On Saturday 23 April Oxford hosted the 2016 Varsity Kendo match against Cambridge at Spires Academy on Glanville Road. We had an excellent turnout, with over 20 competitors from the two universities, as well as esteemed referees Paul Budden (7th dan) and Kazuyo Matsuda (6th dan) from Kodokan Kendo, and Oxford’s own Yasuyuki Hiyama (7th dan), Chris Bowden (4th dan) and Louie Chen (4th dan).
The day began with a non-bogu individuals competition, where competitors were assessed both on the quality of their kirikaeshi, a scripted sequence of 21 cuts against a receiving partner meant to demonstrate basic understanding of distance, coordination, and spirit in kendo, and their kihon cutting, or strikes against the four principal targets: the top of the head, the right arm, the sides of the torso, and the throat. We are pleased to announce that Oxford beginners Theo Keeping (Mathematics, Christ Church) and Shuping Dang (Engineering, Harris Manchester) took home first and second place, respectively, based on the qualitative evaluation of the referees. We then proceeded to a single-elimination open individuals competition, where winners advance by scoring ippon, or vital strikes to one of the four targets awarded by majority referee decision against their opponent. Oxford members Graham Williams and Ryuji Yanase took home joint third place and our captain Rick Collins placed second after a tightly contested final against Cambridge postdoctoral fellow Dai Matsuse.
After the friendly individuals matches, we proceeded to the main event: the varsity team match. Like all major international kendo competitions, this consisted of a sequence of 5 one-on-one matches, where the team with the better individual win-loss record at the end is declared the winner. The first competitor for Oxford, Ellen Hang (Physics, Mansfield), scored men (top of the head) early against Cambridge captain Shin Kitaoka, who unfortunately came back to win the match by scoring men and kote (right arm) in the final minutes of the match. In the second match, Oxford’s Women’s captain Junko Takata (St. Peters) won by two men against Cambridge’s Andre Malinin, who attempted to leverage his greater stature to no avail. The scores remained tied in the third match when Oxford president Aidan Daly (Balliol) traded a kote for a men against Cambridge’s Georgi Genov before time expired. Oxford took the lead in the fourth match when Ryuji Yanase (Teddy Hall) scored a thunderous hiki-men (a backwards-moving strike to the top of the head initiated from close distance) against Cambridge’s Matthew Yip before time expired. Finally, Oxford Men’s captain Rick Collins (Magdalen) sealed the victory by scoring two men on Cambridge’s Katarzyna Sokol in a matter of seconds. Oxford therefore soundly defeated Cambridge 3 matches to 1, with each Oxford student scoring at least one ippon and demonstrating the prowess that propelled them to 1st place in the national University championships several weeks prior.
Overall, the event was a rousing success, with good will between the two universities being further fostered by free sparring and a dinner party at the end of the day’s matches. In addition to those who came out to compete, we would like to extend our thanks to all those who donated their time to administrate the event and support the Oxford team. We look forward eagerly to next year’s match, where we expect continued success.
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