Experiences from a Dutchman living in America – by Axel Noorman
I moved to the U.S. in January 2015, but it wasn’t until July that year (after the Naginata World Championships in Montreal) that I got a job and relocated to Hartford, Connecticut. The nearest place for me to practice naginata is at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, where there is a study group run by the female students of the women’s college. I contacted them shortly after I started working and have the honor and privilege to practice together with them since September 2015.
Even though I have the highest rank and most experience in naginata at the club, I’m always very impressed with the spirit and eagerness to learn and improve of the young women practicing there. Their ability to observe and teach each other without having regular access to senseis is also something that still amazes me, and is something I’m learning a lot from as well. We have Ellery Engalla-sensei (New Jersey) and Gabriel Djinn-sensei (Virginia) from the East Coast Naginata Federation who support and visit us on a semi-regular basis, to provide guidance and feedback on helping everyone improve. Mark Berghaan-sensei still checks in on me regularly too to make sure I’m doing alright.
Over the course of a year since I moved to Hartford and started practicing with the Mt. Holyoke group, I have been to seminars, events and taikai in Massachusetts, Virginia and New Jersey, as well as the annual USNF seminar and taikai this July in California. Even though I was a newcomer to most of the naginataka here, I was warmly received by everyone I have met from across the U.S., and I feel very much at home in the naginata community here. Much like how at seminars and events in Europe everyone gets together and everyone is happy to see each other and practice together.
I do miss the naginata community in Europe and everyone there. I always wondered why so few naginataka from the U.S. come to the international events, but found out first hand it’s mostly because of intercontinental ticket prices (way more expensive than I thought!), and in general people have less holiday time to travel compared to Europe. They do travel a lot for weekend events, though mostly from state to state (or to/from Canada!), which can be anything from a 3-8 hour drive or a plane trip away.
For me it’s funny to realize now that making the 45 minute ride to Mt. Holyoke, or even a 3 hour drive to New Jersey, has become something I consider “just a drive over”, while back in the Netherlands everything taking over 30 minutes to drive I thought would be a long distance trip. Strange how if I had had that mindset when I was still in Europe, I likely would have been making more trips to Belgium, Germany and France for naginata!
As for my current naginata goals, my next will be testing for 3-dan rank next year and preparing for the World Championships in 2019. With all the support and help from everyone around me here, I have no doubt in achieving those goals successfully. That’s one of the things I really appreciate about the naginata community: wherever you go, everyone just wants to help and improve each other, and there’s always hospitality to be offered and found. And it truly is a lifelong worthy pursuit of improvement through practicing with others through the spirit of budo. My experiences so far since I started in 2003 have felt like a great big adventure, and still continue to do so.
Ganbare, everyone!
(Photo credits to Morgan Brumfield)