2017 Goyokai Tournament

Today, BUKA participated in its first tournament of the year at the 18th Goyokai Kendo Tournament in Canton, MA. As Goyokai is a dojo hosted competition, we were able to compete with Kendoka from a wide range of age groups and experiences. We entered the tournament with 3 full teams and we brought along two beginner spectators. Every BUKA member fought their hardest today and the results showed the hard work and practice they put in!

The Individuals line up and results are as follows:

Men’s Kyu

  • Alan Tan
  • Geoffrey Gaskins
  • Jay Seabrum
  • Mike Ruan
  • Nawaf Alyousif
  • Nelson Hernandez

Women’s Kyu

  • Cici Qi
  • Evangeline Tsai
  • Jenny Zhu
  • Maggie Sumioka
  • Sabrina Tran

Women’s 1-2 Dan

  • Helen Zhou

Men’s 1-2 Dan

  • Hiroki Kawai
  • Ian Dickinson
  • Yumeto Shigihara
  • Ray Feng

Men’s 3-Dan

  • Alex Eitoku
  • Katsu Kawakami

Results

Cici Qi won bronze in the Women’s Kyu division. Nawaf Alyousif and Hiroki Kawai won gold in the divisions, Men’s Kyu division and Men’s 1-2 Dan respectively. Our Coach Alex Eitoku won silver in the Men’s 3-Dan division. BU alumni Nelson Hernandez and Ray Feng won bronze and silver medals in their divisions respectively.

Highlights

  • Evangeline Tsai advanced to the Women’s Kyu Quarterfinals before being eliminated. Ian Dickinson also advanced to the Men’s 1-2 Dan Quarterfinals before being eliminated. Yumeto Shigihara went against BU alumn and former president, Ray Feng, in his first match of the Men’s 1-2 Dan division. The fight for gold in the Men’s 1-2 Dan division came down to Hiroki Kawai and Ray Feng in the finals.

Teams

A

  1. Senpo: Yumeto Shigihara
  2. Jiho: Nawaf Alyousif
  3. Chuken: Ian Dickinson
  4. Fukusho: Helen Zhou
  5. Taisho: Hiroki Kawai

 

B

  1. Senpo: Sabrina Tran
  2. Jiho: Mike Ruan
  3. Chuken: Cici Qi
  4. Fukusho: Geoff Gaskins
  5. Taisho: Jay Seabrum

C

  1. Senpo: Jenny Zhu
  2. Jiho: Evangeline Tsai
  3. Chuken: Maggie Sumioka
  4. Fukusho: Alan Tan
  5. Taisho: Nelson Hernandez

Results

Unfortunately none of the BU teams placed during this tournament, although BU A team won their first match against NYC C team.

As the first tournament of the year, Goyokai marks only the beginning to a great year. This tournament showed us what we have improved upon since the last tournament and what we still need to work on improving. As a non-collegiate (dojo) tournament, we were able to see that when it comes to Kendo, age is just a number; practice, determination and gaining experience in Kendo are what are more important. Despite the fact that we will not be attending another tournament very soon, we will definitely come back stronger as a team and ready to  take on our next challenge! Great job to all of the participants today! Thank you for your support! BU Faito!

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