US National Championships

[moocow65]

Who's going to the national championships this year? And will another JAPANESE win our AMERICAN national championships? Only time will tell.

[samurai999]

I'm going. :D I heard its in UMich. (Wolverine land) I heard the campus is reallly nice that time of year. Can't wait. Oh ya... have to compete too. LOL

EDIT- As for whos gonna win. Who knows? We're training pretty hard for this (most of us in NCKF since last year) so I believe that we will have a good showing. I'm pretty sure that other feds would prefer to disagree with me. :D

Tim

[Kiki]

See you there...and may the best kenshi win. It would be nice if they were also able represent USA at the Words.

[Theodore]

Who's going to the national championships this year? And will another JAPANESE win our AMERICAN national championships? Only time will tell.

Western fencing adopted the so-called Okawa Rule (http://www.fullerton.edu/titanmagazine/S2004/okawa.html) (See info for members (www.usfencing.org), Operations Manual, Rule III, 1, A, 2 after Maestro Okawa took the national championship in foi (http://www.fencingonfairfield.com/mens-foil-champions.htm)l 2 years running while living in the US as a Japanese national. BTW, Okawa, the son-in-law of Mori Torao Sensei is a San Dan in Kendo. Since he married Mori Senseis daughter (http://www-scf.usc.edu/%7Efencing/Gallery1960%27s.htm) who was a formidable fencer in her own right he has been given a green card.

[samurai999]

Well that may be true, but I'd like to know why they adopted it for US Kendo. Not insinuating anything but its just FMI. (for my information)

But anyways, it should be a good tournament.

Tim

[jmarsten]

Well that may be true, but I'd like to know why they adopted it for US Kendo. Not insinuating anything but its just FMI. (for my information)

But anyways, it should be a good tournament.

Tim
When the AUSKF was formed I proposed a "guest membership for foreign nationals" and a regular membership for US citizens. This was rejected by the board of directors. So if there are only full memberships, a certain class of members could not be descriminated against because of their citizenship while paying full dues. So you have any member eligble to compete in the AUSKF Championship regardless of citizenship. Some would argue that as long as you created a division for the the non-citizens your not descriminating. Based on that one would guess segregation was not descrimination either. The equal but seperate argument.
There are all kinds of US championships especially at the college level that have non US citizens competing and winning.
I suggest the younger members become involved in changing AUSKF if it is a concern how it operates.
How do you like the fee schedule for the taikai?
PNKF members will have to suck up about $1000 per member if we go full meal deal. If you don't see us at the party thats $50 people decided not to spend.

[Kiki]

PNKF members will have to suck up about $1000 per member if we go full meal deal. If you don't see us at the party thats $50 people decided not to spend.

I thought it was very expensive and did not think we were going to spend the $$ but then the board decided to do it. Personally, I would rather have seen a lower price for the dinner party with a cash bar. At least 75% of our participants are under 21 and $50 is a lot.

[samurai999]

PNKF members will have to suck up about $1000 per member if we go full meal deal. If you don't see us at the party thats $50 people decided not to spend.

Ouch.. And thats why you guys didn't go to the sayonara party the last time?

Tim

[itazura]

I suggest the younger members become involved in changing AUSKF if it is a concern how it operates.
How do you like the fee schedule for the taikai?


So I hear that now they're charging $50 for each division. So you have to pay for both team and singles.

I also just heard that the AUSKF has almost $500k in the bank. What's with all the fees? Are they going to hand out those cheap plaques again?

[Theodore]

So I hear that now they're charging $50 for each division. So you have to pay for both team and singles.

I also just heard that the AUSKF has almost $500k in the bank. What's with all Are they going to hand out those cheap plaques again?

tHere is the 2003 Financial info for the AUSKF cy ending 2003 from www.guidestar.com (http://www.guidestar.com/)

Financial Snapshot for Fiscal Year Ending 2003
http://www.guidestar.org/servlet/GsFinIndicatorRenderer?npoId=451121&revenue=211512&expense=180287&asset=220362&liability=0&iehack=.png

Revenue:$211,512
Expenses:$180,287
Assets:$220,362
Liabilities:$0he fees?

Hope this works....should show a graph...

edit: worked, not bad for a non-profit and not at all excessive.

[Theodore]

Here's a single fencing club in NY. Has more assets than the entire ASUKF:

FENCERS SCHOOL INC
119 W 25TH ST
NEW YORK, NY 10001

PROVIDE VARIOUS PROGRAMS TO HELP NEEDY CHILDREN LEARN THE SPORT OF FENCING

EIN: 13-2959888
This organization files an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ. It is a 501(c)(03) public charity. Information in this report is derived from IRS From 990, 990-EZ, or 990-PF, an annual report filed by nonprofit organizations.


Financial Snapshot for Fiscal Year Ending 2003

http://www.guidestar.org/servlet/GsFinIndicatorRenderer?npoId=502660&revenue=305206&expense=333913&asset=226623&liability=20404&iehack=.png
'
Revenue:$305,206
Expenses:$333,913
Assets:$226,623
Liabilities:$20,404

So the AUSKF is really pretty small potatoes since the membership of this club is probably far less than the entire AUSKF.

