Fudokan "Kendo and Iaido in the Nation's Capital"

🏆🥇2025 SEUSKF Championships🥇🏆

Adult Teams - 1st Place
Youth Teams - 1st Place
5 Dan+ Individuals - 1st Place
16-18 Youth Individuals - 1st Place

Last weekend, our dojo traveled to Richmond, Virginia for the South East championships to be among 265 total competitors.

2025 continues to be a remarkable year for our dojo as we left this tournament with fantastic results!

Thank you so much to Koryo Dojo, NoVa Budokai, and B-A Kendo for hosting this smooth and successful event. An additional thanks to all of the parents from our dojo for their endless support, our success is impossible without them.

11yrs and Under:
•2nd Place Shaun Byun 🥈
•3rd Place Lorenzo Laurenzi 🥉
•Kantosho Keiju Yamanaka

12-15yrs:
•3rd Place Adrianno Baoicchi 🥉

16-18yrs:
•1st Place So Otsuru 🥇
•Kantosho Cory Lipin

1-2Dan:
•2nd Place Cory Lipin 🥈

3-4Dan:
•3rd Place Michael Farmer 🥉

5Dan+:
•1st Place Alistair Faghani 🥇

Youth Team:
•1st Place Fudokan A 🏆
Senpo - Shaun Byun
Chuken - Adrianno Baiocchi
Taisho - So Otsuru
•3rd Place Fudokan B 🥉
Senpo - Lorenzo Laurenzi
Chuken - Kai Hoang
Taisho - Cory Lipin

Adult Teams:
•1st Team Fudokan A 🏆
Senpo - So Otsuru
Jiho - Jae Shin
Chuken - Michael Farmer
Fukusho - Cory Lipin
Taisho - Alistair Faghani

While there is much to celebrate, there is also much to improve on. Our dojo looks forward to using this experience to fuel our coming practices 🙏

We are thrilled to announce that Keisuke Awaji Sensei successfully passed his Kendo 6-Dan examination at the AUSKF Kodansha Shinsa last Sunday (4/13/2025).

Since joining Fudokan three years ago, Awaji Sensei has been a wonderful role model for all of our students with both his wonderful kendo and impeccable etiquette. We are so grateful for all the ways he has supported Fudokan — please join us in congratulating Awaji sensei on his incredible achievement!

Last weekend Team Fudokan competed at the ECUSKF Spring Tournament in Pittsburgh, PA. Over 10 members fought hard and we are very proud to share their wonderful achievements. We were able to win the adult team championship and this victory was particularly special for us as two junior members were selected for the Fudokan A Team and played a crucial role in bringing home the gold. Another remarkable moment for our Dojo was that our youth team was also able to win the team championship. We’re extremely proud of them and very grateful to their parents for making their participation possible.

Thank you to the amazing tournament organizers and all of our sensei, parents and students for their support!

9 and Under Division
1st Place - Isa Ishida 🥇

10-13 Years Old Division
1st Place - Kai Hoang🥇
2nd Place - Shin Otsuru🥈

Adult Mudansha
3rd Place - Gakuchi Ishida 🥉

1-3 Dan Division
2nd Place - Jae Shin 🥈

4 Dan and Above Division
3rd Place - Michael Farmer 🥉

Youth Team Division
1st Place - Fudokan 🏆
Senpo: Isa Ishida
Chuken: Shin Otsuru
Taisho: Kai Hoang

Adult Team Division
1st Place - Fudokan A 🏆
Senpo: So Otsuru
Jiho: Cory Lipin
Chuken: Michael Farmer
Fukusho: Jae Shin
Taisho: Alistair Faghani

Last weekend, Fudokan teamed up with our sister dojo, Shidokan, to compete on behalf of Shidogakuin at the 27th Annual Detroit Kendo Tournament. This was a tremendous team effort — please check out the full results and some photos from the tournament.

The finals of the Adult Team Division was incredibly close and ultimately came down to a daihyousen (tie-breaker) match, which you can watch below.

We are very happy to keep both the individual and team trophies in the Shidogakuin family for two years in a row!

Our deepest gratitude to the Detroit Kendo Dojo for another fantastic and well-organized tournament and seminar!

Adult Team Division:

1st Place - Shidogakuin
- Senpo: Michael Farmer (Fudokan)
- Jiho: Dunkin Adams (Shidokan)
- Chuken: Alistair Faghani (Fudokan)
- Fukusho: Mario Tanabe (Fudokan)
- Taisho: Taishi Kato (Shidokan)

Junior Youth Team Divison

3rd Place - Shidogakuin
- Senpo: Shaun Byun (Fudokan)
- Chuken: Cable Zhang (Shufukai)
- Taisho: Shin Otsuru (Fudokan)

5 Dan & Above Division

1st Place - Alistair Faghani (Fudokan)
3rd Place - Dunkin Adams (Shidokan)

4 Dan Division

2nd Place - Mario Tanabe (Fudokan)
3rd Place - Michael Farmer (Fudokan)

2 Dan Division

2nd Place - Caleb Model (Shidokan)

Senior Youth Division

2nd Place - Kai Hoang (Fudokan)

Yesterday, we hosted the second part of the GNEUSKF Educational Tour with Kato Sensei and Gonpei Sensei. The second part of the seminar was for higher rank adults only. It was a great and educational seminar. After a long day, some of the members had a chance to relax and chat with the Sensei at a nearby restaurant. Thank you to GNE, Kato Sensei, Gonpei Sensei, and everyone who participated! Special thanks to Awaji Sensei for translating throughout the seminar.

Last night, we had the first part of the GNE Educational Tour with Kato Sensei and Gonpei Sensei. Tomorrow, we will have the second part of the seminar from 11 AM to 4 PM (doors open at 10:30 AM). Thank you to GNE for making this seminar possible, Kato Sensei and Gonpei Sensei.

We would like to congratulate Beckford Sensei on passing his 6 Dan Iaido Examination last weekend in Tokyo! We’re so proud of his hard work and dedication towards improving his Kendo and Iaido and continued contributions to Fudokan. This is a milestone achievement as only 56 out of 212 applicants passed the Examination. Congratulations Beckford Sensei!🎉

This past weekend, Fudokan was delighted to host a kendo & iaido seminar led by Kato sensei (Kendo Kyoshi 8-Dan, Iaido Kyoshi 7-Dan). We had over 60 participants with several visitors from nearby dojos attend this wonderful learning opportunity. We'd like to express our sincere gratitude for Kato sensei's incredible guidance.

We also hosted a GNEUSKF shinsa and were very lucky to have our federation president, Inosh*ta sensei (Kyoshi 7-Dan), presiding as chief examiner. We are very proud of our 20+ students, all of whom successfully passed their exams!

Thank you so much to all of our amazing instructors, members, and Fudokan families for your help in making this event possible. We look forward to hosting future opportunities in the future, including the upcoming GNEUSKF educational tour in January 2025, led by Noriyasu Gonpei sensei, Kendo Kyoshi 8-Dan, and instructor at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.