Tournaments on the east coast?

[kendokamax]

Hey

I'm from montreal, I was just wondering if there was any tournament held on the east coast , around New York or Boston in a near future.

I would like to go to a tournament alone without my kendo friends of my dojo, would be an interesting experience..
or actually it might be fun to go with them too.

anyway

does any of your guys know if there will be a tournament in New york or Boston soon?

thanks

[olaf]

kendokamax: though I am naturally not that familiar with the kendo communities in the Americas - I don't recall reading much about kendo tournaments/seminars on the east coast, even considering the number of dojos in, say, New York.

One resource you might want to look into are the university kendo clubs along the east coast - I remember reading some of their web sites, and it seems that the campus dojo scene is actually quite active. Perhaps they have some annual tournaments?

[lewis]

Kendokamax: You may also want to consider calling some of the bigger dojos in NYC, they often have 'local' tournaments that they don't advertise too much so as not to draw too big a crowd. They would also know of all the big open tournaments in the area that are coming up.

[lewis]

A good place to start would be the dojo listings at http://www.kendo-usa.org/statedojolist.htm. I noticed that the schedule was pretty weak. It only had the Canada and west coast stuff on it.

[tetsuoxb]

Hi,

I am part of the "campus dojo scene" on the east coast that was referred to. We are actually trying to unite student kendoka under the banner of the Student Kendo Network. Our temp webspace is at http://www.geocities.com/studentkendo.

There is an invitiational college tournament, and a Student Kendo Network seminar at Cornell University on NOV 9,10. Check cornell's kendo club website for details when they are posted, but my bet is that you have to be a college student to go. Same with Shoryuhai, the annual invitational tournament at Harvard in April.

Here is info on an open taikai.
I heard a tournament and seminar are planned to be held at Anne Arundel Community College in the Jenkins Gymnasium on Saturday Aug 3rd with Mr. Jim Parker, president of South East Kendo Fed. This is in Annapolis MD.

Feel free to ask me any questions.

[olaf]

Kendokamax: if you need web references to the tournaments JP spoke of:
Cornell - http://www.rso.cornell.edu/kendo/ (Nov '02)
Shoryuhai http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~kendo/shoryuhai/ (Apr '03)

The info on the Cornell site is somewhat outdated. If you are in touch with these people, JP, perhaps you should remind them...

[tetsuoxb]

The dates are final for Cornell, I talk to david cross (their president) pretty much daily.

They haven't posted full info because SKN is still working out the seminar plans.

[olaf]

tetsuoxb (JP): I guess I was right when I said the campus dojo scene is quite active on the east coast...what exactly is this "Student Kendo Network"? Is it open to students from other countries?

When I was working in Shanghai and Hong Kong, a large portion of the local dojo members were students, and I am sure they'd be very interested if they can join such a dynamic and growing group! Let me know and I'll pass the word on to them.

I was reading your Geocities.com site but found it somewhat confusing to navigate. And I think you should get someone to proof-read (or at least spell-check) parts of that site!

[tetsuoxb]

Yes, SKN is open to whoever wants to join. I am moving to Osaka in a couple of weeks and I am going to work on getting people over there.

We are in the starting up phases, so keep watching that space for membership news.

As far as the geocities SKN site goes, I am working on a new one ( I didn't make the one currently up, but I am helping out on the new stuff), you can find it at http://www.technolustomega.net/SKN/index.htm

It is in the dev stages only, so don't look to it for tons of info....but it is a bit cleaner design wise.

Thanks.

[olaf]

SKN - wow! So this Student Kendo Network is an internationally (IKF) recognized kendo federation? Do you hold seminars and tournaments like the one at Cornell at university dojos around the world?

As I said, I am sure some of my younger friends would be very interested in joining. If you can direct me to some information on fees and applications, I would most appreciate it!

[tetsuoxb]

Nope, we are not an IKF member. We are merely an organization of student kendoka. We want to bring student kendoka all over the world together and help kendo become stronger with the support of a caring community.

Currently SKN is just starting up and is very east coast US centric. We will grow, with help from around the world, but now it is very east coast.

Also, we are not putting on the cornell tournament, only the seminar afterwards. It is the second seminar we have done, the first being in the spring with Kato sensei of Shidogakuin NY.

Maybe someday we will be something along the lines of JSKF, but right now we just want to unite and create a cool place for student kendoka to get to know each other.

[stakenaka]

Does anybody know of any Canadian tournaments soon?

Scott

[kendokamax]

Thanks for the reply!

oh stanenaka I know that there is a tournament in Waterloo, it's next weekend (27 of july). I'm going actually.

And next one I know that there is not too far from my place is in Toronto, The anual JCCC tournament , I think it's in november, but i'm not too sure.

As for other tournament in canada i don't know

[cklin]

kendokamax:

If you want more information on the Shoryuhai next April (in Cambridge, MA), please feel free to contact me directly (cklin@hrkcaa.org). I am a member of the Harvard-Radcliffe Kendo Club Alumni Association (Harvard Kendo's supporting alumni body).

To be clear, the Shoryuhai is a tournament for the collegiate community only. While the team tournament is for college undergraduates only, the individual tournament is open to other university affiliates (students, staff, faculty). The tournament is sponsored by Hashimoto Ryutaro (the former PM of Japan); he commissioned the trophies. In regards to JP's mention of the SKN, I just wanted to clarify that the Shoryuhai is not affiliated with the SKN program, though we welcome students involved with the SKN and many do attend and compete.

