57th All Japan Kendo Champs

By Michael Ishimatsu-Prime, Senior Staff Writer
Live commentary by Hamish Robison (See below)

The 57th AJKC at the Nippon Budokan has just finished. As usual, KW were there reporting on the main event in the kendo calendar. This year, as we did last year, we brought you up-to-date information and results. See the tournament summary, tournament ladder, competitor profiles and Hamish's live feed below. Also, for those of you who do not live in Japan or could not watch NHK, we will be uploading videos to our YouTube page as soon as we can.


Tournament Summary
So the dust has settled on what turned out to be an intriguing 57th All Japan Kendo Championships, full of thrills and spills, upsets and shocks at the Nippon Budokan in central Tokyo.

On shiai-jo 1, Teramoto started off in convincing fashion winning with a well timed kaeshi-do against Norimoto, the doctor from Tottori in his third championships, who made a good account of himself. A big upset followed when Wako (Hokkaido), last year’s runner-up, was defeated by Shikano, a teacher representing Yamanashi. You would have thought that Wako, being a policeman, would have won this encounter therefore setting up a tantalizing second round tie against Teramoto. However, Shikano was apparently destined for Tokyo police but due to a family tragedy he became a teacher. His record before this tournament, his third entry, was impressive winning the Kokutai and also with the mighty Kokushikan University finishing second and third in the individual university championships. At only 25 years of age, he will surely be another to keep an eye on in the future.

Another massive upset occurred on shiai-jo 2 when defending champion Shodai (Kanagawa) fought Oishi (Osaka), and was defeated. Shodai was many people’s favourite this year but there was a real buzz surrounding Oishi, who at 24, was the second youngest in the competition. Qualifying from the Osaka group cannot be easy but Oishi has real pedigree winning both the team and individual university tournament in his time at Osaka University of Sports and Health Sciences. He has also finished third in the police team competition. Oishi basically bullied Shodai around from the start, who seemed a shadow of himself compared to last year. The match went to encho during which the shimpan-cho called a halt to remove a ball of tape that had come off one of the competitors feet. About five seconds after the restart, an ai-men saw Oishi take the point he needed in encho to finish the match.

Another good encounter in the first round was between Suzuki (Iwate) and jodan kenshi Nakama (Okinawa). Nakama repeatedly hit Suzuki’s men and kote with what seemed to be good strikes but the shimpan obviously did not think so and Suzuki took men to win deep in encho.

The first round proved to be one of the longest that the Kendo World can remember with 24 of the 32 first round matches going into encho. Of the eight that did not, only one was won by two-points, Higashinaga (Saitama) versus Honda (Fukuoka). Higashinaga looked in impressive form beating Osaka’s jodan specialist Matsumoto, who had earlier beaten Kanagawa’s Matsumoto in a choice first round encounter. However, in the third round Higashinaga came up against 2005 champion, Harada Satoru of Tokyo. Harada too looked impressive from the start with his first round match one of the few that did not go into encho.

Something of a rarity occurred twice in this year’s competition. In the first round encounter between Mizobe (Nagano) and Furusawa (Kumamoto), runner-up in 2006, Mizobe had been penalized for not engaging in regulation time. Deep into encho, both competitors were penalized for not engaging, making it Mizobe’s second hansoku which gave Furusawa a point and passage to the second round.

Back on shiai-jo 1, both Yoneya (Saitama) and Takanabe (Kanagawa) decided their first round ties with one point in regulation and their second round in encho setting up a third round tie. Takanabe has been close on two occasions being runner-up against Teramoto in 2007 and finishing third in 2006. Yoneya had also finished third in 2008. This was a lively encounter which Yoneya won in regulation with a kote strike which set up a QF with Uchimura (Tokyo) who had beaten the oldest and highest ranked competitor, Chiba’s K7-dan Someya in his tenth competiton, in the third round with a kote.

Uchimura and Yoneya were both evenly matched in terms of height. There was lots of energy in this encounter with both kenshi very fast. If Uchimura liked music, his favourite band would probably be Tenacious D, as he certainly was in this match. At one point Yoneya stepped out of the court and received a hansoku. Then, in encho, Yoneya was bundled out by Uchimura, looking like he was injured in the process. The shimpan stopped the match, gave Yoneya a second hansoku and for the second time a match was decided in encho by virtue of two hansoku. There were more than a few murmurs that went around the Budokan and not much in the way of applause. It was a shame to see a match ended this way, especially between two such distinguished competitors, but those are the rules.