[Theodore]

Here the website (http://www.fencersclub.com/) for the NY Fencing Club. Check out the membership fees and see if you would pay that rate for a dedicated site.

[itazura]

Here's a single fencing club in NY. Has more assets than the entire ASUKF:

FENCERS SCHOOL INC
119 W 25TH ST
NEW YORK, NY 10001

PROVIDE VARIOUS PROGRAMS TO HELP NEEDY CHILDREN LEARN THE SPORT OF FENCING

EIN: 13-2959888
This organization files an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ. It is a 501(c)(03) public charity. Information in this report is derived from IRS From 990, 990-EZ, or 990-PF, an annual report filed by nonprofit organizations.


Financial Snapshot for Fiscal Year Ending 2003

http://www.guidestar.org/servlet/GsFinIndicatorRenderer?npoId=502660&revenue=305206&expense=333913&asset=226623&liability=20404&iehack=.png
'
Revenue:$305,206
Expenses:$333,913
Assets:$226,623
Liabilities:$20,404

So the AUSKF is really pretty small potatoes since the membership of this club is probably far less than the entire AUSKF.

I would imagine in NY you need that much to survive. Have you checked out the NY kendo dues? They're high too.

The question for the AUSKF is what are they going to do with the money? They just seem to be holding more and more and doing nothing much with it. Have they been to your area yet? Where I'm at it doesn't matter since we see all these guys anyway.

[jmarsten]

Ouch.. And thats why you guys didn't go to the sayonara party the last time?

Tim
One of the two main reasons, the other was it was downtown and nobody knew their way around and didn't want to be driving and drinking. We opted for a smorgas board place in little Tokyo and then all gathered together back at the hotel. It was very convient because we could easily walk there and the price was very reasonable.
Currently at least half of our team have said they aren't going to the party. For some of our team members going to nationals is really a strain. LA wasn't as bad because the airfare was cheaper. Detroit is running an average of around $400 airfare + hotel, meals, entry fee, transportation etc.

[jmarsten]

Well I don't know much about small potatoes or even apples and oranges but I am pretty familiar with the AUSKF finances. They don't have a program to help needy children, they really don't have a program to help needy kendo clubs. I do know that they spend very little of the membership funds on the members. Unless you are on the US team.
I would say this, unless you are historically knowledgeable about the national kendo organization and its evolution it is very hard to compare it to other organizations.
Theodore since your there with Stroud Sensei you can ask him a few questions.

[Theodore]

Well I don't know much about small potatoes or even apples and oranges but I am pretty familiar with the AUSKF finances. They don't have a program to help needy children, they really don't have a program to help needy kendo clubs. I do know that they spend very little of the membership funds on the members. Unless you are on the US team.
I would say this, unless you are historically knowledgeable about the national kendo organization and its evolution it is very hard to compare it to other organizations.
Theodore since your there with Stroud Sensei you can ask him a few questions.

We had a confidential talk last December when returning from a kendo seminar in Pocatello (he also talked me into getting a Dodge Durango). Marsten Sensei, if you would PM me or email me at my address on file with the PNKF I would be happy to give you more info.

[itazura]

Well this thread seems to be dying a quiet death. It seems there aren't many Americans on here that care much about this.

This time should have some pretty good matches in it. Who WILL win?

[samurai999]

it sorta turned into a financial thread (of which i am partly guilty of) but as for matches, i really can't say since i'll be fairly biased to the North :D.
All I can give are rosters for SCKF and NCKF. (SCKFs is posted on their website)

Tim

[DarQik]

It will indeed be in the heart of U-Mich land. If you will be visiting, do some scouting before you come and collect some maps.
http://www.parking.umich.edu/maps/central_south.pdf
http://www.google.com/maps?i&ll=42.279541,-83.735330&spn=0.044373,0.077992&hl=en
I'm new to Kendo, but I am participating in 2 of the local university kendo clubs (U Mich and EMU). I'm also work at the university. So, if you'd like any local information, ask away and I will do what I can to help. I'm not seeing lots of information about the event. In fact, central campus doesn't even show the event on the calendar, just that the CCRB is closed that weekend.

The MWKF completed their tryouts last week. If I understood correctly Abbey-sensei (eric here) and Tagawa-sensei will be participating in the goodwill events.

I'm looking very forward to it! If only for the opportunity to meet so many skilled people and observe. :smiley:

-Nathan
Well, I had tried not to use my Quake moniker, but somehow I just couldn't complete registration otherwise....

[itazura]

it sorta turned into a financial thread (of which i am partly guilty of) but as for matches, i really can't say since i'll be fairly biased to the North :D.
All I can give are rosters for SCKF and NCKF. (SCKFs is posted on their website)

Tim

Well the financial is a piece of it since the cost seems to be a kinda high for some to attend.

Question is will the men's return to Cal or will there be another upset from the North or East? The US tryouts should be a pretty good indication of who'll be in the top spots aside from the non-US citizen. I heard Chris Yang was tops at the tryouts. Maybe this'll be his year to win.

Hope to see some good matches.

