Come find us at SPLASH on Saturday, September 8th! We will be situated somewhere in the club sports area and several of us will be walking around Nickerson so don’t be shy and say hi! We are looking forward meeting new members!
Author: Boston University Kendo Association
Practice Times Fall 2018
We hope that everybody is ready for the Fall semester!
Our Fall practices will take place on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays:
1. Wednesday: 8pm to 10 pm, multiuse room 3/4 in the basement behind the climbing wall
2. Saturday: 9am to 12 pm, basketball court 3 on the second floor
3. Sunday: 9am to 12 pm, basketball court 4 on the second floor
Hope to see you all there!
2019 BU kai
This Saturday, April 27th, 2019, BUKA participated in its last tournament of the year in its very own 8th Annual BU kai (Boston University Kendo Tournament) at the Fitness and Recreation Center. We competed against fellow collegiate kendoka from the following universities: Harvard University, New York University, and Shufukai. We had five full teams and one mixed team with Shufukai. Overall, our BUKA members put all of their efforts forward to end off our year on a high note!
Round Robin Teams
Sanger
- Senpo: Mike Ruan
- Jiho: Silvia Zhang
- Chuken: Ryan Shimizu
- Fukusho: Anja Grabner
- Taisho: Cici Qi
Illumina
- Senpo: Ian Dickinson
- Jiho: Juliana Borrazzo
- Chuken: Christopher Lee
- Fukusho: Kotone Kotaoka
- Taisho: Hiroki Kawai
Primers
- Senpo: Lily Gao
- Jiho: Arnold Hernandez
- Chuken: Jialin Zhu
- Fukusho: Jake Lee
- Taisho: Hallie Lazaro
Tocsy
- Senpo: Prodpran Sukcharoen
- Jiho: Joseph Gaddini
- Chuken: Dan Gruspier
- Fukusho: Joyce Wang
- Taisho: Matteo Ferroni
Superdex200
- Senpo: Abi Anand
- Jiho: Azlan Nik
- Chuken: Nicole Kwon
- Fukusho: Alan Tan
- Taisho: Take Numata
Mixed
- Jourdan Harold
- Lingxuan Liang
- Wayne Lin
Here are the results from BUKA:
Results
Illumina fought all the way to the final match and won the second place for Team tournament.
Individuals:
Mike Ruan
Silvia Zhang
Ryan Shimizu
Anja Grabner
Cici Qi
Ian Dickinson
Juliana Borrazzo
Christopher Lee
Kotone Kotaoka
Hiroki Kawai
Lily Gao
Arnold Hernandez
Jialin Zhu
Jake Lee
Hallie Lazaro
Prodpran Sukcharoen
Joseph Gaddini
Dan Gruspier
Joyce Wang
Matteo Ferroni
Abi Anand
Azlan Nik
Nicole Kwon
Alan Tan
Take Numata
Jourdan Harold
Lingxuan Liang
Wayne Lin
Results
Ian Dickinson won the third place for the individual match!
Great job to everyone who competed at the 8th Annual BU kai! Although we had limited time and number of the court (one), we shortened the time for each match, overall everything ran smoothly. We held in order: the Round Robin Team Matches and individual matches. The Round Robin matches consisted of two and a half minute, with ippon shobu for preliminary rounds, and then 3 minute matches from the quarterfinals on. Each individual match consists of one and a half minute with ippon shobu. This year we invited Koichiro Sueyoshi-sensei as Shinpan-cho, Toshimi Yoshida-sensei as Fukushinpan-cho, and Tomohiko Hayashi-sensei as tournament chair. We would like to thank these senseis along with all of our volunteering shinpan for taking time out of their schedules to help make our tournament possible. The tournament would not have run as smoothly as it did without all of your help! Not only did we run on-time by our schedule, we also had time for an hour of godo keiko following the closing ceremony.
Here are the overall results from the tournament:
Round Robin Teams
- New York University A
- Boston University Illumina
- Harvard University A and New York University B
Individuals
- Vincent Choi (New York University)
- Jack Guo (New York University)
- Ian Dickinson (Boston University) and Kelton Nguyen(Shufukai)
Top 8 Teams Results
New York University A
Boston University Illumina
Harvard University A
New York University B
Boston University Sanger
Mixed team: Shufukai x Boston University A
Boston University TOCSY
Shufukai x Boston University B
Congratulations to all!
