Midwest Kendo Federation Fall '04 Tournament

The weekend long tournament is over and it was a blast! I had incredible fun and experienced some of the best Kendo. We all played well and the UW Kendo Club had a great showing. At this event, there were the first time participants, fighters redeeming themselves from past performances, kenshi improving their art, and then there were the master swordsmen. I saw novice women kenshi fighting against veterans, the short beating someone twice his size, and a UW team that came back from 2 points down, tying, and then winning in a sudden death point. In the individual mudansha division, I was paired with Max Long of the Moline Kendo Club. I won the match swiftly with 2 points to the men. For my second match, I went up against Brian Lopez, University of Chicago Kendo Club. After a lot of pushing in tsuba-zeriai, he hit me 2 points to the men. In team play, my team finally settled down to Fei, Joon, Dominique, Joseph Swayne from Valley View Kendo Club, and Jeff Solliday-McRoy from East West Connection. We matched up with the Battlecreek Kendo Club who in their ranks had Matsura Sensei, a 5th dan. We lost the team event with Dominique the only one of us to score a point. In all, we won with humility and lost with grace.

Awards:
3rd place in the Individual Mudansha Division: Tei Fujiwara
The Fighter's Spirit Award: Travis Stronach

Lastly, I want to give thanks to:

Mark Kenoyer, for leading our club to tournament.
Travis Stronach, for organizing everything.
Eric Terao, for driving and for being a good drinking buddy.
Tei Fujiwara, for teaching me in kendo play.

Finally, thanks to Kiyota Sensei for inspiring the warrior spirit in all of us who live by the sword.