The 67th All Japan Kendo Championships
Sunday November 3, 2019
The Culture Day national holiday is just around the corner, which means for kendo enthusiasts it’s the All Japan Kendo Championships. Due to the renewal work that is taking place at the Nippon Budokan in preparation for the 2020 Olympic Games, the 67th edition will be held in Osaka at the Maruzen Intec Arena. As usual the Kendo World team will be at the event, but this time after a long Shinkansen ride from the Kanto area of Japan.
39-year-old three-time former champion Uchimura Ryoichi is in his 13th championships and will be looking to secure his fourth title. If he does so, he will move into clear second place behind Miyazaki Masahiro (six titles). He is currently on three titles, an honour shared with Chiba Masashi, Nishikawa Kiyonori, and defending champion Nishimura Hidehisa. If Nishimura retains his title, he will become the first kenshi to win three consecutive championships and will secure his fourth title.
Students have been making great inroads in the AJKC in recent years, most notably with Takenouchi Yuya, who is now representing Tokyo and is back this year in his third appearance. The only student in this year’s event is 21-year-old Matsuzaki Kenshiro (Ibaraki), and third-year student from the University of Tsukuba. He is not the youngest though. The youngest is 20-year-old Kosumi Tomoki representing Osaka. He joined Osaka police force straight from high school and qualifies for his first AJKC. That is a fantastic achievement considering the strength of competitors in Osaka.
We’ll be making updates throughout the day and will have videos up on our YouTube channel soon after, so please keep checking our Facebook and other social media.
Simple competitor profiles and the tournament ladder can be found below.
