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Knoxville Kendo Club bringing samurai spirit to Knox Asian Festival

University of Tennessee professor Shigetoshi Eda has been teaching kendo in Knoxville since 2006.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The spirit of the samurai will be on display during the ninth annual Knox Asian Festival.

Shigetoshi Eda has taught kendo classes in Knoxville since 2006. His students wear traditional kendo outfits while learning meditation, basic strikes, and counterattacking. The more advanced students are allowed to participate in sparring. 

Kendo student Ben Mullins attends classes with his son and uses them as a way for his son to learn about his heritage. 

"My wife is Japanese. He is half-Japanese. We were looking for something to do together that had a cultural impact and connect to that, in addition to spending some time together," said Mullins.

Aside from swordsmanship, Eda's classes teach discipline and etiquette. 

"You pay special attention to the way you tie things. You pay special attention to the way you look. It is an athletic art, but it does have a lot of zen-like qualities to it," student Jonathan Phipps said. 

Knoxville Kendo Club will hold demonstrations during the Knox Asian Festival. 

More information about the kendo club can be found here. 

The ninth annual Knox Asian Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Aug. 28. There will be performance art that includes traditional Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese and Philippine dance and music.

There will also be an Asian Film Festival at Central Cinema on Aug. 27, where they will show Far East Deep South the Taiwan documentary Pakadavai and also The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, a documentary about Studio Ghibli.

The festivities will begin with a parade at 10 a.m. at the water fountain at World's Fair Park, and admission is free.  

    

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