MSU Kendo Club

Matsuura sensei was visiting guest instructor at the MSU kendo club practice October 9, 2009.  Matsuuras sensei recently achieved the 6-dan and is the head instructor at both the Battle Creek and Grand Rapids kendo dojos.  The practice focussed on developing proper basics so that each cut you make is an effective one.

     MSU Kendo club members and students participated at the 2nd Annual Mid West Kendo Federation Student Tournament. It was a fun and exciting experience for many of the participants and the MSU kendo family members to help organize and bring forth this tournament to MSU.

     Saturday the night before the tournament featured a godo keiko where kenshi from all over the Midwest came to practice and have lots of fun.

     Sunday morning, the tournament took place starting with the Kihon Division. Congratulations to these following contestants:

1.      H. Shawqi

2.      G. Freidman

3.      W. Zhang

3.      D. Hoang

The next part of the tournament consisted of the elementary school division.  Congratulations to:

1.      A. Suzuki

2.      M. Suzuki

3.      A. Hanaki

3.      S. Suzuki

The next on the list was the high school division. Please congratulate:

            1.   Y. Okada

            2.    J. Ponchart

            3.    M. Mishina

            3.    T. Watanabe

As the day went on, we had the university undergrad tournament underway. Please congratulate the following students:

1.      G. Mizumoto

2.      R. Takahashi

3.      B. Kim

3.      T. Hill

As lunch time drew closer the contendents and the staff decided it would be fun to have a “unofficial” women’s divisions. The results of this were:

1.      A. Hadano

2.      M. Mishina

3.      W. Chen

3.      A. Takashima

     The lunch was catered by The Sultans, a Middle Eastern restaurant.  The meal was a buffet style where everyone was happy to eat the meal after many hard fought matches.

After the meals came the team matches, where the MSU A team which consisted of:

1.      H. Takeuchi (senpo)

2.      J. Ha (chuken)

3.      B. Kim (taisho)

lost to the Choyokan team  with 7 seconds left in the final match.

The end result for the team matches were:

1.      Detroit A

2.      Battle Creek

3.      University of Wisconsin B

3.   Choyokan

     At the end of the tournament there was also another godo keiko where everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

     The tournament it self was a success, and helped our club expand and gain valuable experience for the future.  On behalf of the MSU Kendo Club, I would like to thank all of the competitors and the volunteers who made this tournament  possible.                                                  

                       Thank you