On shiai-jo 2 Oishi continued his impressive debut with victories over Shimogawa (Fukuoka) and Imoto (Saitama) in an enthralling third round match taking kote off his jodan opponent inside regulation time. He would face Tokyo’s Takahashi in the QF, a graduate of Kokushikan University and five years his senior. Before meeting Oishi, Takahashi had ended two of his three matches inside regulation time and had scored kote in all three. There was speed and aggression in abundance in this QF which Takahashi won, perhaps unsurprisingly considering the results of his previous matches, in regulation with kote. Jodan kenshi Takasaka (Shizuoka) saw off both Furusawa and then Harada in the third round and QF respectively before losing to Takahashi in the semi-final who scored with a hiki-men in encho after a failed men strike.

Teramoto had a scare in the second round against the impressive Shikano conceding a men. He managed to get a men back just before the end of regulation time and then within seconds of the start of encho, Teramoto took men to progress to the third round where he beat Fujita (Gunma), again in regulation. Teramoto then beat Kinoshita (Kagawa) in the QF right after the start of encho with a kote setting up a semi-final against Uchimura.

Teramoto is a good deal taller than Uchimura but that did not appear to daunt the latter. Both are previous winners and there were plenty of good chances early on as both competitors made an ai-men that was not given. Uchimura scored with his trademark debana-kote, Teramoto came back with a huge men, then a hiki-men after an attempt at kote, all that were not given. Uchimura was controlling the match, keeping Teramoto pinned back in the corners and not separating far. As he had done in the second round, Teramoto scored just before the end of regulation time to send the match into encho. Uchimura eventually prevailed by scoring a hiki-men after an attempt at kote by Teramoto.

The final was to be fought between two police officers from Tokyo, Takahashi and Uchimura. Takahashi, as with most other competitors, was a good deal taller than Uchimura. However, Uchimura was by far the more aggressive of the two. Into encho, Takahashi started to initiate more of the chances but failed to make any of them count. Then, as Takahashi tried to subdue Uchimura’s advance, Uchimura carried on and took men to become the All Japan Champion for the second time.

Uchimura obviously had the pedigree to become champion again, but before the tournament, a lot of the talk was either on Shodai retaining his title, Teramoto going for it again, or Takanabe finally being able to get his first championship. Takahashi was definitely a dark horse but had demostrated great kendo throughout the day. Oishi was the standout for many watching, making it to the QF at the first attempt. His kohai and team and individual university champion from Kokushikan, Hatakenaka, also managed the same feat last year. They will both be ones to watch out for in the future. A few people on the Kendo World forums had called Uchimura so congratulations to you, and of course, many congratulations to the new champion, Uchimura Ryoichi.

Please see the tournament ladder and competitor profiles below. Following that is the live feed by Hamish Robison.

Tournament Ladder

This is the tournament ladder for the 57th AJKC. Below it are more details for each competitor.
Note: HH denotes 2 hansoku against the competitor, giving 1 point to his opponent.

Competitor Profiles

Defending Champion, Kanagawa
Shōdai Kenji, 28, 5-dan, Police Officer

Hokkaido
Wakō Daisuke, 32, R6-dan, Police Officer
Fujisawa Hidenori, 32, R6-dan, Police Officer

Aomori
Sasahara Kyōshirō, 26, 5-dan, Teacher

Akita
Tsuchida Keisuke, 28, 5-dan, Police Officer

Yamagata
Watanabe Yūdai, 26, 5-dan, Police Officer

Iwate
Suzuki Tsugihiko, 29, 5-dan, Police Officer

Miyage
Endō Toshimasa, 30, 5-dan, Police Officer

Fukushima
Harada Kenji, 28, 4-dan, Police Officer

Ibaraki
Koiso Masanori, 32, 5-dan, Police Officer
Koiso Suguru, 29, 5-dan, Police Officer