As our last tournament of the year, BU kai definitely displayed how much, not only as individuals, but as a whole team how we have progressed, improved our skills and come together as more than just a club, but as a family. The full effort put into our hard training and practices throughout the year have paid off, as the results of this tournament showed; we were able to see just how far we have come and bettered our kendo. It was great to see all of our friends and fellow kendoka from other schools and our alumni who not only came to help out and support us, but also got the chance to put their bogu back on. Thank you to the alumni who reached out and asked some of our BUKA members to be a part of their team! It was nice to see our current and past BUKA members coming together and having fun. We would also like to especially thank our lovely volunteers who not only came to help out in 3 to 4 hour shifts, but also took time out of their schedules to get trained earlier in the week! This tournament would not have been able to run as smoothly as it did without your help! A huge thank you also goes to Sueyoshi sensei, Yoshida sensei and Hayashi sensei for helping to oversee our tournament and all of the shinpan who volunteered to help run our tournament! The biggest thank you goes to our coach, Alex Eitoku, for all of his support and everything he has done for our club and its members throughout this year!
Last, but not least, thank you to our captain Hiroki and our 2017-2018 E-board (President Ryan, VP Cici, Secretary Maggie and Treasurer Jenny) for organizing this tournament and leading a successful year for BUKA! There are big shoes to fill for next year and we hope to continue the same trend and legacy! Also to our seniors graduating this year, congratulations and thank you for being a part of BUKA; remember that no matter where you go in life following college you can always keep in contact with us and visit any time!
Thank you again for everything! And as always thank you for all your support this school year! As the new school year is on the horizon, please continue to support BUKA!
Gasshuku with Eitoku Sensei
This weekend on March 25th BUKA hosted a Gasshuku with Jimmy Eitoku sensei, father of very own our coach, Alex Eitoku, who came all the way out from California to teach us. We also invited our alumni and Shufukai members on Saturday to join us at practice. Together we made up a large group of about 30 people. We practiced a variety of drills from the basics of kendo, such as suburi and tenouchi, to different waza techniques and keiko. Overall the gasshuku was a success and an amazing learning experience for all of our members, as we were privileged with constructive input on our kendo from Eitoku sensei. We would like to give a great big thank you to Eitoku sensei for taking his time to teach us and pass down valuable advice and instruction we will always remember when practicing kendo. Thank you to our coach Alex for connecting us with Eitoku sensei and initiating this event to make it happen. Also we would like to thank the Shufukai members, Tim Rasmusson sensei and Toshimi Yoshida sensei for joining and supporting us! BUKA hopes to host another event like this in the future.
2018 Shoryuhai Tournament
This weekend, March 17th and 18th, BUKA competed at the 22nd annual Shoryuhai Tournament hosted by Harvard University, making this BUKA's third tournament of the year. We competed with fellow collegiate kendoka from the following schools: Brown University, Columbia University, Harvard University, New York University, Northeastern University, Ohio State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic University, School of Visual Arts, and Stony Brook University. This year we were able to bring four teams to participate, with 21 participants total.
For many of our participants, this was their first kendo tournament ever. All of our members put in all of their spirit and energy to do their best in this competitive tournament and the results were great!
Here are the results:
Individuals
- Alan Tan
- Anja Feng
- Arnold Hernandez
- Cici Qi
- Hiroki Kawai
- Jake Lee
- Jialin Zhu
- Jinghan Peng
- Jungsu Lee
- Kris Najdoski
- Maggie Sumioka
- Mike Ruan
- Reina Iwase
- Ryan Shimizu
- Sabrina Tran
- Saleem Hallal
- Shazor Shahid
- Silvia Zhang
- Take Numata
- WenXin Gao
- Yumeto Shigihara
Results
Yumeto Shigihara placed 3rd in the Individuals Division.
Highlights
Hiroki Kawai advanced to the quarterfinals before being eliminated.
