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KOTODAMA Project 2022

Feel Kendo Spirit wearing T-shirt, 
Drink Kiai with your first morning coffee! 

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I am glad to announce that I launched the project which spread Kendo culture in Europe. I appreciate so much you as Europeans learn Kendo to keep our traditional swordsmanship in Europe. With sincere gratitude, I’ve created some Kendo artwork, T-shirts and cups, using my ability and the experiences I got through Japanese culture, which are the Japanese language, calligraphy and photography. Now I am going to sell them to raise money to support you who want to visit a Dojo in Japan and practice with Japanese Kendo fighters. 

Let me explain my Kendo journey first.  

I came across Kendo in January 2022, it was like an accident at the perfect timing in my life. Since then, I have been practising it with passion. I met great Senseis and made some good friends. Surely, Kendo has inspired me and led me in the right direction. Ironically, until that encounter, I have never been interested in Kendo. However, the best timing had just arrived when I had the most difficult time for a few years in my life. This is the reason I started writing my story which was like a kind of therapy, but it was a slow step toward recovery and I had no idea where my life was going ahead. But once I started practising Kendo, amazingly I was able to focus and I realised I had moved on to that difficult stage. When I read my story back now, I could not believe this was me one year ago. Was it me? This is the magic of Kendo. Therefore, I started translating the Kendo philosophy into English and my Kendo sensei translates into the Czech language. Also, it is really helpful to understand what Kendo is and what Japanese traditions are, even for me who was born and raised in Japan. There is in-depth wisdom connecting Zen and Japanese history. 

 

I created two types of cups and T-shirts using Kendo philosophy with photographs I took when I saw Kendo practice in a Dojo in Prague for the very first time in my life. It was on January 8th 2022. The sounds and vibrations of Kiai shocked me and made me awake. It was an unforgettable moment. Therefore, I chose the word Kiai for my artwork. Another noticeable thing was a standing posture of a Kendo-fighter. Advanced learners stood in front of their opponents with strong solid confidence in their manner.  It is described in ”Kenshin Ichinyo”. Therefore, I picked this word as well.    

 

I have a big picture of this project. I will explain it now. The price of the T-shirts is 23 Euros and the price of the cups is 19 Euros. These prices are just above the cost not including the design fee. However, if I order more, the prices will be reduced. Furthermore, given the current situation of inflation in Europe, I want to minimize risk and maximize return. It rang the bell, I will apply another Japanese knowledge I am familiar with. It is the lean system in Monozukuri which means manufacturing in Japanese. Japanese manufacturing companies including Toyota strictly follow this system to manufacture goods in order to minimize waste and obtain the maximum returns. I work as an interpreter in Japanese manufacturing companies and this concept stays under my skin. So, why not use it in this project? 

 

I will set the date for ordering a quantity of the T-shirts and cups according to the needs following the concept called JUST IN TIME. The first deadline will be November 27, 2022. The lead time is 2 weeks, then I will send it to you by post. Unfortunately, the shipping fee is not included. For any kendo lovers, if you are interested, please email me. Then I will send the link to the page of Onlineshop. Then the next deadline will be set in two weeks or a month according to the order quantity. If I have at least ten pieces of each item, I can save money for this project. 

Should you have any further inquiries, please feel free to contact me through email at yukondrejka@icloud.com.

 

In the end, there is the concept of KAIZEN in the lean system. Kaizen means continuous improvement. I have one supplier in the Czech Republic and one in the UK. If you know any suppliers who can print T-shirts and cups. Could you please introduce them to me? I will try to reduce the cost to get more returns for this project. Also, if you can translate it into your own language, cups and T-shirts in your language will be available.  

 

Thank you very much for the time you read through this. This is my first baby step in expressing my appreciation for Kendo which changed my life dramatically. I believe each of you has your own story to discovering Kendo and keep practising it. If you don’t mind, please share your story. I am very much looking forward to hearing your own unique story from you.

Sincerely yours,

Yuko Ondrejka

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T-shirt- 555 kč (23 euro)

Size: S, M, L, XL

Colour: Black

Material: Cotton 100%

Words: Kenshin Ichinyo

Language: English and Czech 

Photographs: please refer to the images below.

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19857796-A01B-4E1A-955B-4427850B9057.heic

T-shirt - 555 kč (23 euro)

Size: S, M, L, XL

Colour: Black

Material: Cotton 100%

Words: Kiai

Language: Czech

Photographs: please refer to the images below.

3849EFDC-C881-414A-B60E-E942B7262784.heic
FC81EF43-F09E-4A61-BB3D-BAE81A2D96B3.heic

T-shirt - 555 kč (23 euro)

Size: S, M, L, XL

Colour: Black

Material: Cotton 100%

Words: Kiai

Language: English

Photographs: please refer to the images below.

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Cup - 444 kč (19 euro)

Size: Diameter 8cm and height 9.5cm

Colour: White

Words: Kiai,  Kenshin Ichinyo

Language: English and Czech on Kenshin Ichino, English only on Kiai, Czech only on Kiai

Photographs: please refer to the images below.

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剣心一如

けんしんいちにょ

Kenshinichinyo

As it is said that the sword, the person and the mind become one. The sword is driven by the mind. Therefore, the pursuit of correct swordsmanship will result in the development of the right mind.

Kenšin ičiňjo

Jak se říká, meč, člověk a mysl se stávají jedním. Meč je poháněn myslí. Proto snaha o správný způsob boje s mečem povede k rozvoji správné mysli.

Kiai-気合 is made of two characters, “Ki – 気” which is energy, and “Ai – 合” which means to unite or join. It is a state of being full spirit in the whole body and fully united with one’s mind. When your “Ki – 気” is fully focused on the opponent’s move and one’s planned movement in this state, the player can detect even the perfect timing when the slightest opening arises in the opponent, then the player can strike immediately without any hesitation.

Using it not only to affect and cause four Kendo Illness-四戒 (surprise-驚, fear-懼, doubt-疑, confusion-惑) in your opponent but to restrain his willpower and spirit and effectively take control of him. Kiai-気合 is a matching of the spirit of yourself and others. It means to use your own spirit and willpower to restrain that of the opponent in order to have the power to control him. To explain from a different perspective means to focus the spirit on one particular thing.

​合

 

​あい

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​合

 

​あい

Kiai-気合 se skládá ze dvou znaků, „Ki – 気“, což je energie, a „Ai – 合“, což znamená sjednotit se nebo se spojit. Je to stav plného ducha v celém těle a plného spojení s myslí. Když se vaše „Ki – 気“ plně soustředí na soupeřův pohyb a plánovaný pohyb v tomto stavu, dokážete odhalit i dokonalé načasování, když tese protivník jen nepatrně otevře. Pak může bez váhání okamžitě udeřit.

 

Tohle nejen ovlivní způsobení čtyř nemocí Kendo-四戒 (překvapení-驚, strach-懼, pochybností-疑, zmatek-惑) ve vašem protivníkovi, ale také k omezení jeho vůle a ducha a můžety účinně nad ním převzít kontrolu. Kiai-気合 je sladění ducha sebe sama a ostatních. Znamená to použít svého vlastního ducha a vůli k potlačení protivníka, abyste ho mohli ovládat. Z jiného pohledu toy znamená zaměřit ducha na jednu konkrétní věc.
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