[tetsuoxb]

I just wanted to second what was said about Shoryuhai, the HRKC, and SKN.

None of them are affliated with each other.

SKN is basically a way for student kendoka to get together and do cool things. It has no affliations with particular clubs or tournaments.

[Achilles]

Theres a huge kumdo tournament coming up, the Bong Yim Gi, which is being held in NJ on Aug. 23rd (I think).

I'm getting all the details and entry forms from my dojang this coming week, so email me at achillesva@hotmail.com and I'll get
'em to you.

Also, The Annapolis Kendo Club is having a tournament on Aug. 3rd in Annapolis, MD. Again, email me if you want details or would like to attend.

For those of you who are SUPER motivated, Suda-sensei, a 7-dan from Kagoshima (originally from Osaka), is in town and practicing with the Northern Virginia Budokai TOMORROW at 5PM (in Fairfax, VA). If you want to attend, you better email me fast.

[Shinyaxyz]

olaf: I'm the person who created the website for SKN. Sorry for my poor English skills.

Shidogakuin Kendo Institute is now planning to have a kendo tournament in Washington DC. We haven't gotten confirmed date, but it is likely to be held in October.

[olaf]

Shinyaxyz: Are you in charge of this "SKN" collective? As I was asking tetsuoxb (JP), is there some information available online or otherwise about joining? I have many friends studying in dojos overseas who I am sure would love to learn more about this community you're building.

My only question is, if you're aspiring to bring together such large numbers of people from college dojos all across the world, how do you intend on keeping these efforts so "informal" or "unofficial"? Thus far I have come across no mention of this "SKN" programme from the IKF, or from AUKSF, which should be closer to home for you.

[tetsuoxb]

Olaf,

Since we are just starting out, we have nothing to do with IKF or AUSKF. Since we aren't holding promotion tests, we really have no need to be under these organizations. Should the day arise where we are a big enough, and the need to join a large KF arise, then it will be looked at.

As of right now, SKN is mostly a collection of student kendoka on the East Coast of the USA. It is expanding, but it has to get on its feet first.. which is what we are trying to do right now. It was the students idea to start this organization, not AUSKF or IKF's, and as such you wont find mention of us anywhere.... yet.

As for joining up, we are still in the start up phase as I have mentioned. Once I finish with the website, get some hosting to handle my registration scripts and such, then everyone and anyone can join up. I will be sure to post to Kendo-world when this takes place.

If anyone has a webserver that would be willing to host a 100~200 meg site (after the databases/forums/and multimedia get up and running over the months) that can let me use mySQL, PHP, CGI, and preferrably a shell account and would be willing to donate the space.. please get ahold of me.

[Shinyaxyz]

Dear olaf,

Thank you very much for your interest.

As of today, SKN has to be "informal" and "unofficial" organization. There's some reasonings behind.

Unfortunately, there are very sad political frictions among kendo organizations in the United States. The purpose of kendo is definitely different from gaining such a political influence over other people, but there are still lots of people, even among high rank teachers, misunderstanding this.

Since we are just students, we aren't so powerful individually. We should do our best to keep SKN from being influenced by any other organizations or any particular teachers. There are a lot of histories that many newly organized group turned out to be a political tool of some people's ego.

Anyway, SKN is still a organization of students living in the east coast of USA. We JUST started the activities. We also open for any students all over the world, but I think we still have difficulties to get expanded into the world, because physical location, language, etc. I'm really really happy if you ask your friends to join SKN, though.

The main activity of SKN of today is hosting a website and student kendo seminar. We already had the first seminar last year inviting Mr. Shozo Kato, 7th dan, from NY. He is a former coach of All US Kendo Team. This time, we are planning to invite Mr Noboru Kataoka, 7th dan, also from NY.

In the near future, I want to invite the delegation from All Japan Student Kendo Federation, or something similar student organization in Japan. This weekend, I talked to one of my teachers, who has some relationship with AJSKF. Once I finish the second seminar held in October, I will start working on the process, hopefully.

Compared to students in Japan, we students in the United States have problems.... such as locations, members, equipments etc. I hope SKN will solve these problems and provide more opportunities to students in US in the near future.

This is a BIG BIG hope for me, but I'm pretty sure that impossible becomes possible if we get together.

[olaf]

Thank you, tetsuoxb and shinyaxyz, for the thorough explanation of "SKN". I guess your project is in a far more infant phase than I had assumed.

As you said yourself, you student kendo enthusiasts in the U.S. have much difficulty with recruiting new dojo members, buying equipment, access to proper instruction, etc...so you and JP's (and the rest of your crew's) efforts are quite laudable indeed.

I wish you fellas the best of luck, esp. with the upcoming Cornell University seminar.

[Steve]

Well, I'm from Halifax. We're the Eastern-most club in Canada. We'll be having our 3rd Annual tourney Sept. 28/2002. As we are a small club, its usually been an in club event, but this year we'll be having quite a few visitors from other provinces. All are welcome to come.

Visit our website for details soon. Or, click on the e-mail link at the bottom of the page to send us your name and such, and we'll e-mail you some details.

Steve.