Tochigi
Maeda Kensaku, 25, 4-dan, Teacher

Gunma
Fujita Daisuke, 28, 5-dan, Police Officer

Saitama
Yoneya Yūichi, 33, R6-dan, Police Officer
Imoto Takeshi, 31, 6-dan, Police Officer
Higashinaga Yukihiro, 32, 6-dan, Police Officer

Tokyo
Uchimura Ryōichi, 29, 5-dan, Police Officer
Harada Satoru, 36, R6-dan, Police Officer
Takahashi Hidehito, 29, 5-dan, Police Officer
Gonbei Noriyasu, 32, R6-dan, Police Officer

Chiba
Someya Tsuneharu, 43, K7-dan, Police Officer
Itami Kenji, 25, 4-dan, Police Officer

Kanagawa
Takanabe Susumu, 33, R6-dan, Police Officer
Matsumoto Katsunori, 27, 5-dan, Police Officer

Yamanashi
Shikano Mitsunari, 25, 5-dan, Teacher

Niigata
Oka Shinsuke, 30, 5-dan, Company Worker

Ishikawa
Yoneyama Tomohiro, 33, 6-dan, Police Officer

Toyama
Inoue Hideyuki, 34, R6-dan, Police Officer

Fukui
Nitta Masakazu, 35, 6-dan, Police Officer

Nagano
Mizobe, Toshikazu, 25, 4-dan, Police Officer

Shizuoka
Hamada Shinichi, 30, 5-dan, Police Officer
Takasaka Yūsuke, 29, 4-dan, Police Officer

Aichi
Takahashi Hiromi, 35, 6-dan, Prison Officer
Inage Satoshi, 27, 5-dan, Police Officer

Gifu
Imafuji Norihiro, 30, 6-dan, Police Officer

Mie
Tanioka Kentarō, 32, 5-dan, Police Officer

Shiga
Takenaka Yoshihiro, 34, R6-dan, Company Worker

Kyoto
Nakano Takahiro, 29, 5-dan, Police Officer

Osaka
Teramoto Shōji, 34, R6-dan, Police Officer
Matsumoto Makoto, 35, R6-dan, Police Officer
Ōishi Hiroyuki, 24, 4-dan, Police Officer

Nara
Takemura Kenji, 29, 5-dan, Police Officer

Wakayama
Sugiyama Kimitoshi, 35, R6-dan, Police Officer

Hyogo
Matsumura Nobuyuki, 32, 6-dan, Police Officer
Fuji Mikio, 31, 5-dan, Police Officer

Okayama
Kajiya Hayato, 30, 5-dan, Police Officer

Hiroshima
Takashima Yūji, 33, 6-dan, Police Officer

Yamaguchi
Sakaki Daisuke, 33, 6-dan, Police Officer

Tottori
Norimoto Shikō, 27, 4-dan, Doctor

Shimane
Omura Ken, 29, 5-dan, Teacher

Kagawa
Kinoshita Tomonari, 26, 5-dan, Police Officer

Ehime
Kondō Shinji, 32, R6-dan, Police Officer

Koichi
Uka Motonori, 34, R6-dan, Police Officer

Tokushima
Kondō Masaaki, 32, 5-dan, Police Officer

Fukuoka
Mori Yūsuke, 29, 5-dan, Police Officer
Honda Tadaomi, 33, R6-dan, Police Officer
Shimogawa Ryōsuke, 29, 5-dan, Police Officer

Saga
Furukawa Keiichi, 32, 6-dan, Police Officer

Nagasaki
Hayashida Naoki, 29, 5-dan, Police Officer

Oita
Shigematsu Daisuke, 31, 5-dan, Civil Servant

Kumamoto
Furusawa Tsuneomi, 31, R6-dan, Police Officer

Miyazaki
Yamashita Ryō, 29, 5-dan, Police Officer

Kagoshima
Kamiuto Tesshū, 23, 4-dan, Police Officer

Okinawa
Nakama Yūsuke, 30, 5-dan, Police Officer


Live Updates

2 upsets in the first 4 matches of the day. 2008 runner-up Wako goes out in the first round to Shikano from Yamanashi, and 2008 winner Shodai was beaten by Oishi from Osaka police. No upset for Teramoto, however, who took a do to go through to the second round.

