HISTORY

The club was founded in 1974 by Jan and Anton Borg Snake Kemmerling and was then called Shinbukan. The occasion was an inspiring introductory course in Harderwijk, after which also the Kendo club in Meppel was founded.

This makes the association of the five oldest iado- and jodo clubs in the Netherlands. For many years Anton was a passionate dojo leader always giving special attention to proper techniques and the development of a strong spirit. This is the basis on which nowaday's Kitanamikai (by then still called Shinbukan) is built.

In the beginning, kendo, iaido and jodo were practiced at the Shinbukan Dojo. From 1992 on, the kendo training was taken over by Willem Riesenkamp whereas the iadio and jodo training was lead by Anton Kemmerling first and by Thijs Boerema later who still conducts the training. Thus, iaido and jodo are the discipilines practiced and taught in the Kitanamikai Dojo nowadays. For those interested in Kendo we recommend contacting Willem Riesenkamp in Groningen (shinbukan dojo).

There are about 10 active members and many inactive ones. At the moment 5 people without graduation, 2 second dan an one 3rd dan iaido are training regularily, as well as 2 third and one second dan jodo.

The dojo members regularily attend to trainings, examinations and seminars in the Netherlands, sometimes also in Belgium, Germany or Austria.

Our sensei, Thijs Boerema, has been practicing iaido and jodo since 1981.