Grand Rapids Kendo Kai Member of the Midwest Kendo Federation and the All United States Kendo Federation
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News

Matsuura sensei promotion.
July 20, 2009
As none of us had any doubts - Matsuura sensei passed the test and was promoted to Kendo Rokudan (6th Dan) in July 2009 this past weekend in Memphis.

This Saturday will be his first practice with us as Rokudan. Attendance of all the members is required!

Midwest Summer Camp
July 14, 2009
2009 Midwest summer camp will be held at
Michigan State University. Camp opens Friday August 7, 2009 and finishes after lunch Sunday August 9, 2009.
Camp guest instructors will once more be Yamanaka Shigeki sensei, hanshi 8-dan, and winner of the 3’d All Japan
8-dan Championships, his close friend Saito Shigeki sensei, kyoshi 8-dan.

You can find application here:
http://kendo.msu.edu/joomla/images/stories/2009mwkfcamp/campapp.pdf

July 4th
June 29, 2009
There is no practice this Saturday, July 4th. All other practices are as usual.

2009 Michigan Family Tournament
May 18, 2009
Our Club captured two championships at this year's Michigan Family Tournament:

Jordan Holmgren defeated perennial champion Travis Hill 2-1 in the finals to capture the Shodan-Nidan division championship for the first time.

Vlad Trusevich followed up his silver medal performance from last year to win the Mudansha championship for the first time.

Dave Noonan and Tarra Den Besten also participated and did very well.

Midwest Summercamp
July 18, 2008
The Midwest Kendo Federation Summercamp was a huge success. The camp was once again led by Shigeki Yamanaka Sensei (8 Dan Hanshi) and Shigeki Saito Sensei(8 Dan Kyoshi). 88 MWKF Members attended including Matsuura Sensei and Jordan Holmgren from GRKK. This was a great learning experience that should not be missed next year.

Big Success in Vegas
July 5, 2008
The 2008 Midwest Kendo Team enjoyed huge success at AUSKF National Kendo Championships in Las Vegas!

Senior Youth Team - Silver Medal
Mizusawa, Hill, Yamauchi, Tanabe, Iiyoshi

Men's Individual - Silver Medal
Keiichiro Narumoto

Men's Individual - Fighting Spirit
Kotaro Yoshida

Men's Team - Bronze Medal
Inoue, Yoshida, Tani, Murakami, Sugawara, Takahashi, Narumoto

Manager: Hori
Coach: Matsuura

This was the most medals Midwest ever won and the first time we got silver.

Test
June 2008

Vlad Trusevich advanced to Nikyu. Good job.

Michigan Family Tournament 2008
May 2008

We brought home some medals again!

Jordan Holmgren Third Place (Shodan Nidan)

Vlad Trusevich Second Place (Mudansha)

David Noonan Third Place (Mudansha)

Cleveland Tournament
April 2008

Congratulations to Yutaro Matsuura and Jordan Holmgren for a third place in teams at Cleveland!

Test Results
January 2008

Congradulations to Tarra on her passing 6th Kyu

Congradulation Kam for his recent promotion to 3rd Kyu

National tryouts
November 2007

Chief Instructor Yutaro Matsuura breezes by first round of the National tryouts.

Thanks
November 2007

A Special thanks to Stephan (From Battle Creek Kendo Kai) for all your help and dedication.

Yutaro Matsuura promotion
October 2007

Midwest Kendo Federation makes Yutaro Matsuura the head coach for the Midwest Nationals Team

The Test
October 2007

Jordan, Jim, Dave, and Chris all pass the Chicago Shinsa.

Midwest Tournament
October 2007

Grand Rapids Kendo Kai participates in the 2007 Midwest Tournament!

Yutaro Matsuura, Jordan Holemngren - Third Place Adult Teams

Midwest Summer Camp
August 5th, 2007

Matsuura Sensei, Jordan and Jim attend the Midwest Summer Camp. A good time was had by all. Be sure not to miss out nex.t year

Article about Cleveland tournament
April 19th, 2007

From the Battle Creek Enquirer:

"The Battle Creek Kendo Kai (BCKK) and the Grand Rapids Kendo Kai (GRKK) joined forces to travel to Cleveland, OH to participate in the 19th Annual Greater Northeastern Kendo Federation Championships. A combined 5 man team (3 from BCKK, 2 from GRKK) took the top slot, surprising everybody. This tournament is a major competition with over 150 entrants from clubs all over the eastern US and Canada. Clubs from places such as NYC, Washington DC, Atlanta, Cleveland, Miami, Detroit, Toronto, and many large universities took part. It was a grueling 10 hour long competition held on the campus of Case Western Reserve University on April 14th, 2007. Kendo is a fast-paced fencing style, originating in Japan.

Outstanding results were achieved in the individual divisions.

Thom Jorgensen of the GRKK was runner-up in the Mudansha (the below "black belt") division. Chris Brooks and Jordan Holmgren, also of the GRKK took third place in the Mudansha division. Travis Hill of the BCKK took third place in the Junior division (16-18 years old). Finally, Kotaro Yoshida of the BCKK took second place in the Sandan ("third degree black belt") and over division.