Teams
A
1. Senpo: Yumeto Shigihara
2. Jiho: Ryan Shimizu
3. Chuken: Reina Iwase
4. Fukusho: Mike Ruan
5. Taisho: Hiroki Kawai
B
1. Senpo: Jialin Zhu
2. Jiho: Cici Qi
3. Chuken: Jake Lee
4. Fukusho: Alan Tan
5. Taisho: Maggie Sumioka
C
1. Senpo: Take Numata
2. Jiho: WenXin Gao
3. Chuken: Kris Najdoski
4. Fukusho: Saleem Hallal
5. Taisho: Shazor Shahid
D
1. Senpo: Silvia Zhang
2. Jiho: Jinghan Peng
3. Chuken: Arnold Hernandez
4. Fukusho: None
5. Taisho: Anja Feng
Results
BU A won placed 3rd in the teams division! They won in their court's round robin matches and then beat NYU C in the teams quarterfinals. BU A then advanced to the semifinals where they faced off with NYU A, fighting a close match where they were unfortunately eliminated. NYU A moved on to place 2nd behind SBU A in the team division finals.
Normally one of the largest intercollegiate kendo tournaments in the East Coast, this year's Shoryuhai may have been a smaller tournament in terms of the number of participants, but yet again it was a truly enriching experience from which we were able to learn a lot from. On the first day of the tournament following the individual matches, we were provided the valuable opportunity to attend a seminar by the tournament's shinpancho, Hironori Tahara Sensei (8 Dan hanshi), where we focused on the vital basics of kendo, sensei and students together. We also participated in goodwill keiko following the tournament matches.
Overall, Shoryuhai 2018 finished smoothly; we not only got the chance to see what we have improved on, where else we need to improve, what are our strengths and weaknesses, but we also received the opportunity to bond with each other as a team and with our fellow collegiate kendoka. It was a great achievement for our BU A team to once again, for the 2nd year in a row following three years without placing, to bring home bronze for BUKA. Congratulations and good job to BU A! Although BU B, C and D teams may not have advanced after the preliminary rounds, all three teams definitely gained invaluable and constructive experience from their multiple round robin team matches. Now, the time following any tournament, is very important as we go back to practice with a clearer picture in mind of what we want to improve and fix as we reflect on our tournament experience.
We thank our alumni who came to not only support us but also help film our matches: Ray, Katsu and Helen! We truly appreciate all of the support! The biggest thank you goes to our coach, Alex, for preparing us for and coaching us through the tournament this weekend. Thank you so much for all you do! With a month left to prep for our final tournament of the year, our own BU tournament held at FitRec, we plan to come back as stronger competitors and as an even stronger team! Thank you for all the support and we hope to see you all there!
BU Faito!
2018 Shishihai Tournament
BUKA participated in its first tournament of the spring semester at Columbia University's 3rd annual Shishihai on Saturday, February 3. We had the opportunity to compete with students from fellow universities such as Cornell University, Columbia University, New York University, Stony Brook University, Pennsylvania State University and University of Connecticut. We brought along eight competitors to make up one full and one mixed team. Everyone did their best at this tournament and the final results showed a slight improvement from last year!
Here are the results:
Beginners
- Jake Lee
- Maggie Sumioka
- Jialin Zhu
Mudansha
- Mike Ruan
- Ryan Shimizu
- Alan Tan
- Sabrina Tran
Yudansha
- Hiroki Kawai
Results
Ryan Shimizu placed second and Alan Tan placed third overall in the Mudansha division.
Highlights
Hiroki Kawai and Maggie Sumioka made it to the second round of their divisions , Yudansha and Beginners respectively, before getting eliminated.
Teams
A
- Senpo: Mike Ruan
- Jiho: Jialin Zhu
- Chuken: Ryan Shimizu
- Fukusho: Sabrina Tran
- Taisho: Hiroki Kawai
Mixed
- Senpo: Jake Lee
- Jiho: Maggie Sumioka
- Chuken: Alan Tan
- Fukusho: Rahul Prasad (SBU)
- Taisho: John Seo (SVA)
Results
Unfortunately neither of the teams placed at this tournament, however BU A made it to the quarterfinals before being eliminated.
