7th Annual Seminar & Tournament

February 24-25th, 2024

Trinity School

115 West 91st Street

New York, NY 10024

Our biggest event of the year has gotten even bigger!

We had over 40 participants at our annual seminar and tournament, and it was a big success! Our participants came from the Greater New York area, Boston, Ohio, Maryland, Southern California, Seattle, and even Mexico! We had two guest instructors from Japan, Kaoru Sumi (Hanshi) and Sachiko Hirose (Kyoshi).

Promotion Exam Results

2-Dan:

Helen Yung (Ken-Zen)

Olivier Le Guen (Shinbukan Mexico)

Yuri Maeda (Maryland Jyoshinkai)

Hung Bin Ding (Maryland Jyoshinkai)

1-Dan:

Serena Luo (Columbia University)

1-kyu:

Susan Yu (Maryland Jyoshinkai)

Kenneth Watanabe (Ken-Zen)

Lela Kornfeld (Columbia University)

Nina Kornfeld (Columbia University)

2-kyu:

Adrien Camurati (Ken-Zen)

Louis Nieves (Ken-Zen)

Karina Chow (Ken-Zen)

3-kyu:

Penelope Wu (Columbia University)

Cyrus Louis-Gjelaj (Ken-Zen)

4-kyu:

Tamaki Kubota (Ken-Zen)

Sakura Tanida (Ken-Zen)

William Richardson (Ken-Zen)

Andy Jeon (Ken-Zen)

Lise Kubota (Ken-Zen)

Cole Louie-Gjelaj (Ken-Zen)

Wesley Brelinski (Ken-Zen)

Yuzan Kawano (Ken-Zen)

6-kyu:

Yoshiko Ebihara (Ken-Zen)

7th Annual Yamauchi Memorial Taikai Results

Dangai Engi-Kyogi

1st Place: Zane Loeb x Leina Maeda (Maryland Jyoshinkai)
2nd Place: Serena Luo x Bea Circelli (Columbia University)
3rd Place: Lela Kornfeld & Nina Kornfeld (Columbia University)

Yudansha Engi-Kyogi

1st Place: Shannon Lew x Andrew Hong (Southern California Naginata Federation)
2nd Place: Nigel DaSilva x Otto Herman (Columbia University)
3rd Place: Kelsey Shamrell-Harrington x Bryce Harrop (Pacific Northwest Naginata Federation)

Men’s Dangai Individuals

1st Place: Ken Watanabe (Ken-Zen)
2nd Place: Timothy Su (Columbia University)
3rd Place: Liam Stiles (Columbia University)

Women’s Dangai Individuals

1st Place: Asees Sahni (Columbia University)
2nd Place: Serena Luo (Columbia University)
3rd Place: Bea Circelli (Columbia University)

Yudansha Women’s Individuals

1st Place: Hana Uchimura (Osaka Naginata Federation)
2nd Place: Shannon Lew (Southern California Naginata Federation)
3rd Place: Mary Quien (Cambridge)

Yudansha Men’s Individuals

1st Place: Andrew Hong (Southern California Naginata Federation)
2nd Place: Otto Herman (Columbia University)
3rd Place: Bryce Harrop (Pacific Northwest Naginata Federation)

Open Dangai Individuals

1st Place: Ken Watanabe (Ken-Zen)
2nd Place: Nina Kornfeld (Columbia University)
3rd Place: Asees Sahni (Columbia University)

Open Yudansha Individuals

1st Place: Otto Herman (Columbia University)
2nd Place: Hana Uchimura (Osaka Naginata Federation)
3rd Place: Shannon Lew (SCNF)

Team Shiai

1st Place: Columbia Alum
2nd Place: Columbia University (A)
3rd Place: Cambridge

Honorary Awards

Yamauchi Award of Pioneering Courage

Sachiko Yamauchi Prough (Kyoshi), one of the co-founders of the Greater New York Naginata Federation, was known not only for her naginata skill and teaching excellence, but also for being an ambitious, creative, pioneer, who helped naginata grow throughout North America. Her humble naginata beginnings of developing the Ehime Naginata Federation from scratch made her fearless and dream big for impossible-looking projects. As a way to commemorate and encourage others to follow Yamauchi Sensei’s pioneering spirit, we award one participant per year the Yamauchi Award of Pioneering Courage, for those who helped spread naginata in challenging conditions.