On the evening of the 23d of October, Yamamoto-sensei invited Adrian and Glen and I to come with him to Kanren-ji temple in Hitoyoshi so the two new monjin could have the chance to be there and receive their bokken after it being blessed.

All bokken issued to Hyoho Taisha-ryu monjin are handmade in Hitoyoshi of local Oak and are blessed at the Kanren-ji temple by the Soke or Shihan before being issued to the monjin, only a few of whom including Wynton, who is another member of our Sydney group have had the experience of actually being there in the temple when it was done.

Posted by David 36号

In October 2018, the Soke and Yamamoto-sensei accepted Glen and Adrian, two new members from Australia into the Hyoho Taisha-ryu. They are both now official monjin (members) of our ryu – a process that has taken two years since they first expressed interest. They were inducted at the Ryu Sen Kan dojo in Yatsuhiro and had the rare honour of being present at Hitoyoshi’s Kanrenji temple when Yamamoto-sensei ceremoniously blessed their issued Taisha-ryu bokken over lit candle. Training consisted of four days of five hours sessions of what Yamamoto-sensei calls Intensive Training at the Ryu Sen Kan dojo and at the Kagami Budokan in Yatsushiro.

Posted by David 36号