On the 22nd September Catherine Baecker, Neill Innes and Jie Lin of EUKC attended the Kyu Grade Taikai in London hosted by ICL Kendo Club. All three fought well with Catherine and Neill competing in one match each while Jie made it through to the third round. Well done all on their first experience of Shiai Kendo! Report to follow.

Welcome to the new look EUKC website! Hopefully the additional functionality of the site will help to make using, browsing and updating the site easier.

Can all committie members (and anyone else who wants to) please sign up using their real names!

From 14th-25th June nine members of EUKC including Lewis Wattes of St. Andrews Kendo CLub traveled to Italy for the clubs second trip to the region for a six day Gasshuku with Murata-Sempai. Full report and photos to follow.

On 5th May the 3rd Thistle Cup and Japan Day was hosted by Yamazaki-Sensei and the Aberdeen Kendo Club. Five members of EUKC attended the event with Aya Bamba winning gold in the ladies and bronze in the senior competitions, and Dmitri Sol winning the Fighting Spirit Award. EKC and EUKC Dojo leaders Steve Bishop and Andrea Fontanot also attended as Shinpan/referees.

Over the weekend of the 6th-8th of April, the Five Nations Cup (Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Finland and Switzerland) was held in Edinburgh. A number of EKC and EUKC members helped out at the event, with EUKC’s Aya Bamba fighting on the GB Team. Germany was highly successful winning both the men’s and ladies team competition as well as the ladies individuals with Stuart Gibson winning the men’s individuals for GB. Well done to Aya and everyone else involved! Full report to follow.

EUKC performed excellently at the University Taikai hosted by UCL Kendo club in London on the 17th March with the Edinburgh 1st team placing 2nd overall, as well as Aya Bamba and Tereza Vokata coming 2nd and 3rd respectively in the ladies individual competition. Congratulations to everyone!

0th-11th March a number of EUKC members attended the last Scottish BKA event held by GB coach Sotaro Honda sensei (6th Dan) before returning to Japan.
EUKC members attending the grading on the 11th all passed performing exceptionally well with Tereza Vokata grading to Ikkyu (1st Kyu), Lorcan Cook, Chris Horn and Motoaki Sumi grading to Shodan (1st Dan) and Aya Bamba and Dmitri Sol grading to Nidan (2nd Dan). Congratulations everyone!

On 3rd of March a number of EUKC members attended the Scottish central practice at Stirling in preparation for their upcoming gradings at Glasgow in March. Meanwhile over the 3rd-4th EUKC members Aya Bamba and Andrew Wright attended the British Squad training (under 25s special) held by Sotaro Honda sensei.

A Maggie’s Centres Kendo Workshop charity 1000 kiriaeshi was hosted by EKC in EUKC dojo 24th of February. This was presided over by Kazuyo Matsuda sensei (5th Dan) and was attended by a number of kendoka including EUKC members Aya Bamba, Nozomi Honjo, Aicha Elms, Catherine Baecker and Warittha Urapeepatanapong. The event was a success with a total of 1006 kirikaeshi (21,126 cuts) raising £1152.54 in total, well done!
On the 25th EUKC members had the opportunity to train with both Matsuda-sensei as well as Paul Budden sensei (6th Dan).

On the 16th-18th of February Sotaro Honda sensei (6th Dan) held a seminar here in Edinburgh hosted by EKC. Honda-sensei was also joined by Stuart Gibson (4th Dan GB Team) and Alex Burch (3rd Dan, GB ladies captain).

On the 10th-11th of February a ladies special British squad training was held in London, presided over by GB coach Sotaro Honda sensei (6th Dan). This was attended by EUKC Vice-Captain Aya Bamba, who was chosen to represent Great Britain at the upcoming Five Nations Cup in April. Congratulations!