The women’s kendo team took second place at the 45th Chugoku-Shikoku Women’s College Kendo Championship (team competition), securing a spot in the All-Japan Championships for the fourth consecutive year! Taemon Iwasaki of the men’s kendo team and Riho Mimura of the women’s kendo team received the Outstanding Player Award.
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On Sunday, September 2, 2018, the 65th Chugoku-Shikoku Intercollegiate Kendo Championship and the 45th Chugoku-Shikoku Women’s Intercollegiate Kendo Championship (organized by the Chugoku-Shikoku Intercollegiate Kendo Federation) were held at the Okayama City General Cultural Gymnasium. This tournament is a team competition featuring universities affiliated with the Chugoku-Shikoku Intercollegiate Kendo Federation and also serves as a qualifier for the All-Japan Intercollegiate Kendo Championship.The matches consisted of 7-person teams for men and 5-person teams for women, with each match lasting 5 minutes and decided by the first team to score 3 points (4 minutes for preliminary league matches). The winner was determined by the number of team victories and total points scored. Only the teams that finished first in their preliminary leagues advanced to the final tournament.
Kochi University advanced to the final tournament after finishing first in both the men’s and women’s preliminary leagues. The Kochi University women’s team advanced through the tournament and faced last year’s champion, Hiroshima University, in the final.Hiroshima University took a 1-0 lead heading into the middle-weight match. Middle-weight Mimura, vice-captain Kanzaki, and captain Kunisawa fought valiantly to pressure Hiroshima University, but all three ended in draws without landing any valid strikes, resulting in a 0-1 score and a runner-up finish for Kochi University. Meanwhile, the men’s team finished in the top eight, though they missed out on qualifying for the All-Japan Tournament.
With this runner-up finish, the Kōchi University women’s team has secured a spot as the Chūgoku-Shikoku representative in the All-Japan Women’s College Kendo Championship (November 11, Kasugai City, Aichi Prefecture) for the fourth consecutive year, and they are expected to reach the national top 8.
[Team Members: Hanaka Kunisawa (4th year, Faculty of Education), Soka Yoshida (3rd year, Faculty of Education), Haruhi Kanzaki (3rd year, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences), Riho Mimura (2nd year, Faculty of Education), Mao Kondo (2nd year, Faculty of Education), Rie Fujii (1st year, Faculty of Education), Aoi Takenaka (1st year, Faculty of Regional Collaboration)]
Additionally, Iwasaki Tamon (4th year, Faculty of Agriculture; 4th dan), a member of the men’s kendo club, and Mimura Riho (2nd year, Faculty of Education; 3rd dan), a member of the women’s kendo club, were selected as outstanding athletes in this tournament. This marks the first time in the club’s history that both men’s and women’s members have received this award simultaneously.
