The Nabeshima Cup Invitational Kendo Tournament started in 1992 as a goodwill Dallas/Fort Worth Kendo & Iaido Kyokai (DFWKIK) club tournament. The tournament has expanded to include dojos throughout the Southwest region of the United States.
The Nabeshima Cup is an individual tournament hosted by the DFWKIK and is open to participants of SanDan and below. Traditionally, the Nabeshima Cup is a spring tournament held in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in conjunction with the Texas Open Kendo Taikai. Texas Open Kendo Taikai is for participants of YonDan and above.
In addition to the regular 1st-3rd places, judges at the Nabeshima Cup Kendo Taikai traditionally award a Kiyoshi Abe Fighting Spirit award, or “Kantosho” award, for each division.
Below is a brief summary of recent tournament results.
Junior Youth Division (10-13)
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Kantosho | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Kento Tsuruta (Plano Kendo Dojo, SWKIF) | Leo Pellecchia-Adachi (Plano Kendo Dojo, SWKIF) | Caleb Lee (Houston Kenshikan, SUSKIF) | Akiko Ueno (Plano Kendo Dojo, SWKIF) | Caleb Lee (Houston Kenshikan, SUSKIF) |
| 2015 | Aiden Norris (Omaha) | Roman Spanke (Omaha) | Matthew Tesch (Bushinkan) | Sol Joanne Hong (DFWKIK) | Elaine Fu (Cougar) |
| 2013 | Keeley McManus (Kent) | Nathan Keplinger (RMKF) | Noah Heuertz (Omaha) | Akiko Kuno (DFWKIK) | Akiko Kuno (DFWKIK) |
| 2011 | Tiarnan Marsten (Kent) | Keeley McManus (Kent) | Eugene Lee (Austin) | Daniel Nicoletti (Little Rock) | Justin Kim (Tulsa) |
* 2015 Nabeshima Youth Division is for age group (10-16) due to low participation.
Senior Youth Division (14-16)
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Kantosho | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Robert Brown (Houston Kenshikan, SUSKIF) | Yuri Hatakeyama (Waco Kendo Dojo, SUSKIF) | Jonathan Willis (Shin Sou Fu Kan – OKC, SWKIF) | Andrew Cai (Plano Kendo Dojo, SWKIF) | Yuri Hatakeyama (Waco Kendo Dojo, SUSKIF) |
| 2013 | Tiarnan Marsten (Kent) | Sora Imamura (Arkansas) | Kazushi Matsumoto (DFWKIK) | Yuka Saito (Ito Dojo) | Yuka Saito (Ito Dojo) |
| 2011 | Kenneth Nicoletti (Little Rock) | Kyle Anderson (Houston) | Kai Imamura (Little Rock) | Matthew Yang (New Orleans) | Kenichiro Koga (Houston) |
Mudansha
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Kantosho | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Macallan Maedke (DFWKIK, SWKIF) | Ryohei Yamaguchi (Plano Kendo Dojo, SWKIF) | Ahmad Abdulla (New Orleans Kendo Club, SWKIF) | Barry Stevens (Rocky Mountains Kendo Club, SWKIF) | Long Le (Plano Kendo Dojo, SWKIF)
Chris Adelhardt (Austin Kendo Dojo, SWKIF) |
| 2019 | Joshua Jang (DFWKIK) | Joseph Kwon (DFWKIK) | Jeffery Williams (El Paso) | Tristan Bingman (DFWKIK) | TJ Scott-Shoichi Okamura (Bellevue)
Yunsu Kim (HKK) |