As the first tournament of the semester, Columbia's Shishihai definitely demonstrated to us where we stand now, in terms of our skills, and what we need to work on and improve before our next tournament, Shoryuhai, in March. We had the great opportunity to see a wide range of Kendo skills and experience levels from people within our age group, all of which motivates us to practice harder and with more focus on areas that need improvement. With this in mind we are inspired to come back as even stronger and tougher competitors. Overall BUKA had a great and memorable tournament experience!
We thank Columbia University for inviting us to be a part of their growing tournament and we'd also like to say thank you to our BU alumni, Shawn, Lucien and Eugenia, for coming out to support us! Also, thank you to our drivers, Maggie and Ryan, for making the long drive to and from New York! Furthermore, we would like to give the biggest thank you to our Coach Alex for coming on this trip with us and giving us great support and direction throughout the tournament! Great job to all of the participants and thank you everyone for your support! Faito, BU!
2017 BU Tournament
BUKA participated its fourth and last tournament of the spring semester in its very own 6th Boston University Tournament in FitRec on April 1st. We competed with other universities and athletes in our age group along with having some opportunities to compete against some alumnis. Schools that came to compete included Brown University, Harvard University, New York University, Northeastern University, and University of Connecticut. We had full four teams to participate. All BUKA members tried their best in this tournament. The final results were amazing!
Here are the results from BUKA.
Individuals
Beginners
- Mike Ruan
- Jake Lee
- Sung Song
- Caoyue Wang
- Jialin Zhu
- Evangeline Tsai
- Ryan Shimizu
- Cici Qi
- Don Kim
- Nawaf Alyousif
- Chuqing Tan
- Chao Liu
Advanced
- Geoffrey Gaskins
- Yumeto Shigihara
- Helen Zhou
- Reina Iwase
- Hiroki Kawai
- Billy Pratama
- Jay Seabrum
- Guanyi Ji
Results
Ryan Shimizu and Hiroki Kawai won bronze and silver in their respective divisions, beginners and advanced!
Highlights
- Don Kim and Yumeto Shigihara advanced to the semi-finals in their respective divisions before they was eliminated in beginners and advanced.
Teams
A
- Senpo: Ryan Shimizu
- Jiho: Chuqing Tan
- Chuken: Cici Qi
- Fukusho: Yumeto Shigihara
- Taisho: Hiroki Kawai
B
- Senpo: Nawaf Alyousif
- Jiho: Caoyue Wang
- Chuken: Chao Liu
- Fukusho: Jay Seabrum
- Taisho: Billy Pratama
C
- Senpo: Jake Lee
- Jiho: Evangeline Tsai
- Chuken: Don Kim
- Fukusho: Helen Zhou
- Taisho: Reina Iwase
D
- Senpo: Song Sung
- Jiho: Jialin Zhu
- Chuken: Mike Ruan
- Fukusho: Guanyi Ji
- Taisho: Geoffrey Gaskins
Results
BU A placed second and BU C placed third in teams!
Highlights
BU D made it to the quarterfinals before getting eliminated.
Good job to everyone who competed at the 6th Annual BU Tournament! This year, we changed the format of the tournament compared to the past few years. We also increased the number of courts from two to three. We had four different divisions: Individual Beginners (those with 2 years of experience or less), Individual Advanced (those with more than 2 years of experience), Alumni Team Match, and Kachinuki Round Robin with Team Match. The Individual Beginners and Individual Advanced had round robin for the winners of each court. Alumni Team consisted of a three-people team match composed of an alumni and two students with single elimination matches. Kachinuki Round Robin with Team Match involved a two minute ipponshobu King of the Hill round robin for preliminaries and team match for quarterfinals. We invited Yoshida-sensei as Shinpan-cho and Hayashi-sensei as Fukushinpan-cho. We would like to thank both senseis along with all the shinpans who volunteered their time for this tournament. The tournament would not have ran smoothly without you all! Unfortunately, we ran out of time for godo keiko because we went overtime. Sorry for those who brought their bogu just for godo keiko. Next year, we will make it so that we can do godo keiko.
Here are the overall results from the tournament!
