The 3 Dan (black belt) division held the rest of the Spokane members and also some stiff competition. Aaron Melton came out of his first match looking good, taking it 2-0, but had some issues with his opponent, and the court boundaries, in his second match. Still, he looked good throughout and showed some strong kendo on the floor that day and did his teammates and his dojo proud.

Tomoki Koshiyama and Chris Ruiz both had great first matches, as well, taking their opponents out 2-0 in seconds to move on. Tomoki ran into a tough member from Kent, WA dojo in his second match, but was able to pull out a win 2-1 against him, but was unable to keep that going in his third match, losing a very close men-uchi (head strike) to his opponent when they both went for it simultaneously.

On the other court, Chris Ruiz was able to win his second match 1-0, going up against a nito-ryu player (someone that fights with two swords), but was also taken out in the third match against a young, fast opponent from Cascade dojo (Mercer Island, WA) on a judges’ decision. Again, both fought very well and came out of their matches in high spirits.

The team matches were up next, and Spokane’s first opponent would be University of British Columbia (UBC). Chris started the team off on a good note, taking his match 2-0 and leading the way for the rest of the team to capitalize on the early lead, and capitalize they did, with Eisuke and Tomoki cementing the round with wins against their respective opponents. Marek and Aaron fought really well and were able to finish us out on a strong
note for the next team match.

Seattle dojo was the next opponent, with a team of seasoned kendo veterans. Chris once again was able to start the team off with an early lead, winning 2-0. Seattle quickly took that back to tie things up, though, winning their second match 2-0. Tomoki, Marek and Aaron all fought well and held their own against their higher ranked opponents, but Seattle was able to score another win and one more point to put them in the lead and move them into the next round.

Overall, Spokane did extremely well. Even though no one placed in the medal rounds, there were a few that were close, and everyone showed great basics, movement and attitudes all throughout the day and were able to come out of the tournament with their heads held high. They did well, learned a lot and are eager to see what next year’s PNKF Taikai has in store.

Below are the results of the divisions in which Spokane participated:

High School Boys
1st Place – T. Okitsu, Tozenji
2nd Place – L. Oka, Tozenji
3rd Place – T. Marsten, Kent
3rd Place – B. Liao, Bellevue

1-2 Dan
1st Place – T. Saito, Vancouver
2nd Place – D. Yao, Steveston
3rd Place – H. Shim, Renbu
3rd Place – V. Ruiz, Mexico

3 Dan
1st Place – Y. Yoshikawa, Northwest
2nd Place – E. Porras, Mexico
3rd Place – J. Okada, Cascade
3rd Place – K. Takeuchi, Youshinkan

Senior Team
1st Place – Vancouver
2nd Place – Steveston
3rd Place – Mexico
3rd Place – Youshinkan