| 2017 | Massim Shah (DFWKIK) | Israel Martinez (Laredo) | Marc Hakim (Tucson) | Nguyen Ly (DFWKIK) | Hogan Choi (DFWKIK) |
| 2015 | Sangki Lee (DFWKIK) | Izogbu Wells (Houston Budokan) | Toan Nguyen (HKK) | Peter Shih (DFWKIK) | David Choe (HKK)
Margaruite Nixon (Cougar) |
| 2013 | Victor Lee (DFWKIK) | Terry McManus (Kent) | Joshua An (UT) | Jake Dupre (New Orleans) | Joshua An (UT)
Amer Mujakic (Arkansas) |
| 2011 | Joao Lourenco (Dallas) | Adam Schmidt (Dallas) | Sanghyun Ko (College Station) | Andy Koke (Dallas) | Terry McManus (Kent)
Kenny Phan (Houston) |
Women’s
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Kantosho | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Sayaka Mizukami (Arkansas Kendo Club, SWKIF) | Xin Lu (Plano Kendo Dojo, SWKIF) | Janet Shim (Waco Kendo Dojo, SUSKIF) | Yukiko Taylor (Arkansas Kendo Club, SWKIF) | Neve Harris (DFWKIK, SWKIF)
Amber Kouadri (Plano Kendo Dojo, SWKIF) |
| 2019 | Huong Dang (Austin) | Vivian Bentley (Salt Lake City) | Ayse Gursoy (UTKA) | Jennyrayne Colangan (DFWKIK) | Lauren Menkenmeller (NOKC)
Jess Alvarez (DFWKIK) |
| 2017 | Yebin Chae (HKK) | Alexandra Darrah (HKK) | Denise Verastigue (DFWKIK) | Minjeong Park (HKK) | Sol Joanne Hong (DFWKIK) |
| 2015 | Noelle Grimes (Sno King) | Alexandra Darrah (HKK) | Keeley McManus (Kent) | Mi Ryang Moon (Omaha) | Jennyrayne Colangan (DFWKIK)
Shamina Kerstein (Cougar) |
| 2013 | Noelle Grimes (Sno King) | Apinya Premprajaks (Dallas) | Moonkyung Kim (Colorado Springs) | Alexandra Darrah (Austin) | Reiko Mizukami (Arkansas)
Huong Dang (Austin) |
| 2011 | Apinya Premprajaks (Dallas) | Huong Dang (Austin) | Masako Wright (Salt Lake City) | Alexandra Darrah (Austin) | Janet Shim (Austin)
Lauren Menkemeller (Dallas) |
Yudansha
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Kantosho | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Shigeto Okuji (Plano Kendo Dojo, SWKIF) | Khanh Nguyen (Waco Kendo Dojo, SUSKIF) | Sakurako Kitagawa (Waco Kendo Dojo, SUSKIF) | Marco Garcia (Orlando Kendo Club, SEUSKF) | Izogbu Wellichinda (Sho Tokyo, SCKF)
Minwoo Kwon (Shin Sou Fu Kan – Tulsa, SWKIF) |
| 2019 | Takahiro Yoshikawa (AKD) | David Choe (HKK) | Grant Matsuura (Salt Lake City) | Nathan Williams (DFWKIK) | Zach Gonzales (DFWKIK)
Alex Cherry (Salt Lake City) |
| 2017 | Andrew Shintaro Wolff-Takahashi (NOKC) | Allan Azurin (HKK) | Jonah Wu (Arkansas) | Nathan Williams (DFWKIK) | Jake Dupre (NOKC)
Mike Sentany (Arkansas) |
| 2015 | Victor Koh (Atlanta) | Takuro Yamaoka (Bushinkan) | Masumi Koyama (Cougar) | Thor Metzinger (Ito) | David Yao (Stevenston)
Allan Azurin (Cougar) |
| 2013 | Takuro Yamaoka (Bushinkan) | Jason Wong (RMKF) | Luis Angeli (Sen Shin Kan) | Guido Stucco (St. Louis Kendo) | Ben Kiang (Budokan)
Kit Lien (Ito Dojo) |
| 2011 | An Giang (Little Rock) | Michael Lindsay (Tulsa) | Yong Cho (Dallas) | Yuta Imoto (Houston) | Luis Angeli (Arvada)
Shaw Furukawa (Oklahoma City) |