On June 8th & 9th, 2018, 106 kenshi coming from U.S. and Canada participated in the North American Shorinji Kempo Training Camp at the Astro Gym of Seattle University, Seattle, WA. The branches are: Ann Arbor, Asheville, BC Tozenji, Berkeley, Boston, Downtown New York, East Portland, Los Angeles, Monterey, Mt. Diablo, Northern Utah, Orange County, Peninsula, Portland, Quad Cities, Salem, San Francisco, Seattle, Seattle University, Silicon Valley, South Bay, South Florida, Vancouver, Vancouver Pacific, Yuma, and World Bank. Mr. Kazuhiro Kawashima sensei, Secretary General of the World Shorinji Kempo Federation, was the main instructor. For 2 days, we practiced from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and enjoyed all practice together: Kihon, Hokei, Unyoho, and Embu.

At the evening of June 9th, we had a dinner party at the Chinese Restaurant at the beautiful Seattle Harbor. We enjoyed having delicious meals and drinks as well as enjoying fun conversation together.

<The 6th North American Shorinji Kempo Taikai>
On June 10th (Sun), 2018, the 6th North American Shorinji Kempo Taikai was conducted with 152 kenshi attendees. There were 2 categories: Competition & Exhibition Divisions.
After the Taikai opened at 9 a.m., more than 100 audiences enjoyed watching and were very impressed with techniques with sharp movement and big Kiai. After every Embu or Unyoho was finished, the audiences gave big hands to kenshis.

After the closing ceremony, all kenshi praised each other and promised to meet at the next Study Session and the Taikai next ear.

United States Shorinji Kempo Federation really appreciate all the participants’ precious time and passion to Shorinji Kempo!

Seattle, California, U.S.A / June, 2018
Contributor: Kazuki Arita, Secretary General, United States Shorinji Kempo Federation