About half-way through the 1st round, with only one match so far that went to 2 points. Most shiai have gone to encho, everyone is taking it pretty cautiously so far. Harada Satoru got through to the 2nd round, with an early point which he held to time. Competitors to watch so far, Oishi, Imafuji, Takahashi (Tokyo Police), Higashinaga (first to a 2 point victory.

Veteran Someya gets through with a convincing men in encho. Oldest competitor at 43, and highest grade at Kyoshi 7-dan.

The longest match so far has been 18 minutes, between Matsumoto of Osaka,and Matsumoto of Kanagawa, won by men to Matsumoto of Osaka.

Uchimura through with a do in encho against Fujii of Hyogo.

Furusawa wins when Mizobe of Nagano receives 2 hansoku against him for too much tsuba-zeriai, a first in recent memory, but showing how much we'fve seen so far today. With a lot of encho and single-point wins, everyone is trying to play it safe so far.

Takanabe goes through with a convincing men within regulation time.

Someya goes through to the 3rd round with a kote in encho against Harada of Fukushima.

Harada barely gets a men after a considerable encho against Higashinaga to carry on into the quarter-finals.

Yoneya gets a men to win against Tanioka, after a 19 minute 26 second encho.

Quarter finals

The quarter finals due to start in about 5 minutes.

Teramoto vs. Kinoshita

Tense start, lots of tsubazeriai in this match as in lots of the earlier matches today.

Teramoto seems to be holding back a little, some slightly tentative kote strikes before he goes for men. Teramoto tries a do, but Kinoshita does a quick kaeshi to block it, doesn't seem fazed by Teramoto at all.

Kinoshita seems to be more on the offensive, Teramoto waiting for the chance. Another do, but can't get through, Kinoshita knows what's coming.

Kinoshita almost gets kote, the crowd Oooohs!

Teramoto comes in for kote, kinoshita dodges, almost gets a men. 10 minutes up. Encho and Teramoto takes kote off the start.!!

Uchimura vs. Yoneya

Yoneya was out in Taiwan with a blown achilles, but he doesn't show any ill affects now. both more active than the previous match. Uchimura is usually a bit like a Jack Russell terrier, but a little more restrained against Yoneya, who seems to have a similar style today.

Still close-in, but having a bit of a standoff at chika-ma, with shinai still crossed, unsure who is going to give or come in.

Not much ni-dan waza, trying a strike, and then locking together.

Uchimura comes in for kote, misses, Yoneya tries a men as he comes in, but neither gets close.

Yoenya comes in, Uchimura tries the do he took in an earlier match, but doesn't quite pull it off.

Yoneya gets close to a hiki me, but goes out instead, 1 penalty.

Into encho.

Yoneya looking keen to finish this.

Yoneya seme's in for a tsuki, Uchimura wards it off before it starts.

Uchimura comes in for his trademark kote, but not quite there yet.

Uchimura comes in for kote, Yoneya pulls back for men, both hit, but neither good enough.

Uchimura comes in for another kote, hits Yoneya, and manages to push him out, 2nd penalty to Yoneya, Uchimura wins. Yoneya looked like he had a sore right leg, but sorer pride now.

Oishi vs. Takahashi (Osaka vs. Tokyo grudge match)

Similarly matched height-wise, Takahashi takes kote close in!

Takahashi looking confident, pushing for the 2nd point.

Oishi almost gets a men, roar from the crowd.

Oishi almost gets another, Takahashi answers with a kote, Takahashi a little more cautious, Osishi almost gets a men.

Time ticking away....another close men attempt by Takahashi. Oishi tries a gyaku-do, not good enough.

Oishi getting desperate..Takahashi almost gets Oishi's raised kote....

Time, win to Takahashi, 1 point.

Harada vs. Takasaka

Takasak a good 10cms taller than Harada, and using jodan as well. Tense seme between the 2, with Takasak taking the lion's share of the attacking.

Lots of foot stomping as they take short,sharp steps towards each other, but no strikes come out.

Harada tries for a tsuki, goes down and Takasaka just misses getting a men on his bent head, slides offa little too much for the refs liking, maybe.

