November 6, 2016 marked an important date for Greek Naginataka. It was the day that Atarashii Naginata was presented for the first time to the Greek public. The event was organized by the Embassy of Japan in Greece, with the help of the Greek Federation of Kendo, Iaido, Jodo, Naginata (EOKIN) and it included demonstrations of other Japanese martial arts like aikido, judo, kendo, iaido, jodo and karate.
The Greek group of Atarashii Naginata has been around for quite some time. It started as a study group of four back in 2006 and during the first years we were able to attend several seminars in Europe. Although it has been hard to be equally active during the past few years our interest in Naginata has not faded.
The demonstration began with a short talk explaining the kind of weapon naginata is, the parts that our practice consists of and the benefits that come from this practice. The main body of the demonstration was divided into four parts. In the first part, we presented some of the shikake oji. Then, we showed all the kamae and the basic strikes. In the third part, we had some jigeiko and finally we showed some ishu jiai. After the demonstration there was an open lesson, where we had the opportunity to show to those who approached us some of the basics of naginata and invite them to come to our dojo.
For our first demonstration, three of the original members of the group were present. Thodoris Barlas, Eva Kokkinou and Ioanna Selinopoulou. We also had as special guest a kendoka friend Vassilis Kioustelidis. Our French friend Marie Jean, the newest addition to our naginata circle, was with us in spirit as she had helped us prepare for the event.
This demonstration required a lot of work and preparation on our part and we are very satisfied that we managed to stage it successfully. It was a rich experience and it gave us a lot of material to work on in the future. We are positive that next time our technique will be better and our group’s numbers higher.