[samurai999]

Well in general, west coast kendo has the advantage in my eyes. Again, tho other feds would probably like to differ. PNKF has a supposedly stronger mens team than last time so that would be a welcome sight to watch along with the usual top notch competitors from NCKF and SCKF.

Also the 1st place finisher (or the top US citizen since the last winner was a foreigner) to finish in the mens/womens division will secure a spot on the US team.

[amatsuda]

Question is will the men's return to Cal or will there be another upset from the North or East? The US tryouts should be a pretty good indication of who'll be in the top spots aside from the non-US citizen. I heard Chris Yang was tops at the tryouts. Maybe this'll be his year to win.

Hope to see some good matches.

Of course I'll be cheering for the success of ALL NCKF Members....(Not just those going from San Jose Dojo)......

They have definitely put a lot of heart and effort into this endeavor indeed...AND they are all going as a 'family'.

But What would be cool is if Chris Yang, his brother Danny or Kenny Michioka did win the Men's championship...They would become the first cross-divisional champions in the history of the event (I think). Each won the Jr. Youth division in the past championships in 1993, 1996/1999, and 2002 respectively.

I might be wrong though...because I'm not sure if two past champions, Kaneshiro Sensei or Sonoda Sensei won the youth division when they were younger...

amatsuda
LIGHTNING BOLT!

[SuperkenshiLv2]

So I hear that now they're charging $50 for each division. So you have to pay for both team and singles.

I also just heard that the AUSKF has almost $500k in the bank. What's with all the fees? Are they going to hand out those cheap plaques again?


I would go BALLISTIC if they handed that crap out again. Man I want my gold!!!! and i know everybody else was way dissapointed when we all got our door stop plaques.....hand a bunch of kids chunks of wood with with our names written in sharpie....man....but i heard they're going with medals this time due to the backlash from last time. Although they still owe us all medals from last time.

[kuzu70]

[QUOTE=amatsuda]I might be wrong though...because I'm not sure if two past champions, Kaneshiro Sensei or Sonoda Sensei won the youth division when they were younger...

QUOTE]

Dang, Sonoda Sensei and Kaneshiro Sensei..... Old School!

[misterkurukuru]

when i get second place in the men's group one day i will complete the sweep of da big "2"

2nd in jr youth 1996
2nd in senior youth 1999
2nd in mens (TBA)
it would be sooooo freaking ironic to be beaten by danny when i complete the trifekta~ (too much and 1 b-ball for me)... :ko:
too bad i am going to be a clipboard holder for the ASUKF at the shiai

danny wont win till gets to stomp me in the national finals for the third time :smoker:

[Barnakey]

My bet goes on Hatakeyama, I think he is the strongest in the U.S. right now and he defenetly has the brains when it comes to shiai. oh yeah... he's not even american

[samurai999]

Well since we have an individual candidate, what about the teams? I like team matches better than individuals. Of course I'm gonna go with the NCKF. Like Matsuda sensei mentioned, I believe that they have trained hard and that they have a family-like bond with each other which is fairly unique.

Tim

[kuzu70]

I have seen Hatakeyama-san and he is very good. But Maruyama-san from SCKO and Chris Yang-san from SCKF are not to be lightly taken.

[Barnakey]

Hey, sorry I wasn't implying that they were to be taken lightly either. However, I think Chris Yang was defeated by Hatakeyama last 9/11 taikai.
I think Maruyama took first at Steveston also that year.

[kuzu70]

No need to apologize. It will be a really interesting tournament! Look forward to finding out who wins!

[Charles_V]

Any shot that some satellite channel will show this tournament? I know theres no way in hell's luncbox that it will be on network TV in Chicago. >.<

[misterkurukuru]

JUST BE THERE on
SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY
and also saturday
you might even get to see mr. kurukuru holding a clipboard and yelling at people to get their act together. I hope one of the guys that are in the top 20 wins so that I wont have to fight them in the last round of team USA tryouts. on another note, I think the US citizen should get 1st to be given the automatic bid. if they don't win 1st they don't deserve the spot. What if the top 2 are from Japan and the two 3rd place people are US citizens? Then what?? 2 people go up??? (sorry to thoes that dont really car about team USA)

[Kirin]

What will happen if US citizen win 1st, but he didnt make or/and didnt try for Team USA tryout?

[samurai999]

I thought that any US citizen who wins first would get an automatic spot on the US team. Or was it an automatic invitation to the last round of tryouts??
:confused2

Tim

[samurai999]

JUST BE THERE on
SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY
and also saturday
you might even get to see mr. kurukuru holding a clipboard and yelling at What if the top 2 are from Japan and the two 3rd place people are US citizens? Then what?? 2 people go up??? (sorry to thoes that dont really car about team USA)

hmmm now that i read your thread, that is a really good question... hmmm.
I guess i'll see you there on sunday holding the clipboard. haha

Tim

[misterkurukuru]

i think any US citizen that wins gets on the team.

[jmarsten]

The reason the final tryout is held after the US championships is because the winner of the men's or womens if they are a US citizen are automatically on the team. This happend a few years back when Nishimoto was eliminated in the in the tryouts but won the US championship. The person who was in the last position was replaced, however this was made clear at the tryout that the last person was on the bubble. At that time we only did one tryout.
Now the final tryout is after the US so this doesn't happen. If the winner is a non US citizen and the second place is US they get the spot on the team. After that if you finished third you have to make it through the tryouts.
The reasoning behind this placing the winner on the team was that you couldn't go to worlds with the winner of the US championship left off the team. I have no comment one way or another on the last statement.