The biggest news of the day came when the team consisting of Travis Hill, Stephen Chaffin and Kotaro Yoshida of the BCKK combined with Yutaro Matsuura and Jordan Holmgren of GRKK won the Adult 5-Person Team Tournament championship.

The Adult 5-person team event is the most exciting and most prestigious of all the divisions because this event reflects the strength of your organization. The 5 members face off against other teams of 5 in a best of 5 series of matches. A lot of strategy is involved in which order the players fight in. Hill led off, followed by Holmgren, Matsuura, and Chaffin. Yoshida was in the anchor position. The combined team defeated teams from University of Michigan, Case Western, Washington DC, Atlanta GA in the semi-finals and the Japanese Canadian Cultural Center of Toronto (JCCC) in the finals. The final was won in a sudden death overtime thriller with Yoshida defeating Tamaru of JCCC. Mr. Yoshida was called upon twice during the day to "break a tie" by fighting again.

This victory is significant due to much larger clubs from much larger cities being defeated by the smaller BCKK/GRKK team. Also, Hill, Chaffin and Holmgren are all homegrown talent who are natives to Southwest Michigan. Many of the other teams featured Japanese nationals and imported talent."

Cleveland Results
April 17th, 2007

Grand Rapids Kendo Kai returns from Cleveland with medals!



Article about Chicago Results
December 14th, 2006

From the Battle Creek Shopper:

"A unified team of members from the Battle Creek Kendo Kai (BCKK) and Grand Rapids Kendo Kai (GRKK) traveled to Chicago on October 28-29, taking part in the 18th Annual Midwest Kendo Federation Championships.

The Grand Rapids club is an expansion club of Battle Creek. The youth members of the two clubs are fast on the rise, as Travis Hill of the BCKK became the Senior Youth Champion in a very competitive tournament. Senior youth Chris Brooks of GRKK finished in the quarter finals.

Travis also was on the third place team in the Senior Youth competition. Also, the Junior Youth team of GRKK (Emma Klar, Matt Hurst, Chris Brooks) finished in third place. In the under-black belt Mudansha division, Jordan Holmgrenof GRKK took second place.

Stephen Chaffin and Fernando Lopez, both of the BCKK, finished in the quarterfinals. In the third degree and up division Kotaro Yoshida (4th degree) of BCKK made it to the finals and lost to the champion of the day, landing him in second place.

Yoshida, who recently moved to Albion from North Carolina, has been a great addition to the club. He is a professor of Economics at Albion College. Yutaro Matsuura (5th degree) who is an instructor at BCKK and chief instructor at GRKK finished in the quarterfinals losing to the same competitor who defeated Yoshida and won the championship.

Finally, is the most prestigious adult team division the BCKK-GRKK united team scored its biggest victory by finishing third in the competition. The team consisted of Yutaro Matsuura, Jordan Holmgren, Stephen Chaffin, Thom Jorgensen (GRKK) and Kotaro Yoshida. The team lost narrowly by one point to the Chicago Kendo Dojo who went on to win the finals. This was a historic day for the team the represents the Southwest Michigan region. Most of the competition is from large Midwest cieis such as Chicago, Detroit, St-Louis, Kansas City, and Indianapolis as well as BIG 10 college teams such as Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, and Wisconsin."

18th annual MWKF tournament
October 28th, 2006

The GRKK has been to the 18th annual MWKF tournament and brought home medals!

6th Kuy exam
September 30th, 2006

Congratulations to Dan, Dan, Gerin, and Christina who all passed their 6th Kuy exam today. We all look forward to seeing you in bogu!

Midwest Kendo Summer Camp
August 4th-6th, 2006

GRKK sent three people to participate at the Midwest Kendo Summer Camp this year. Matsuura Sensei was accompanied by Jim and Jordan to Madison Wisconsin for intensive training with three Hachidans and several other high ranking Senseis.

6th kyu exam
July 29th, 2006

Jeff Parker, Vlad Trusevich, and Thom Jorgensen all pass their 6th kyu exam.

Michigan Family Tournament
May 13th, 2006

Matsuura Sensei and Jordan Holmgren participate in the 3rd Annual Michigan Family Tournament. Matsuura Sensei wins 3rd Dan and above division for the second time in three years.

Detroit Kendo Tournament
February 19th, 2006

Travis Hill wins Mudansha Division. Please congratulate him when you see him. Matsuura Sensei was defeated by Hajime Sugawara Sensei in second round in overtime.

February 14th, 2006
July 11, 2008
Club is officially renamed "Grand Rapids Kendo Kai" with new logo voted. Jim Broadwell has officially been elected dojo representative and club president.

Congratulations to Tagawa Sensei
November 29th, 2005

We have learned that Yoshiteru Tagawa Sensei of the Detroit Kendo Dojo was promoted to the rank of Hachidan. A celebration practice will take place in Detroit on the 10th of December. Please check the Forum in the Announcements section for more information.