ABOUT THE EL PASO KENDO CLUB
Our Mission
The El Paso Kendo Club was established to practice, promote, and provide quality instruction and suitable practice facilities for Japanese sword related martial arts. By educating the public and exposing them to our activities through demonstrations, lectures and seminars, we intend to build public awareness, appreciation and interest for these arts which we hope will develop into community involvement and increased participation. We strive to promote the value of a strong character; physically, mentally and spiritually healthy, which we believe is obtainable through the practice of disciplined swordsmanship.
Our History
The El Paso Kendo Club was established in 1997 as an extension of the Scorpion Yamabushi School of Martial Arts in El Paso. Originally, it was created as a means to allow members of other local martial arts schools to explore the Japanese sword arts without feeling any loss of loyalty to the other schools they would continue to attend. Our original focus was on the kenjutsu and iaido methods of the Scorpion system and the kendo and iaido methods of the Takazaki family. In 1998, we decided it was time to increase the club's exposure to and accessibility to other kendoka (kendo people) around the country and world. The logical path was to seek affiliation with the All United States Kendo Federation (AUSKF) through the Southwest U.S. Kendo and Iaido Federation. In 1999 the El Paso Kendo Club was officially recognized as an AUSKF affiliated kendo dojo.
The affiliation was not as smooth as we had anticipated. We quickly found that the techniques used in the Kendo of the AUSKF and the other large world organizations, which are widely accepted as standard, were somewhat different than the rough, combative versions we were using. We were practicing what many people consider to be "old style" with harder hits, occasional strikes with parts of the sword other than the blade, disarming and even an occasional knock down. It was a challenge, but after a few years of guidance we began to be able adapt so that the differences would compliment each other. Through the extensive and undying support & assistance of the Phoenix Kendo Kai, we were, in the early Spring of 2000, accepted under the mentorship of Miyahara Maki Sensei, Hachidan Hanshi, of Pasadena Ca. Today, we still occasionally engage in the combative practice of Takazaki Kendo (also known as Gekken), but we have come to embrace the style of the International Kendo Federation and the AUSKF as the universal standard and we spend the vast majority of our time practicing it. We continue to regularly teach the kenjutsu and iaido of the Scorpion Dojo and Seitei Iaido as part of our regular curriculum. We also continue to explore the Koryu (generaly those established before the end of the Tokugawa Period) sword arts and have recently opened a relationship with a prominent teacher of a particularly important koryu.
Our Instructors
Mentoring Instructors
Maki Miyahara
Miyahara-sensei was born into a kendo family and has over 70 years of experience practicing and teaching kendo. His father was actually one of the men who helped to start kendo in America. As a hachidan, hanshi (8th degree black belt, master teacher), Miyahara-sensei has reached the highest rank considered to be realisticly obtainable in kendo. Since he was the first American Instructor to reach this rank, he is considered to be the senior most and highest ranking sensei in the USA. He founded the Pasadena Kendo Dojo in Pasadena, CA. in 1955 and is a member of the Black Belt Magazine Hall Of Fame. He has enough accomplishments to fill a book (or more). Although his kendo has an enormous amount of energy and vigor, Miyahara-sensei provides us an excellent example of how experience through practice is far more valuable. His experience will always overcome the vigor of our youth.
Head Instructor
Pedro Borrego
Mr. Borrego has been involved with the martial arts since about 1993. He currently holds a nidan (2nd degree black belt) in American Kenpo Karate which he continues to study. His study of kendo began in about 1998 and he currently holds an AUSKF Shodan (First degree black belt). In addition to kendo & American Kempo, Mr. Borrego also studies Shotokan Karate.
Founding Instructor
Patrick Stewart
Stewart -sensei was awarded shodan (first black belt) in Sasori Go-Dai Bujutsu in 1983 by Alex Bautista, who founded the system in 1965 after over 30 years of training in koryu jujutsu in Japan where he was born. In 1995, Mr. Stewart was granted instructors status and license to teach basics up to shodan or black belt level. In 1997 a provisional unsupervised teaching license was extended. About a year later, in 1998, a full teaching and proficiency license was granted allowing unrestricted and unsupervised instruction of all techniques and principles of Sasori Go-Dai Bujutsu (now known as Sasori Seibutsu no Kigen Ryu Go-Dai Bujutsu) including Aikijutsu, Jujutsu and Kenjutsu. He holds the highest formal rank obtainable in the system, Godan (5th degree black belt and 5th level of initiation)
In early 1997, Mr. Stewart was awarded yondan (4th degree black belt) and granted permission to teach the Takazaki Family style of Kendo, Iaido and Aikijutsu by John Colbey Sensei who is the current head of the Colbey line of the Takazaki Family and Menkyo Kaiden of the Tachibana Chikamohrei Family Style.
Under the mentorship of Miyahara Maki-sensei, Mr. Stewart earned AUSKF Kendo Shodan in 2001.
Patrick Stewart also holds Shodan in Ninjutsu and a Master level Reiki certification.
Special Mention of Past Instructors
Bryan Jones
Mr. Jones began his study of kendo in 1995 at the University of Texas at Austin under Komizu-sensei who with about 40 years experience in kendo, has been teaching and living in the USA for about 20 of those years.
In 1998, Mr. Jones attended Kokusai Budo Daigaku (International Budo University) in Japan for eight months through the University of Texas' study abroad program. During that time he studied the Japanese language, culture, and Kendo.
In 1999, after returning from Japan, Mr. Jones received nidan in kendo. During his time with the UT Austin Club, he served as secretary, president, and coordinator for the 5th Annual Texas Team Taikai. While studying a Ph.D. in Biology at NMSU in Las Cruces.
Mr. Jones graduated from NMSU in 2005 and sadly moved away from the area.----Hey Bryan give us a call sometime----
Additional Instructors
Because of our affiliation with the AUSKF and other kendo clubs throughout the United States, we can have frequent visits from kendo players from throughout the country. In the past, we have practiced with Yamaguchi-sensei, 7th dan kendo/6th dan iaido, of Coasta Mesa CA., Yamasaki-sensi, 5th dan kendo, of Pasadena, CA., Asakura-sensei, 4th dan kendo, of San Fernando Valley, CA., Higure-sensei, 4th dan kendo, of Phoenix, AZ., and many others.