[samurai999]

Bump!

Wanted to wish everybody good luck in Michigan. I know i'll be seeing some of the posters there at the nationals. Master clipboard carrier Misterkurukuru, Tenken, Moocow, Tenkens bro, all of the marstens (i have met Jeffrey, the son, but not the "seniors"), etc etc.

PS-Revised good luck. Good luck to all, except when going against my guys and gals in the NCKF. LOL.

Tim

[misterkurukuru]

thats grand master 10 dan clipboard holder

[Charlie]

You SOBs better introduce yourself to me. I'll be in a volunteers t-shirt and I look like this:

http://tinypic.com/6gvh3r.jpg

[Kiki]

You SOBs better introduce yourself to me.

See you there! Looking forward to meeting some KWF people - off and on the court.

[DarQik]

You SOBs better introduce yourself to me. I'll be in a volunteers t-shirt and I look like this:

http://tinypic.com/6gvh3r.jpgHey, that looks just like the guy I tell my kids to call Charlie-sensei. I had to search all over to find a picture of me. Apparently, I'm always behind the camera and never in front of it.. But I found a family shot (http://www.millieandnathan.com/pictures/kendo/family_cedarpoint) done by timer.

I'll be around watching with the boys, and pointing at people trying to encourage them to practice hard to become as good as all you tournament players. We look forward to meeting a few new people and wish you all the best of luck (and rewards for your hard work).

[Charlie]

Lovely shot, Nathan!

[joekc6nlx]

:down: Alas! I won't be able to make it to the Nationals. Several of my dojo mates are going, though.

Charlie, nice pic! Nathan, nice pic! For some reason, all of the pictures of me (not in bogu) seem to have these funny looking cracks across the frame.....I just checked my camera lens and now I know why!

Good luck to all participants!

[Charlie]

Joe, you are wild. You smashed the camera with shinai during keiko??

[Kirin]

Charlie,
I just saw your e-mail. Somehow your mail was in my spam box.
Thanks for all info!!
I be arriving there early afternoon tomorrow.

Looking forward to see all old & new KWM friends there~

ps. what is the best ruffle prize? Those ruffle tickets are only means of winning something at US Championships for me :laugh:

[amatsuda]

Of course I'll be cheering for the success of ALL NCKF Members....(Not just those going from San Jose Dojo)......

They have definitely put a lot of heart and effort into this endeavor indeed...AND they are all going as a 'family'.

But What would be cool is if Chris Yang, his brother Danny or Kenny Michioka did win the Men's championship...They would become the first cross-divisional champions in the history of the event (I think). Each won the Jr. Youth division in the past championships in 1993, 1996/1999, and 2002 respectively.
amatsuda
LIGHTNING BOLT!
I just received word of the first day's results. Of course, these are just preliminary results...as they have not been officially posted by the AUSKF.

Men's Individual 1st - Chris Yang - So he does become the first cross-divisional champion in the history of this event.
2nd - Kawabata
3rd - Onitsuka, Hatakeyama

Women's 1st - Sakae
3rd - L. Tanaka

Goodwill 1st - Itokazu (aka Moocow)

They just finished over there and I only heard the results above thru a scratchy cell phone so if anyone has other results, please post them.

amatsuda

[DarQik]

:( I should have taken notes, but I was on the water table most all day yesterday. I saw a couple of the semi-finals. I did see the team finals today.

Who won? Uh... something California Kendo something... yeah... I think they cleaned up all team divisions between the NCKF, SCKF, and SCKO. But I really failed to keep track. The Sr Youth MVP Kinjo (SCKF) was pretty impressive. I somehow ended up watching where he was up a few times yesterday and today.


As, for the olympic thing, just forget it. This is the first shiai I've attended after only 3-4 months of Kendo practice--I can barely follow what's going on watching a match, and I've had quite a bit of repeated explanations. My wife stopped in for a bit today (gotta check up on what the kids were doing), and found it really impossible to figure out. It's a lot tougher than the blue line rules in hockey, and that baffles a lot of people. (Some ladies warming up in the hallway doing fumikomi towards her gave her quite a scare. They were quite intimidating...)


Being at the nationals was quite an experience, but I'm exhausted from the work--tables, chairs, water, tape, signs, bento, directions, exit door alarms, etc.. Hope all went well for those that attended. The farewell dinner is going on now. Hopefully, someone who paid better attention and took notes can feed you all results soon.


I didn't meet too many people other than the ladies from SCFK at the front table, but I think I counted 3 Marstens from PNK (the only name I recognized quickly). I had a nice view of the entrance/exit at the water table, but not the event. I got kicked out today about 10am; I was told I worked too hard yesterday or something, and that I should go watch the matches. (I still found work to do anyway, but I watched quite a few matches.) Since it was my first shiai, it was both painfully bewildering and somehow familiar. Everybody there was amazing to watch--such speed and accuracy. Wow...


