOA Board from 2006–2015. His long-standing commitment and countless volunteer hours have left a lasting mark on our organization.
Rob, thank you for your remarkable dedication, your vision, and your tireless efforts on behalf of SOA. We are deeply grateful for all that you have given, and we celebrate your many contributions with heartfelt appreciation.
Saturday the 13th was a foggy morning keiko on Ocean Beach. Eleven people attended. The sun came out in the afternoon with seven participants continuing. There were two Bojutsu keikos taught by Jennifer and Rob. Lunch was at a nearby café.
The first keiko, taught by Rob Gaston, was focused on the continuous flow of eiko attack with morote-zuki and receiver using kohan, then letting the attack pass through with ryuhi continuing into eiko dai kumibo.
The afternoon beach greeted us with blue sky and sunshine and Jennifer’s class reflected the bright feeling. We worked through basic boh toss, transferring our energy back and forth. We finished with gentle neriai with one partner that eventually combined into larger groups and a final ecstatic group tenso.
Sally Gaston challenged two SOA examinations. Sally was 9 kyu in Karate and 4 kyu Bojutsu. She is now 7-kyu Karate and 3-kyu Bojutsu. Congratulations Sally! Examiners were Shin Aoki, Jennifer Peringer and Robert Gaston.
by David Palmer, Shintaido of America Board member
We are inviting interested members of SOA and the general public to listen to David Palmer speaking on the Value of Touch on Wednesday the 1st of October at 12noon via Zoom. David Palmer, with a massage career spanning 45 years, is speaking on the Value of Touch to the San Francisco End of Life Network (SFEOL). David has been recognized as the “Father of Seated Chair Massage” and in 2007, he was inducted into the Massage Therapy Hall of Fame.
From 1982 to 1989 he was Director of the Amma Institute, the first school in the United States exclusively devoted to traditional Japanese massage. It was during this time he met and studied with H.F. Ito, Shintaido Doshu. David’s study of Shintaido, especially his appreciation for the kata of kenko-taiso (the specific sequence of gentle warmups), continues to the present. David Palmer has been a SOA Board member from March 2024 to the present.
As a colleague of Irene Smith (1946-2021), David has been entrusted with her archive of teaching materials. Smith founded Everflowing in 2001, an organization dedicated to educational outreach and teaching skillful touching as an integral component to palliative care. She also ran Service Through Touch from 1982 until 1999, through which she created massage programs for people living with HIV-AIDS worldwide.
For this presentation David will speak with Connie Borden, SOA President, and Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner about the value of touch for the seriously ill and those at end of life. Join us and bring your questions to this interview that promises to be rich with insights into the ways that human touch can transform our human existence.
David’s Website: www.touchpro.com.
ZOOM link for presentation:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81280354996
Meeting ID: 812 8035 4996
No Password required.
by Tomi Nagai-Rothe
We are sharing good news about the Global Taimyo Community (GTC) coming to Shintaido of America (SoA) this month. GTC brings the practice of Taimyo kata as a gateway to reflections on peace and our impact on the world around us. SoA brings 49 years as a non-profit transmitting the form and practice of Shintaido in the U.S., including supporting fledgling local and international groups. We hope this partnership helps deepen Shintaido practice around the world.
What is the Global Taimyo Community (GTC)?
The GTC originally grew from H.F. Ito’s desire for peace, by practicing Taimyo kata around the world both synchronously and asynchronously to create a field of peaceful intentions.
Taimyo kata is a specific movement/meditation form from the Shintaido body of practice. Haruyoshi F. Ito and Masashi Minagawa, Shintaido instructors began teaching the Taimyo to the general public as a way of exploring and healing our inner world as well as creating healthier relationships with our outer world — people and nature — beyond time and space. As the network of students grew and became international an informal GTC was born.
How Will it Work?
Since 2021 GTC has gathered people from the U.S., Canada, France, the U.K. and Japan a few times per year for practice and conversations via Zoom on themes such as healing, release and transformation, and our soul’s longing.
GTC is organized by the Planning Team – Sarah Baker, Connie Borden, Rob Gaston, Masashi Minagawa, and Tomi Nagai-Rothe – and features a website with many GTC resources including links to video and the Day Street Dojo website.
Visit the Global Taimyo website here.
What Comes Next?
As of February 1, 2025 SoA is GTC’s fiscal sponsor and will handle payment-registration for this year’s weeklong virtual gathering July 20 – 26. The GTC website and DayStreetDojo sites will continue.
We hope more folx will take the opportunity to come together across space and time to explore “The Space of Love” 愛空間 this summer. Details on the July workshop and registration to be shared soon.
by Connie Borden
Organizers Connie Borden, Rob Gaston, and Lee Ordeman are excited to announce that registration is open for a kenjutsu workshop October 11, 12, & 13, 2025.
Our guest instructor will be Pierre Quettier, 5th dan shintaido kenjutsu and shintaido general instructor. With 49 years of shintaido experience, he has made his recent focus teaching shintaido kenjutsu. He was awarded 5th dan kenjutsu at last summer’s international gasshuku, Dokan ’24. Pierre was chief author and editor of the book Shakunetsu: Chronicles of the Creation of Shintaido, published in July 2023.
Everyone is welcome. All levels of experience are eligible, and we particularly encourage those currently teaching or interested in teaching shintaido kenjutsu.
Curriculum will include Goho Batto Ho (5 drawing techniques for sword), Jissen Kumitachi (practical arrangements of kyukajo) and the three kata developed for shintaido kenjutsu: Shoden, Chuden, and Okuden.
During the six keiko of the three-day workshop, participants will study according to their skill levels. We will use bokken (light wooden sword). Practice with an iaito is optional. At the end of the workshop, participants will be provided means for continued study, such as videos and printed materials.
The workshop will be held in the town of Rohnert Park, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, just south of Santa Rosa.
Cost of workshop, including instruction, 6 keiko, 3 lunches, and dojo, is $320. No one is turned away for financial barriers. SOA members can contact Connie Borden at president@shintaido.org for information on SOA scholarships. The cost of lodging and meals other than lunch are separate.
We will gather for our evening discussions and dinners at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Sonoma Wine Country Hotel. The hotel room rate includes breakfasts, access to a swimming pool, hot tub, and sauna. Parking is $22/day. Please consider staying at the hotel for several reasons: The first is that staying there makes a daily commute unnecessary, it simplifies holding gatherings in the evenings, and there are very limited options for staying with SoA members nearby. Please book directly with the Hotel.
Lunches on each of the three days will be served at the dojo and are included in the registration fee. We are planning a combination of “family style” meals by means of crock pot and/or deli platters. Having meals at the gym decreases travel time and allows for more relaxation time.
As is expected and traditional at gasshuku, all participants contribute to its success by sharing in a number of tasks. These include various preparations before the event, and jobs during the event. Jobs would include supporting the instructors with “sensei care” and hakama care, dojo prep, transportation assistance, and event recorder.
Click here to register via the SOA website: http://www.shintaido.org/store/