Soryukan

• Age: Third oldest active dojo in Denmark

• Population: 4th Largest

• 爽流館Soryukan means the place of the shining method

• Member count: 11 men, 2 boys, 1 girl

• Trainer count: 2

• Homepage: http://www.soryukan.dk

• Training frequency: 2 times a week.

• Training level: mainly mudansha

Head Trainer

Iraj Nikjou has been the head trainer of Soryukan for over ten years. He took over from Roberto Sarno, who sopped trimning kendo to focus on his music carrier. His opinion is that it is most important for a sensei to “lift everyone up, otherwise are we all in the gutters.. relative to everyones skill level obviously.”

Iraj began kendo in Iran, when he was around 14 years old. He was totally budobaka and had already trained Okinawa Kyukoshinkai karate and judo before he started kendo. Unforitunatelly he had to flee his country after 3-4 years of training and there was a break of almost 25 years before he could start doing kendo again. But now it has been almost 12 years since he starte again at Aarhus and trained kendo under Nordfyn Goshikans Yukio-sensei. Today he traines under Copenhagen Kenseikai’s Yosuke-sensei.

Irajs own teaching style has a large focus on kihon and other basic elements. He has always liked olden day’s kodawari kendo and it is important for him that his students understand reiho and respect other people. He enjoys watching the Danish national team become stronger over time.

Every year Iraj plans his summer vacation around kendo. He always looks for a local kendo first, before booking his tickets, so he can see other clubs training metodes and mentality. It really gives him perspective. He trains kendo 3-4 times a week and is always up for special events. Like the rest of us, kendo is never eas for Iraj, but he feels the most important thing is that he has enjoys the journey. How long it takes, that’s not as important. He’s content to progress at his own pace.

His favorite shinai is a dobari, because of balance, it feels faster and like it uses less energy. His favorite waza is debana and he jokes his best experience is pulling off a debana waza. He hopes now that the pandemic seems to finally be over to try for 4-dan.