(I could claim the event results are on my PDA... Would whoever picked up my bag, please turn it in? :hurt: It's the blue flexible thermal lunch box with Michigan-M and HR's "Diversity" logo on it, and some kendo loot for my kids in it. At least Jonathan took his shinai home early with mom. Perhaps whichever team had their gear near the center door... please? I turned my back for closing ceremonies, I should know better being from the Detroit area--we get robbed enough by locals.)

[rainmaker]

This is not official result.

Saturday - Individuals
Seniors
Kantosho - Komuro Sensei

Men's
1st - Chris Yang
2nd - Kawabata
3rd - Yuji Onitsuka
3rd - Hatakeyama

Women's
3rd - Linda Tanaka

16-18
Kantosho - Teppei Shima

13-15
3rd - Konopka & Michioka

Sunday

Men's
1st SCKF
2ND SCKO
3RD NCKF
3RD GNEUSKF

Women's
2nd NCKF

16-18
3RD NCKF

13-15
2ND NCKF

[samurai999]

Hey all!

first off, nice meeting all of you kendo world people. Charlie, and curtis sensei.

I was in goodwill. I got past first round but i unfortunately ran into tenkens older bro (one member of team SCI) in 2nd round and lost. Moocow won my div against tibor barany (hungary). Those special nito kamaes almost looked straight out of the comics lol. Gotta keep up the SCI tradition right? haha.

Impressive kendo by SCKF (though I wanted NCKF to win :) ). Kinjo was as good as advertised (his little sis was crazy!), Lee got second in womens and she isn't even a dan yet? But in general, the tournament was run well and master clipboard holder (10 dan) misterkurukuru was running around doing "day care" trying to round up people who never showed up to the court when their name was called. Shimpan were shimpan and i'll leave it at that. :)

Well, thats all from Detroit all, the official results should be posted soon on the AUSKF website so look there if you want to know who won.

Tim

[joekc6nlx]

Joe, you are wild. You smashed the camera with shinai during keiko??

Naw, my mom always told me I crack the lens of the camera whenever she'd take a picture. :D

[Inouye02]

Hey all!

first off, nice meeting all of you kendo world people. Charlie, and curtis sensei.

I was in goodwill. I got past first round but i unfortunately ran into tenkens older bro (one member of team SCI) in 2nd round and lost. Moocow won my div against tibor barany (hungary). Those special nito kamaes almost looked straight out of the comics lol. Gotta keep up the SCI tradition right? haha.

Impressive kendo by SCKF (though I wanted NCKF to win :) ). Kinjo was as good as advertised (his little sis was crazy!), Lee got second in womens and she isn't even a dan yet? But in general, the tournament was run well and master clipboard holder (10 dan) misterkurukuru was running around doing "day care" trying to round up people who never showed up to the court when their name was called. Shimpan were shimpan and i'll leave it at that. :)

Well, thats all from Detroit all, the official results should be posted soon on the AUSKF website so look there if you want to know who won.

TimCongrats to everyone in SCKF, hey Tim, sorry you had to meet Katsumi so soon, probably would of been nice to meet him or Hide in the later rounds,

I want to hear stories when you get back,

see you Wednesday

[Miyu]

More to add to the "unofficial results" (or at least what hasn't been mentioned)

Women's Team:

1st: SCKF
3rd: SEUSKF
3rd: PNKF

Senior Youth Team:

1st: SCKF
3rd: SEUSKF

I think that SCKF pretty much swept the team divisions. It was all tons of fun to watch. The final men's team match was so intense.

Hey, Samurai999?! Were you the one I fought in Goodwill? I was the girl from the SEUSKF. That was a fun match :D

[misterkurukuru]

I want to thank my team on Court B for doing such a good job!
it was nice meeting charlie and a few other people from KWF.

sckf swept everything, even the indavidual clip board holder and team clip board holder divison.

[Inouye02]

anybody know who won the Seniors Division ?

[amatsuda]

anybody know who won the Seniors Division ?
I heard Park Sensei from Cypress won the Seniors Division.

[Wolverinekenshi]

I am volunteering in Court B, so thanks also to Mr. Kurukuru, you have done a great job as the court cordinator.

Best Regards.

[samurai999]

Hey, Samurai999?! Were you the one I fought in Goodwill? I was the girl from the SEUSKF. That was a fun match :D

Tina? that you? if so, yup.. That was me. That was so close towards the end. I got a point just as the timer flag went up.. haha.

Ya that was fun. But tenkens bro was waiting for me next round and i lost.

Tim

[samurai999]

I heard Park Sensei from Cypress won the Seniors Division.

That he did. The kinjos themselves got 4 perpetuals IIRC.

Tim

[Inouye02]

I heard Park Sensei from Cypress won the Seniors Division.
Hey Matsuda Sensei...How's things going? hope all is good for you...

thanks for the info ..

[misterkurukuru]

moocow was making people look silly out there. sorry tim, went all the way to michigan to fight someone you can play at venice. big ups to covina dojo who boasts moocow, tenken, tenken's bro, akane and hideto kinjo, and shinya owaki. do you think Chinen sensei is doing something right over there?
hideto kinjo won the team fianls match with a classic covina dojo de-kote, i swear that was chinen sensei out there hitting that kote!

