Congratulations to Sunrise Kendo Club in Vancouver! Besting Bellevue and Highline this year in the Team Competition, kudos to our friends to the north.
In a new format this year, the 0-4 Kyu, 1-3 Kyu, and 1-3 Dan Divisions all started first off on the day, each on their own court. The idea was good in that there were more courts running this year, but it didn't lead to a dramtically shorter tournament, however, as the 1-3 Dan group lasted for four hours plus. Overall, however, the tournament seemed to run very well. Good job by the UW Kendo Club.
Even though the Bellevue team was unable to defend last year's victory, we still finished with one of the third place spots. After besting the teams from Tacoma and Steveston, we lost a close match to the Sunrise side.
As I only finished in the top eight again this year, the only trophy of the day was a very dramatically destroyed shinai that was smashed in my team match against Bill Jung of Steveston. It was definitely a keeper, with a twist and rosette-like break that started at the mid-point of the shinai and stopped at the nakayui, illustrating nicely the safety aspects of the shinai's design, and providing a good reason why one should keep this part of the shinai wrapped with sufficent tightness.
I replaced it with a twin from the nice people at Aoi Budogu, from whom I purchased it back at the Vancouver tournament in January. They came down to sell equipment at the taikai, and gratiously donated shinais to the individual winners in each division.