Anders-sensei with the nice plant he received as a gift from all kenshi on the occasion of his grading to 6 dan.

On Thursday, March 28, the branch had its annual general meeting. It was a quick and straightforward meeting held at the end of the regular practice session.

We got some new names on the board, Chris Enfors became the new chairman and Linda Hybinnette became new board member.

The full list of the board:

Chairman, Christer Enfors, secretary; Per Svensson, treasurer; Anders Pettersson, board members; Ann-Christine Håkansson and Linda Hybinette. Deputies are Mattias Johansson and Erik Öhrn. Auditor’s Niklas Pettersson with Magnus Englund as deputy auditor.

In concluding the meeting, our shibu-chō Anders Pettersson were surprised with a gift from all the kenshi in appreciation for his efforts and his recent grading rokudan (6 dan).

We have training as usual on Thursday and as have been announced at the trainings for the last few weeks we will also have the branch’s annual general meeting at the end of practice on Thursday.

No organized training on Easter Saturday, however, several have announced that they intend to do some workout on Saturday (Easter Eve) anyway, but probably a little later than the normal practice hours.

During the school’s Easter break we will have practice as usual for both juniors and adults.

Magnus graded to 1 kyū, Alva and Mattias to 3 kyū

On Thursday the 21st of March we had a kyū grading were three members did their grading test. It was Magnus who graded to ikkyū (1 kyū) and Mattias and Alva that tested for sankyū (3 kyū).

A big congratulations to them all!

Linda and Christer after their successful grading to sankyū

On Thursday the 7th of March we had a kyū grading where two people did their test for sankyū (3rd kyū).

It was Linda Hybinette and Christer Enfors that both passed their test.

A big Congratulations to them both!

Pelle practice jo (short stick) with Lasse Andersson

On Saturday the 2nd of March the branch’s ordinary practice session was cancelled, instead members had the opportunity to participate in the Swedish Budo & Martial Arts Federation district “Mellan” (Svenska Budo & kampsportsförbundets distrikt Mellan) common “try-out-practice-day” that was held the same day as their annual general meeting.

The practice was held in Sundsta idrottshus and had Aikido, Aikijo as well as Shorinji Kempo on the program. Continue reading →

Neo shows one of those who came and tried Shorinji Kempo how to punch, under the supervision of Erik

During the week we have had “try out days” that was advertised in a pamphlet printed and distributed among school children by the Karlstad community with a lot of activities to try out during the school break for children and youth. We took part in this and had information that it was possible to try Shorinji Kempo for free during the school’s winter break (week 9). It was mainly children (under 13 years of age) that came and tried in our junior’s group. Continue reading →

Anders-sensei receives the inkajō (certificate) for 6th dan from Onishi-sensei.

Our branch’s shibu-chō, Anders Pettersson-sensei is currently in Japan, and on Friday the 22nd of February he graded to rokudan (6 dan).

Anders is the first Swedish person obtain this high degree. The grading test was held at hombu (headquarters), that is located in Tadotsu in Japan, and the examiners were Onishi-sensei and Kawashima-sensei. Anders did the grading test together with his friend since many years John McCulloch, who is shibu-chō in Toronto, Canada. Continue reading →

Steve Williams-sensei, shibu-chō of Harrow Shibu in England, visited Karlstad together with a number of members from Harrow

Over the weekend of 9th to 10th of February, we once again had a visit from Harrow Shibu. Steve Williams and an additional four kenshi from England visited and we organised a small gasshuku (training camp). The British flew to the Arlanda (Stockholm) airport, took a rental car to Karlstad and arrived on Friday afternoon. On Friday night it was pizza and Shorinji Kempo video at Anders house.

We had practice from 10:00 to 16:30 on both Saturday and Sunday. In addition to the members from Harrow and from our own branch we also had four members from Skövde Shibu that participated. On the Sunday we had the honour to have two members from Karlstad Studenters Shibu including Åke Olsson-sensei. Continue reading →

We have had some problems with the website recently, basically since the end of last spring. Now most of the technical problems have been resolved and we are recovering all the material. Unfortunately, it will take some time since it involves a lot of manual work to do this. Continue reading →

Anders went to England for a few days and visited Steve Williams, shibu-chō in Harrow Shibu. There was obviously some training when the United Kingdom Shorinji Kempo Federation (UKSKF) organized a couple of events. It was a half-day for yūdansha (black belts) in Acton, where the instructors for the day was Steve Wiliams and our own Anders Pettersson.
On the Sunday they had a one day gasshuku (training camp) in Peterborough, where the teaching also was made ​​by Maehara-sensei, 7 dan seihanshi and also an official WSKO instructor. Continue reading →