8th Annual Seminar & Tournament

March 1-2nd, 2025

Brearley School

590 East 83rd Street

New York, NY 10028

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, Toyoko Narita (Kyoshi) and Kayami Hachimine (Renshi).

Promotion Exam Results

2-dan:

Zane Loeb (Maryland Jyoshinkai)

1-Dan:

Asees Sahni (Columbia University)

Lela Kornfeld (Columbia University)

Susan Yu (Maryland Jyoshinkai)

Anthony Tran (Columbia University)

1-kyu:

Lauren Blackburn (Midwest Naginata Federation)

3-kyu:

Anastasia Smith (Midwest Naginata Federation)

Fin Ramirez (Midwest Naginata Federation)

Citaly Estrada (Midwest Naginata Federation)

4-kyu:

Lynnz Fukuda (Ken-Zen)

Nicholas Vasilakopoulos-Kostopoulos (Columbia University)

Xiaoping Huynh (Midwest Naginata Federation)

Luke Adams (Ken-Zen)

Hailey Gagnon (Midwest Naginata Federation)

Brian Crowley (New York Budo Association)

5-kyu:

Yoshiko Ebihara (Ken-Zen)

8th Annual Yamauchi Memorial Taikai Results

Dangai Engi-Kyogi

1st Place: Heidi Lin x Emiko Kranz (Southern California Naginata Federation)
2nd Place: Lela Kornfeld x Nina Kornfeld (Columbia University)
3rd Place: Sergio Gonzalez x Monique Nguyen (Southern California Naginata Federation)

Yudansha Engi-Kyogi

1st Place: Jessica Wilson x Miguel Martinez (Midwest Naginata Federation)
2nd Place: Nigel DaSilva x Otto Herman (Columbia University)
3rd Place: Jana Casals Puy x Edward Kim (Columbia Alum x Ken-Zen)

Men’s Dangai Individuals

1st Place: Liam Stiles (Columbia University)
2nd Place: Timothy Su (Midwest Naginata Federation)
3rd Place: Anthony Tran (Columbia University)

Women’s Dangai Individuals

1st Place: Heidi Lin (Southern California Naginata Federation)
2nd Place: Lela Kornfeld (Columbia University)
3rd Place: Emiko Kranz (Ken-Zen)

Yudansha Women’s Individuals

1st Place: Shannon Rabanal (Southern California Naginata Federation)
2nd Place: Jessica Wilson (Midwest Naginata Federation)
3rd Place: Mary Quien (Cambridge)

Yudansha Men’s Individuals

1st Place: Nigel DaSilva (Columbia University)
2nd Place: Otto Herman (Columbia University)
3rd Place: Adriano Fernandes (Cambridge)

Open Dangai Individuals

1st Place: Lela Kornfeld (Columbia University)
2nd Place: Heidi Lin (Southern California Naginata Federation)
3rd Place: Liam Stiles (Columbia University)

Open Yudansha Individuals

1st Place: Otto Herman (Columbia University)
2nd Place: Nigel DaSilva (Columbia University)
3rd Place: Miguel Martinez (Midwest Naginata Federation)

Team Shiai

1st Place: Team Budget Plan
2nd Place: Team V
3rd Place: Midwest Naginata Federation

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.