Well into encho...

Takasaka takes a men, a little deep, but Harada was coming in, shobu ari!

Teramoto vs. Uchimura coming up soon...Ladder updated.

Semi finals

Teramoto vs. Uchimura

Teramoto playing it cool from the start, Uchimura at a height disadvantage, a lot of tsubazeriai so far, mostly after Uchimura comes in after a strike, nice aimen, no winner.

Uchimura comes in for men, Teramoto steps back slightly, into tsubazeriai again.

Teramoto tries men, too deep, tsubazeriai again. Teramoto tries an Uchimura-like kote, too deep. Uchimura tries a do, nowhere near, ducks as he turns with Teramoto on top of him.

Uchimura tries kote, Teramoto locks him down. chika-ma.

Back to tsubazeriai, Uchimura gets his trademark kote, 2nd point...

Teramoto comes in for a booming men, round of applause, but no flags.

Time ticking....

Uchimura's not giving this chance up, pinning Teramoto back in the corner of the court.

Teramoto seems be setting himself up for gyaku do, but he doesn't have the room. Uchimura tries kaeshi do, doesn't quite pull it off.

Teramoto gets a desparate sutemi men, game on!!

Hits time just seconds after Teramoto's men. Encho...

Uchimura raises the crowd, but not the flags with a men attempt.

Teramoto is the master of doing just enough to win, will he do it again this time?

NO, he comes in for a kote, Uchimura gets Men, win to Uchimura.

Takahashi vs. Takasaka

Both 29 yrs. old and don't seem to have tired from the gruelly enchos they've fought all day, both taking it to the other, Takasaka has come close to a men, a has Takahashi, but still semeing sstrongly, pulling back from tsubazeriai alittle faster than some previous matches.

Into encho..

Takasaka starts with a big men, not quite on the money.

Takasaka comes down from jodan for a do, Takahashi stops it before it goes through by coming in.

Takahashi almost gets a men, another men attack from Takasaka, followed by a kote response from Takahashi..

Reaching men from Takasaka, Takahashi tries a nuki men, neither really connects. Better do attempt from Takasaka...

desparate kote from Takahashi.

Another weak do from Takasaka, another trade of blows, men by takasaka, hits the men-gane.

Nice men from Takasaka, feet a little slower than the hands, no flags raised.

Clash together, both looking a little tired. Takasaka tries another do, good, into tsuba zeriai, Takahashi gets men-nuki men for a place in the finals.

Short wait until the finals start, Uchimura vs. Takahashi, both Tokyo policemen.

Here we go...

Final

Takahashi vs. Uchimura

Takahashi first to try a men, little short, lots of kiai..

Uchimura again 5-10 cm or so shorter in tsubazeriai, but that hasn't stopped him before...

Both taking it cautiously, Uchimura tries a men close-in, way too deep.

Uchimura coming in for kote, tsubazeriai, easing back out, in again.

Uchimura comes in for kote, ducks as Takahashi tries men, too close and deep.

Uchimura reaches for men, not quite there, back to tsubazeriai.

Uchimura seme'ing in, takahashi's shinai moving rapidly left to right, no strikes...

Uchimura seeming to attack more, trying for more men than kote, maybe he's saving up...

Another stamp, kiai, back into tsubazeriai, back out again, Uchimura comes in for a men, a round of applause, but no flags, as we hit time, encho hajime...

Takahashi seems to stretch his shoulders a little higher, very close kote by Takahashi...

Uchimura comes in for a men, Takahashi's kensen stuck under his throat stops him from going through.

Uchimura comes in for a yoko men, game over!! Takahashi had his shinai up on an angle, but Uchimura came up and down just in the right place. Well deserved win, his second win, the first 3 years ago, with a 2nd place the year before.

HD video of the matches coming your way in the next couple of hours, stay tuned to our YouTube Channel for updates.

Special thanks to Kendo World staff members Hamish Robison for IT support, photo and video editing; writers/videographers Tyler Rothmar and Blake Bennett for the filming of the matches; writer/photographer Bruce Flanagan for photography including the lead photo for this article.

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All text, images, and video Copyright 2009 Kendo World Publications / Bunkasha International Corporation