Individual Beginners
- Lary Yau (New York University)
- Shogo Senda (New York University)
- Ryan Shimizu (Boston University)
Individual Advanced
- Sung Hun Choi (New York University)
- Hiroki Kawai (Boston University)
- Chris Yoon (New York University)
Alumni Teams
- Team Brian: Shun Aizawa, Iggy Choi, and Brian Joo
Teams
- New York University A
- Boston University A
- Boston University C and New York University B
Congratulations to everyone!
The BU Tournament definitely showed how much we have achieved since earlier this semester. With great results and improvements from all the team members, we know that our efforts in training and practicing paid off. It was fun to see all of our friends from other schools and our alumni friends who came to help and support us! Shoutout to the alumnis who reached out to some of us to be in their teams for the Alumni Team Match. We really enjoyed to be on your teams! Thank you to everyone who helped make this tournament possible! Huge thank you to all the volunteers who spent their Saturday with us from as early as 8 A.M. to late 6 P.M. We couldn’t have done it without your efforts. Thank you to the alumnis who showed up and participated in our alumni tournament! It was fun to bond and compete along with you all. Thank you to the competitors for participating and to the shinpans for giving your time to make this tournament run smoothly! A big thank you to our coach, Alex Eitoku, for all the support and everything that you do for us! We really appreciate you!
Last, but not least, thank you to our captain and co-presidents, Reina and Helen, for organizing this tournament and for leading BUKA in the 2016-2017 school year! You two have left very big shoes to fill for next year. We hope to do our best to continue your legacy for the years to come. To all the seniors who will be graduating, thank you for being part of BUKA. We hope that you have enjoyed your past few years in BUKA and that you would continue to reach out and visit us no matter where you go. We know that even if we may or may not see you in the future, you have influenced part of our lives already. Thank you again for everything! We will miss you.
As always, thank you all for your support this past school year! As next year comes, please continue supporting us! Faito, BUKA!
2017 UConn Joint Practice
BUKA brought five members to its second joint practice of the school year, hosted by the University of Connecticut’s kendo team. They had a guest sensei, Kataoka-sensei, who led the practice. Kataoka-sensei went over many basic drills that strengthen our foundation in both non-bogu and bogu. Also, we had the opportunity to keiko at the end with all the UConn members, Park-sensei, and Kataoka-sensei. Huge thank you to the UConn kendo team and Park-sensei for inviting us to this amazing joint practice. We felt really welcomed and enjoyed bonding with you all! Also big thank you to Kataoka-sensei for leading and teaching us. We learned a lot and we appreciate what you have taught us! We hope to use what we learned to bring back to campus and spread to our members. We also hope that we will continue our friendship and relationship with UConn. We look forward to bonding with you again! Thank you!
2017 Shoryuhai Tournament
BUKA participated its third tournament of the spring semester in the 21st Shoryuhai Tournament in Harvard on March 18th and 19th. We competed with other universities and athletes in our age group. Schools that competed included Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Harvard University, New York University, Northeastern university, Ohio State University, Penn State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Stony Brook University, SUNY Purchase College, Tufts University, University of Connecticut, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Yale University. We brought full three teams to participate.
All BUKA members tried their best in this competitive tournament. The final results were awesome!
Here are the results.
Individuals
· Mike Ruan
· Geoffrey Gaskins
· Jake Lee
· Sung Song
· Caoyue Wang
· Jialin Zhu
· Evangeline Tsai
· Ryan Shimizu
· Yumeto Shigihara
· Helen Zhou
· Reina Iwase
· Hiroki Kawai
· Cici Qi
· Don Kim
· Billy Pratama
· Nawaf Alyousif
Results
Unfortunately, no BUKA member placed in individuals.
Highlights
· Hiroki Kawai advanced to the quarterfinals before he was eliminated by one of our good friends, Chihiro Shiromoto, who placed third in individuals.
Teams
A
1. Senpo: Yumeto Shigihara
2. Jiho: Ryan Shimizu
3. Chuken: Reina Iwase
4. Fukusho: Helen Zhou
5. Taisho: Hiroki Kawai
B
1. Senpo: Jake Lee
2. Jiho: Cici Qi
3. Chuken: Don Kim
4. Fukusho: Evangeline Tsai
5. Taisho: Geoffrey Gaskins
C
1. Senpo: Caoyue Wang
2. Jiho: Jialin Zhu
3. Chuken: Mike Ruan
4. Fukusho: Sung Song
5. Taisho: Nawaf Alyousif
Results
BU A placed third! They won all of their matches in the preliminary round and defeated NYU C. In the semi-finals, they fought a super close match with NYU A before getting defeated. NYU A later placed second in teams.