[samurai999]

moocow was making people look silly out there. sorry tim, went all the way to michigan to fight someone you can play at venice.

Oh well ya know? it happens. I really wanted to play big Samkange from PNKF in the later rounds. lol Big Jodan dude. Big.

Moocow was getting clean hits on everybody. Unfortunately, not all were counted. His kamaes looked sick. In addition, he just started wailing on that Hungarian dude in the finals.

Tim

[Bri_Hall]

I just wanted to thank everyone for a wonderful event. I was fortunate enough to attend the Saturday morning competitions, and was highly impressed.

The youth and the women showed me that this sport has a bright future ahead.

I am a beginning iaidoka, but hope to begin my study of Kendo soon. (I'll need to hook up with Charlie, since I'm Michigan, as well).

Again, thank you all. In my mind, you are all champions.

Bri

[asian_knight]

surprisingly, I still havent seen any vids on the competition pop up. I wonder when its going to show up. I think Im speaking on behalf of the people who are not fortunate enough to see the event first hand. I cant wait to see it.

[T.Lee]

im surprised no one else at least posted full results yet...

http://www.eanet.com/sckf/articles/050702/050702.htm

[Kirin]

I want to thank my team on Court B for doing such a good job!
it was nice meeting charlie and a few other people from KWF.

sckf swept everything, even the indavidual clip board holder and team clip board holder divison.

I wanted to check KWM earlier but I had business trip to Mexico right after the Championships.

Charlie & MWK members
Thank you very much for orgnizing tournament. Had great time!!
Charlie san , I think I saw you blowing whistle in court D or F... was that you?

misterkurukuru,
Thx for managing court B!! GREAT JOB!
We played 4 matches at court B on sunday

Moocow,
You looked awsome! Team USA tryout ganbatte~

Personaly, I had to go against Tenken? (jodan) and SCKO taisho in individual round robin....... no chances for me.
For team , we made the round robin round and lost to GNEKF in quarter final to taisho match 2-3.

Again, thank you very much for everyone involved in this tournament!
Great mitori geiko for me~~

[Charlie]

Hi, guys! Just got back from a vacation and haven't been online, so I'm posting a quick reply before reading all the replies. What a great tournament, and it was so great to meet you people I was able to meet. Yeah, Kirin, I was on Court F and did time-keeping for some of it, so that could have been me! (You get my e-mail?) The whole weekend was great mitori-geiko.

More later...

[Kiki]

I heard Park Sensei from Cypress won the Seniors Division.

Love Park Sensei! and he's quite the dancer :wink:

A big THANK YOU to all the volunteers for making the tournament run so smoothly. Charlie - it was great to meet you and actually have time to visit a bit.

Congratulations to SCKF on their sweep! I'll never forget the Men's Team final match. Stephen's text-book dekote on Yang Sensei is burned onto my pea brain forever.

I was happy for all of my SCKF friends but few things motivate more than sitting on a plane and having the cross town rivals walk down the aisle with all their gigantic trophies and then again when disembarking. Especially when 1/2 your guys are holding the second and third place medals. lol

Filled in some blanks from "rainmaker's" and "amatsuda's" lists. I think we might get our list together before AUSKF ever posts anything. Please add to it.
******

This is not official result.

Saturday - Individuals

Seniors
1st Park Sensei, SCKF
2nd
3rd Takada Sensei, SCKO
3rd

Goodwill
Kantosho - Komuro Sensei

Men's
1st - Chris Yang
2nd - Kawabata
3rd - Yuji Onitsuka
3rd - Hatakeyama

Women's
1st - Sakae, SCKF
2nd -
3rd - Linda Tanaka

16-18
1st Kinjo, SCKF
2nd
3rd
Kantosho - Teppei Shima

13-15
1st Kinjo, SCKF
2nd
3rd - Konopka & Michioka
Choi ??

Sunday

Men's
1st SCKF (awesome final match)
2ND SCKO
3RD NCKF
3RD GNEUSKF
MVP: Yang, SCKF
MVP: Hsueh, SCKO

Women's
1st: SCKF
2nd: NY ??
3rd: SEUSKF
3rd: PNKF
MVP Hagiyama SCKF

16-18
1st SCKF
2nd SCKO
3RD NCKF
3rd: SEUSKF
MVP Kinjo, SCKF
MVP: Takayanagi, SCKO

13-15
1st SCKF
2ND NCKF
3rd SCKO
3rd
MVP: Kinjo, SCKF

[Charlie]

Kiki, it was great meeting and chatting with you, too. Also, had great talks with Mr. Kurukuru, who by the way is 11 feet tall and can hold and swing three shinai in one hand. His eyes glow like red embers and his teeth are razor sharp. How he found time to chat with me in the midst of dispatching the ninja hordes that had been sent to attack us is quite beyond me.

