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| Ota sensei visits Taos, New Mexico April 2003 |
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| Ota sensei leads the way into the dojo with Uchida sensei close behind, loaded with his and his wife’s gear…. isn’t is supposed to be the other way around? |
| Getting ready |
| West sensei, Mushinkan's Asst. Instructor, delivers a caring lesson to one of the students. |
| Ota sensei gives some tips during a break. |
| Our gracious hostess and host, Meibao and Brian Anderson, pictured above with Ota sensei. |
| Uchida sensei periodically brings his teacher, Ota Tadanori, to the U.S. as a mentoring visit to Mushinkan. During these events, Uchida sensei gives the opportunity for other kendo groups to benefit from Ota sensei’s instruction. From this, Ota sensei also broadens his American experiences. Uchida sensei is the mentor for the kendo group in Taos, NM. Periodically, sensei and other members of Mushinkan travel to Taos to check on the progress of the Taos students and conduct seminars. In April 2003, Ota sensei was an extra special addition to one of these mentor visit. |
| Brian Anderson, the head kendo instructor in Taos, is an extremely gifted metal smith. During the visit, Brian gave a demonstration of his art. Below, Ota sensei and others in the Colorado delegation get a practical demonstration of Brian’s handy work – Brian’s specialty is making/restoring firing mechanisms on antique firearms. The flintlock rifles used on this day were made in their entirety by Brian - This guy has some talent!!!!! |
| Muzzle loading…. not as easy as it looks in the movies! |
| Sword duel or rifle duel, Ota sensei has few rivals! |
| A PhD candidate in chemistry, Masato Yamaguchi, gets a kick out of this chemical reaction. Coming from Japan, Masato had never even seen a real firearm until this day. |
| On this visit to the United States, his wife, Setsuko, accompanied Ota sensei. |
| Uchida sensei’s youngest daughter, Mara, helps prepare the banquet. |
| After dinner, Ota sensei was given a front row seats to a concert given by the area’s most famous classic guitarists. |
| Of course, so much depends on the support of the parents of the younger kendo students – Taos is the model. |