Being the largest, if not one of the largest, intercollegiate kendo tournaments in the East Coast, Shoryuhai definitely showed us many new things: where we improved, where we needed to improve, and more. After the tournament on both days, we had time to do goodwill keiko and free sparring. Overall, the tournament went by smoothly and we got to bond with each other and other people. It was truly a huge achievement for us as our BU A placed third in teams. The last time we placed in teams was in 2014, three years ago. Good job, BU A! Although both BU B and BU C teams did not advance after the preliminary rounds, both teams learned a lot through the round robins as they versed multiple other fellow kendo players from different schools. As we go back to practice, we hope to learn from our mistakes and reflect on what we did well or not so well. Shoutout to the alumnis who came to support us: Ray, Nelson, Priank, and Katsu! Thank you to Ryan, Jay, and Helen for driving us to Harvard with the vans! Also, huge thanks to Jay and Maggie for helping us throughout the tournaments. We really appreciate you all! Thank you to those who came out to support us. You all are awesome! Last, but not least, thank you to our coach, Alex, for everything from coaching and giving us tips and advice to dealing with our weirdness. You truly are the best coach for us and we thank you so much! Next tournament will be our own BU Tournament that will be held on April 1st at the 4 Court Gym in FitRec on the second floor. Hope to see you all there!
As always, thank you all for your support! Faito, BUKA!
2017 Yuhihai Tournament
BUKA sent five members to participate BUKA’s second tournament of the spring semester, the 10th Yuhihai Tournament, at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) on February 26th. It was our first trip on an airplane! We competed with other universities and athletes in our age group. Schools that competed included University of California Los Angeles, University of California Riverside, University of California Irvine, University of California San Diego, University of California Davis, University of California Santa Cruz, University of California Santa Barbara, Associated Students of University of California (Berkeley) Stanford University, Soka University of America, and University of Southern California. We brought one team to participate. All five BUKA members tried their best in this competitive tournament. Although the results were not as well as they wanted them to be, Yuhihai was a good experience for all of them.
Here are the results.
Kyu
- Helen Zhou
- Guanyi Ji
Women’s
- Reina Iwase
Dan
- Hiroki Kawai
- Hajime Oono
Results
Unfortunately, no members placed.
Highlights
- Hajime Oono advanced to the quarterfinals before he was eliminated.
Team
A
- Senpo: Reina Iwase
- Jiho: Helen Zhou
- Chuken: Hiroki Kawai
- Fukusho: Guanyi Ji
- Taisho: Hajime Oono
Results
Unfortunately, BU team did not placed during this tournament; however, BU made it out of the preliminary rounds before they were eliminated one round before quarterfinals.
Five BUKA members flew across the country to attend the 10th Yuhihai Tournament at UCLA. BU was the only team from the East Coast. The members all had a great time meeting and competing with our West Coast friends. It was a long day as the members did not do as well as they wanted to, but they got to attend a mini-seminar by one of the guest senseis, Hojo-sensei, and had godogeiko with kenshi from other clubs. Overall, it was a great experience for everyone. All the members went and came back home safe. Huge thank you to the UCLA team for hosting and supporting us! Also, thank you to our alumni, Julie and Andrew, for helping us out during the day. Shoutout to Kimi for taking us sight-seeing and Priank for coming to see us on Saturday. Of course, big thank you to all the BUKA alumnis and members who have supported our trip to California! This trip wouldn’t have been possible without your support! Thank you to Helen for driving and organizing our very first long distance trip. We hope to have more in the future! Good job again to the five members who competed: Reina Iwase, Helen Zhou, Guanyi Ji, Hiroki Kawai, and Hajime Oono. We’re really proud of you all for going over to California to represent BU. Thank you all!
Two tournaments done this semester and more to come. The next one will be the Shoryuhai Tournament at Harvard University on March 19th and March 20th. Let’s do this!
As always, thank you for your support and faito, BUKA!