But seriously, this was a great tournament and I'm still reeling from it a little. I come from a region where kendo is strong but still growing. So many of us are beginners, and even somewhat advanced people like me are still very much beginners. Where I'm from, we look to some of the Japanese and Japanese-Americans in Detroit, Chicago, New York and Toronto to be the strongest players at our tournaments. It seems like in California you have not only an abudnance of Japanese-Americans but an abundance of these kinds of really strong players, too. Kurukuru and I talked quite a bit about the differences in cultures. Anyway it was inspiring to me to see such strength, skill and enthusiasm, and has made me want to do kendo all the more. Great mitori-geiko, as Kirin said, not just the matches but the 8th-dan vs. 7th-dan mohan-geiko on Sunday!

[Charlie]

By the way, though I contacted all the news orgs in our area only one paper responded. Actually, the paper I write for, a small weekly, had something on it, too. Here's the story in the Ann Arbor News. The writer said he would have liked to do a bigger write-up but his editors kinda gave it to him at the last minute.

http://www.mlive.com/sports/aanews/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1120471824176935.xml

National event at U-M puts kendo on display
Monday, July 4, 2005

Ann Arbor hosts its share of events, from summer fairs to the city tennis tournaments.

But the city has never seen anything like the National Kendo Championships, held at the University of Michigan's Central Campus Recreation Building Saturday and Sunday.

"For those that have participated in kendo, the championships coming here is a little bit like the Super Bowl coming to Detroit,'' said Charlie Kondek, assistant coach of the Eastern Michigan University Kendo Dojo.

While the kendo championships can't match the Super Bowl in terms of hype, the sport of kendo can easily go blow-for-blow with football in almost any other regard.

Replace the flimsy foil of European fencing with a beefy bamboo sword. Now take away the mask and white suit and add a titanium face cage and traditional Japanese garb. Throw in a lot of spirited yelling, and that's kendo.

More than 300 participants from around the country competed in the championship. The event was also well attended by local kendo players taking in the top national kendo talent.

"To be able to see people at this level competing locally is very impressive,'' said Nathan Haley of Belleville, who competes in kendo with his sons Jonathan and David. "The speed at which they move is just amazing.''

The championships have been held since 1978 but usually take place in California, where there is a strong local base, Kondek said.

"There is a large Japanese-American community in that area,'' Kondek said. "While all kinds of people play, it is often played by Japanese and Japanese Americans.

"Japanese take kendo the way people in Iowa take wrestling.''

[Kirin]

Great mitori-geiko, as Kirin said, not just the matches but the 8th-dan vs. 7th-dan mohan-geiko on Sunday!

Wish there were american 7-dan sensei doing mohan-geiko with 8-dan hanshi.
I know at least two whiteboy 7dans were at the tournament (Marsten sensei and Grivas sensei)

[T.Lee]

Wish there were american 7-dan sensei doing mohan-geiko with 8-dan hanshi.
I know at least two whiteboy 7dans were at the tournament (Marsten sensei and Grivas sensei)


just a suggestion if i might, im not quite sure you want to combine these two adjectives in the future... "whiteboy 7dans"

[samurai999]

just a suggestion if i might, im not quite sure you want to combine these two adjectives in the future... "whiteboy 7dans"

I second that.

Tim

[Inouye02]

just a suggestion if i might, im not quite sure you want to combine these two adjectives in the future... "whiteboy 7dans"


man, couldnt you of found someone better then her....?
http://www.norcalcrx.org/tyson/pics/BeccaKendo.jpg

[samurai999]

dude the guys in the other thread were commenting about how... well they were commenting, but not talking about her looks...

http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7413

Tim

[T.Lee]

what? im representin, Venice BiATCH! ( i slimmed it down for better viewing..)

[Charlie]

LOL, I say. T, try and photoshop the tsuba-dome on the correct side of the tsuba. Or not. And what's wrong with "whiteboy 7dans?"

[samurai999]

I don't think we were saying anything was wrong with them. I just thought that a person who worked hard to get to 7dan deserves a bit more than "whiteboy". haha. Although some of the hakujin sensei (who will remain nameless) have really funny sounding names in Japanese.

Tim

[jmarsten]

Wish there were american 7-dan sensei doing mohan-geiko with 8-dan hanshi.
I know at least two whiteboy 7dans were at the tournament (Marsten sensei and Grivas sensei)
I think it is most unfortunate that no Americans of any race were used in the demo. I find it very disconcerting that at the United States Kendo Championships no one born and raised in American was good enough to represent us.

[jmarsten]

Olympics Style" here is your medal count.
SCKF 26, NCKF 16, SCKO 9, PNKF 7, GNE 3, SEUS 3, MW 1, Hungary 1, AE 0, E 0, EC 0, RM 0 SO 0, SW 0, CC 0.

[misterkurukuru]

the younger american yudanhsa of the SCKF took it as a slap in the face when we saw who was out there in the mohan geiko. We didnt even want to watch it. Snubbing the american 7 dan is the same as snubbing us.The 8 dan didnt come to practice with Japanese guys that live in america, they came to practice with americans. Its not like these sensei are bad, and i wouldnt complain if they learned how to do kendo here, but why would they ignore and not use atleast 3 american 7 dan that were at the tourny?

Shikai sensei , marsten sensei, and grivas sensei should have been out there. and if they needed to fill the other spots with japanese guys, thats fine.

