About Charlotte Kendo Club

The story of the Charlotte Kendo Club begins in San Jose, California in 1974. Charlotte native Ken Strawn, who knew nothing of Kendo, discovered the San Jose State University (SJSU) Kendo Club. Benjamin Hazard (now 7-Dan Hanshi) was the SJSU club’s head instructor and a professor of Asian history. Hazard served in the Pacific during WWII and on McArthur’s staff during the occupation of Japan. In 1948, he was invited to watch a kendo practice by U.S. Army Lt. Maki Miyahara (now 8-Dan Hanshi). Hazard began training under Masami Tanaya. Entering the University of California at Berkeley in 1952, he met Gordon Warner (author of “This is Kendo”), and together they started the first postwar kendo club in Northern California. Hazard began the SJSU club in 1965.

Strawn practiced 9 years in Northern California, under Y. Miyata (now 8-Dan Hanshi), Y. Takao (7-Dan), and C. Tanaka (7-Dan). He accompanied SJSU Kendo Club on a tour of Japanese University Kendo Clubs in 1978 and in 1981 and represented Northern California in the goodwill division of the 2nd U.S. National Championships in Chicago. Moving to Portland, Oregon in 1983, Strawn trained under R. Omoto (7-Dan), S. Koike (7-Dan), and J. Marsten (now 7-Dan Kyoshi). He returned to Charlotte in 1986 and founded Charlotte Kendo Club in April 1986. In 1988, Charlotte Kendo Club was a founding member of the Southeastern United States Kendo Federation (SEUSKF).

Charlotte Kendo Club has won the South Eastern Kendo Championships twice (in 2005 and 2010). Over the years, many Charlotte kendoists have participated in the National Championships representing SEUSKF.

Today we are fortunate to have instructors such as Mitch Asano (5-dan), Craig Philbeck (5-dan), and Scott Brooks (4-dan). Charlotte Kendo Club stands as a proud member of the SEUSKF, and it looks forward to a continued tradition that began in 1986.