Name, Age, Dan, Prefecture, Occupation, Number of Appearances
1. Oishi Hiroshi, 33, R6-dan, Tokushima, Teacher, 4th app.
2. Kaneko Ryosuke, 28, 5-dan, Fukui, Police Officer, 1st app.
3. Maeda Yasuki, 26, 5-dan, Osaka, Police Officer, 3rd app.
4. Sato Hirotaka, 26, 5-dan, Chiba, Police Officer, 5th app.
5. Yamashita Kazuma, 26, 5-dan, Ibaraki, Teacher, 2nd app.
6. Makoto Yoshitomi, 27 5-dan, Shizuoka, Police Officer, 2nd app.
7. Haraguchi Kosei, 32, R6-dan, Saga, Police Officer, 2nd app.
8. Osaka Takashi, 32, 5-dan, Aomori, Prison Officer, 1st app.
9. Mashiko Takayoshi, 29, 5-dan, Saitama, Police Officer, 1st app.
10. Tajiri Wataru, 30, 5-dan, Nagasaki, Police Officer, 1st app.
11. Ando Sho, 29, 5-dan, Hokkaido, Police Officer, 8th app.
12. Sanada Taiki, 29, 5-dan, Tottori, Police Officer, 1st app.
13. Kitamura Ryosuke, 30, 5-dan, Aichi, Police Officer, 1st app.
14. Sasai Kota, 34, 6-dan, Ishikawa, Police Officer, 3rd app.
15. Goya Ryo, 27, 5-dan, Kyoto, Police Officer, 1st app.
16. Osonoi Naoki, 31, 6-dan, Tokyo, Police Officer, 3rd app.
17. Kasahara Kosuke, 36, R6-dan, Mie, Police Officer, 6th app.
18. Kosumi Tomoki, 20, 3-dan, Osaka, Police Officer, 1st app.
19. Otani Shohei, 29, 5-dan, Fukushima, Police Officer, 1st app.
20. Ago Kenji, 32, 5-dan, Shimane, Police Officer, 1st app.
21. Ichikawa Takumi, 26, 5-dan, Tochigi, Police Officer, 2nd app.
22. Nishimura Hidehisa, 30, 6-dan, Kumamoto, Police Officer, 6th app.
23. Hatakenaka Kosuke, 32, R6-dan, Tokyo, Police Officer, 6th app.
24. Nishimura Ryutaro, 29, 5-dan, Fukuoka, Company Worker, 3rd app.
25. Yamamoto Daiki, 28, 5-dan, Chiba, Police Officer, 2nd app.
26. Maeda Shogo, 23, 4-dan, Nara, Police Officer, 2nd app.
27. Kanno Ryusuke, 27, 5-dan, Iwate, Teacher, 4th app.
28. Matsumoto Kazuaki, 33, R6-dan, Kagawa, Police Officer, 2nd app.
29. Shimono Yuki, 29, 5-dan, Gunma, Police Officer, 2nd app.
30. Kunitomo Rentaro, 29, 5-dan, Fukuoka, Police Officer, 5th app.
31. Urakawa Shinichiro, 32, R6-dan, Kanagawa, Police Officer, 1st app.
32. Amishiro Tadakatsu, 39, R7-dan, Hyogo, Police Officer, 7th app.
33. Yamada Ryohei, 22, 4-dan, Hokkaido, Police Officer, 2nd app.
34. Kato Shunsuke, 35, 6-dan, Okayama, Police Officer, 1st app.
35. Kitani Yosuke, 31, 6-dan, Aichi, Police Officer, 2nd app.
36. Murayama Hitoshi, 30, 6-dan, Kanagawa, Police Officer, 1st app.
37. Murakami Yasuhiko, 29, 5-dan, Ehime, Police Officer, 2nd app.
38. Uezu Takahiro, 32, R6-dan, Okinawa, Police Officer, 4th app.
39. Matsuzaki Kenshiro, 21, 4-dan, Ibaraki, student (3rd year uni.), 2nd app.
40. Mikumo Yusuke, 30, 5-dan, Shiga, Company Worker, 4th app.
41. Sakatsume Yuta, 24, 5-dan, Niigata, Teacher, 2nd app.
42. Morihara Ryo, 31, 5-dan, Hiroshima, Police Officer, 1st app.
43. Morokaku Tomoji, 33, R6-dan, Nagano, Police Officer, 2nd app.
44. Shinoda Kohei, 31, 5-dan, Saitama, Police Officer, 1st app.
45. Takenouchi Yuya, 26, 5-dan, Tokyo, Police Officer, 3rd app.
46. Sugano Takayuki, 29, 5-dan, Hyogo, Police Officer, 1st app.
47. Takeda Naohiro, 28, 5-dan, Miyagi, Teacher, 3rd app.
48. Yamaguchi Takenori, 32, 6-dan, Kagoshima, Police Officer, 2nd app.
49. Kusanagi Daishin, 31, 5-dan, Akita, Police Officer, 5th app.
50. Takeshita Yohei, 31, 6-dan, Oita, Police Officer, 6th app.
51. Matsumoto Takemichi, 25, 5-dan, Fukuoka, Police Officer, 1st app.
52. Kasahara Shu, 31, 5-dan, Wakayama, Police Officer, 4th app.
53. Okamitsu Kentaro, 27, 5-dan, Chiba, Police Officer, 1st app.
54. Nakazawa Kimitaka, 29, 5-dan, Koichi, Police Officer, 3rd app.
55. Kitamura Shin, 32, R6-dan, Yamagata, Police Officer, 1st app.
56. Nakamura Shunta, 25, 4-dan, Shizuoka, Police Officer, 1st app.
57. Kubo Kikyo, 25, 5-dan, Miyazaki, Police Officer, 1st app.
58. Kurimoto Takumi, 30, 5-dan, Gifu, Police Officer, 1st app.
59. Tsuchitani Yuki, 27, 5-dan, Osaka, Police Officer, 2nd app.
60. Kurita Kazuki, 22, 4-dan, Yamagata, Prison Officer, 1st app.
61. Shibata Shunsuke, 29, 5-dan, Yamaguchi, Police Officer, 1st app.
62. Uchimura Ryoichi, 39, K7-dan, Tokyo, Police Officer, 13th app.
63. Adachi Ryuji, 28, 5-dan, Saitama, Police Officer, 4th app.
64. Araki Keisuke, 28, 5-dan, Toyama, Police Officer, 2nd app.