I like how the two 8 dan sensei were bashing the shinpan on friday, of course ONe of them got mad at me and another fellow becuase we were not doing proper tsubazeriai :ko:

[samurai999]

Shikai sensei , marsten sensei, and grivas sensei should have been out there. and if they needed to fill the other spots with japanese guys, thats fine.

I like how the two 8 dan sensei were bashing the shinpan on friday, of course ONe of them got mad at me and another fellow becuase we were not doing proper tsubazeriai :ko:

I'm really not up to date as to whos an american born sensei or not. I didn't know that none of them that went for mohan geiko were american born. I watched it nonetheless but it would have been more interesting to see the 3 sensei mentioned above doing keiko with those 8dan sensei.

meh? not proper tsubazeriai? fill me in tomorrow at after keiko sit around or after keiko food consumption.

Tim

[Kirin]

I think it is most unfortunate that no Americans of any race were used in the demo. I find it very disconcerting that at the United States Kendo Championships no one born and raised in American was good enough to represent us.

As T Lee said, I should not used whiteboy 7dans....
but I intentionally used the term. (I've talked this issue with both mentioned senseis and both knew how I felt about the demo)

But then again, I hope someone in AUSKF will hear my tiny opinion of who should have been at the demo. 'cause seems most of sensei were the ones who tested 8-dan at past May in Japan.... political reasons?... hope not.... :ko:

[Charlie]

1) What's "hakujin" mean? American? Non-Japanese living outside Japan, as opposed to gaijin, which means, I think, foreigners in Japan?

2) Kurukuru, please tell us more, both about the shinpan bashing and tsubazeriai issue. Did you comment in my shinpan thread in Concepts?

3) Interesting point about the demo. I hadn't thought of it that way.

[samurai999]

1) What's "hakujin" mean? American? Non-Japanese living outside Japan, as opposed to gaijin, which means, I think, foreigners in Japan?


In literal terms, hakujin = white man.

Tim

[Kiki]

'cause seems most of sensei were the ones who tested 8-dan at past May in Japan....

When I saw the line up, I thought that was the reasoning but I was hoping to see some of the homegrown nana dans have a go. Three years from now that should be the case. This is no disrespect to the Sensei who were on the floor.

[Will]

what? im representin, Venice BiATCH! ( i slimmed it down for better viewing..)
a single tear is rolling down my cheek.

[T.Lee]

i still got roots baby.

[asian_knight]

Still no vids? And no one in kwf has a copy or have any links to any national vids of the matches? Its such a big event, and surprisingly no one has posted any info or at share some vids of the tournament.

[misterkurukuru]

oh no ghetto dojo!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Charlie]

Still no vids? And no one in kwf has a copy or have any links to any national vids of the matches? Its such a big event, and surprisingly no one has posted any info or at share some vids of the tournament.

I was too busy working it to take vids. Sorry!

[TenKen1013]

Hey all!

first off, nice meeting all of you kendo world people. Charlie, and curtis sensei.

I was in goodwill. I got past first round but i unfortunately ran into tenkens older bro (one member of team SCI) in 2nd round and lost. Moocow won my div against tibor barany (hungary). Those special nito kamaes almost looked straight out of the comics lol. Gotta keep up the SCI tradition right? haha.

Impressive kendo by SCKF (though I wanted NCKF to win :) ). Kinjo was as good as advertised (his little sis was crazy!), Lee got second in womens and she isn't even a dan yet? But in general, the tournament was run well and master clipboard holder (10 dan) misterkurukuru was running around doing "day care" trying to round up people who never showed up to the court when their name was called. Shimpan were shimpan and i'll leave it at that. :)

Well, thats all from Detroit all, the official results should be posted soon on the AUSKF website so look there if you want to know who won.

Tim

who is tenken?
cuz thats my nick name~

[Paikea]

who is tenken?
cuz thats my nick name~...the last guy you ever want to see in the shiajo.

[Paikea]

I should rephrase that (damn edit limit). Tenken is a fine kendoka who would be the last guy you'd want to see step into the shaijo - opposite you.

[misterkurukuru]

haha you looking for a fight son? Maybe sci needs to make another road trip

[moocow65]

SCI is always up to a challenge. I can try out my new "Bruce Lee" kamae coupled with my "Doraemon Takekopta Kote" or simply known as the DTK.

[Paikea]

haha you looking for a fight son? Maybe sci needs to make another road tripWho, me? Nonono...:wink:

[Paburo]

that's sad paikea, you let go opportunities like that, you know.... i was looking for a fight :D

[Paikea]

that's sad paikea, you let go opportunities like that, you know.... i was looking for a fight :DHey, I'm dumb, but not that dumb. I do have go go visit SC sometime soon, got a hankering for SoCal taco shop food.

Mmmm...carnitas.

[samurai999]

Hey, I'm dumb, but not that dumb. I do have go go visit SC sometime soon, got a hankering for SoCal taco shop food.

Mmmm...carnitas.

one good place that sells huge burritos in Hermosa/Manhattan Beach.

[tgsfg]

Are there any video footages of the AUSKFC on the net? I watched Yang sensei at his dojo a couple of times, but now he's going to Japan to train. I would like to see this man in action some more.