About The Club

The Hayakawa Kendo Club began in September 2004, thanks to a partnership with the Welland Wado Kai Karate clubs. We train at the Welland Martial Arts Centre, 40 Division St. in Welland, Ontario. Visitors are always welcome.

About Your Instructor

The instructor of the Hayakawa Kendo Club is Mark Kawabe (4th dan). His training spans 3 decades, starting at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto, continuing at the University of Toronto Kendo Club and then two years in Japan spent almost entirely learning the ni-to-ryu (two sword school) of Kendo. He has belonged to the St. Catharines and Burlington Kendo clubs before starting the Hayakawa Kendo Club. He continues to train with a variety of Sensei, but primarily with Kimura Sensei (7th dan) and Yamada Sensei (5th dan) at the Mississauga Kendo Club.

About Our Name

Most Kendo clubs are named after the city they are in or for the facility they practice at (i.e. University of Toronto Kendo Club, Mississauga Kendo Club). The Hayakawa Kendo Club's name is inspired by the geography of the Niagara peninsula and metaphorical relations to properties of good Kendo.

Hayakawa is made up of two Japanese characters - Haya - meaning "fast" and Kawa - meaning "river". So, this is the "Fast River" Kendo Club.

Why that name? A few reasons. Niagara is defined geographically by its rivers. There's the Niagara River, Four Mile Creek, 12 Mile Creek, Twenty Valley, 40 Mile Creek and that big long canal that mankind built to get around the fastest flowing water at Niagara Falls. Every community in Niagara formed along a river.

Because the club is not named after the city it was founded in, if we ever open a second location, our name is portable.

A few thoughts about water. Water is flexible, flows around obstacles, can wear down mountains, wash away buildings or cut through steel. It is cleansing and without it, we die. Good Kendo embodies properties of water, and for some of us, Kendo is our life.

For those who have asked: There is no Hayakawa Sensei here.

A Few Club Rules - Click Here

Commonly Asked Questions - Click Here