50 years of British Shintaido

On October 26, 2024, British Shintaido celebrated 50 years of keiko in Britain, wth a party held in a beautiful old timber-framed barn in Purley-on Thames near Reading. Getting on for 30 members attended, including some who had been here for many years (Pam attended that very first keiko, back in 1974), and others who have only found us very recently.

Carina and Jamie Hamilton did the organisation, with Viola Santa and Laurent Lacroix, and they produced an excellent and varied programme of activities, and even better food.

The multiple highlights of the day included two keiko, focusing on miniature eiko kumite and tenshingoso; and some spectacular demonstrations by Ula (diamond eight sei), Charles (the three kenjutsu kata), and Nagako (Taimyo, with everyone joining in).

There was a display of old photos and posters, and a sharing circle in which we recalled many old friends, before Laurent presented some startling videos of keiko from the first 25 years of our practice – focusing, of course, on an enormous amount of eiko and jumping. It was fascinating to see so many of those same old friends on the screen, and to see ourselves as we were in our younger days; and good to show some of the newer members what keiko used to look like (most of them breathed sighs of relief that they are not asked to jump like that).

Finally, some great music for dancing completed the day.

Onwards to the next 50 years!