Moving up the Kendo ranks
She added that those in the dojo, from her sensei's to her peers, empowered and motivated her to get to this point.
Dynamite comes in small packages and Kendo warrior Aura Naidoo is doing it all.
Under the training of her sensei, Warren Ho from the Rivonia Kendo Club, Aura will be getting her first Dan (the ranking system used by many Japanese, Okinawan, and Korean martial art organisations to indicate the level of a person’s ability within a given system) later this year.
“At just 14 years old, she has managed to get her first Dan, which basically means that she has mastered the fundamentals of Kendo. I like to explain it as Aura is now being equipped with the right tools to make something with it,” said Ho.
Aura will be the youngest female in South Africa with a Dan grade and she hopes her grading will empower other young women too. “I fell very excited because not a lot of people get their Dan grade this young and for me as a female, it’s just pretty empowering. I hope that this empowers them to see that even if something is a male-dominated society or activity, women can still be on the same grade basically saying that women are equal to men,” said Aura.
She added that those in the dojo, from her sensei’s to her peers, empowered and motivated her to get to this point.
Aura was inspired to try Kendo by her father Logan, “When I was younger I used to watch my dad when he did Kendo and after a few sessions I went for it and found it very interesting and joined the beginner class. I was 12 years old when I started.”
Ho said he is extremely proud of Aura. “Her father Logan and I just started the dojo in 2015, so for me, it is a sentimental turning point because she is amongst those students who came through the ranks and built her kendo career with us,” said Ho.
Aura explained that Kendo has helped her a great deal in her personal and school life. “I have a lot more concentration and focus, especially in school. I would get distracted easily but it has helped me to focus now, I’m able to focus on some of the things I couldn’t before because of Kendo.”
Excited to be back at training in Level 1, Aura is also working on her acting career. “I’m an aspiring actress and that is one of my biggest goals I would like to achieve,” she concluded.
