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.
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 Texas Open Kendo Taikai Kendo Tournament was started in 1999 and is open to participants of Yondan (4th Dan) and above who are current or prospective members of the AUSKF and the International Kendo Federation (IKF)
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
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd | Kantosho |
| 2025 | Eri Hatakeyama (Waco Kendo Dojo / SWKIF) | Miharu Okuji (Plano Kendo Dojo / SCKF) | Victoria Martinez (Houston Heights Kendo Club / SWKIF) | Khang Nguyen (Plano Kendo Dojo / SCKF) | Jun Hatakeyama (Waco Kendo Dojo / SWKIF) |
| 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) |
| 2009 | Kai Imamura (Little Rock) | Sora Imamura (Little Rock) | Eugene Lee (Dallas) | Tiarnan Marsten (Des Moines) | Tiarnan Marsten (Des Moines) |
| 2007 | Yun Ji Kim (Austin) | Riku Imamura (Little Rock) | Kyle Anderson (Houston) | Kai Imamura (Little Rock) |
Senior Youth Division
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd | Kantosho |
| 2025 | Shuntaro Ueno (DFWKIK / SWKIF) | Kento Tsuruta (Plano Kendo Dojo / SCKF) | Leo Pellecchia-Adachi (Plano Kendo Dojo / SCKF) | Abigail Westblade (Memphis Kendo Association / SEUSKF) | Ella Chei (Waco Kendo Dojo / SWKIF) |
| 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) |
| 2009 | Hyun-sik Kong (Houston) | Sang Ji (Houston) | Riki Clement (Houston) | Andy Koke (Dallas) |
Mudansha
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd | Kantosho | Kantosho |
| 2025 | Ryan Kouadri (Plano Kendo Dojo / SCKF) | Josiah Tomes (Waco Kendo Dojo / SWKIF) | Michael Kasman (Austin Kendo Doshikai / SWKIF) | David Huerta (Plano Kendo Dojo / SCKF) | Evan Caldwell (Sioux Falls Sword Academy / SWKIF) | Ayse Gursoy (Austin Kendo Doshikai / SWKIF) |
| 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) |
| 2009 | Hendrik Winata (Austin) | Jeffrey Koke (Dallas) | Joshua Ferguson (Kent) | Sanghyun Ko (College Station) | Ahmad Abdulla (Tulsa) | Nancy Maza (Houston) |
| 2007 | Gerald Tan (Austin) | Theo Kouadri (Dallas) | Alex Croll (Oklahoma City) | Guido Stucco (St. Louis) | Alanda Foster (Omaha) | Leelund Kim (Houston) |
| 2005 | William Velazquez (Houston) | Gerald Tan (Austin) | Benjamin Lowe (Texas A&M) | Krutarth Triyedi (Dallas) | ||
| 2003 | Makoto Murayama (Houston) | Jeffrey Chen (Austin) | Takero Kan (Dallas) | Hyun Kim (Arkansas) | ||
| 2001 | Takayuki Otani (Houston) | Tetsuro Tsushima (Austin) | Bryan Mosley (Oklahoma City) | Makoto Murayama (Houston) | ||
| 1999 | Kevin Abe (Dallas) | Paul Westblade (Memphis) | David Cooper (Dallas) | Kwang Chung (Dallas) | ||
| 1997 | Kevin Abe (Dallas) | Darren Craig (Houston) | Paul Westblade (Memphis) | Miki Kikuchi (Austin) | ||
| 1996 | Darren Craig (Houston) | Corey Sharman (Dallas) | Yuji Ikeda (Austin) | Kevin Abe (Dallas) | ||
| 1995 | Darren Craig (Houston) | Russell Ichimura (Dallas) | ||||
| 1994 | Russell Ichimura (Dallas) | Darren Craig (Houston) | ||||
| 1993 | Russell Ichimura (Dallas) | Louis Bonham (Houston) | Carl Basham (Dallas) | |||
| 1992 | Carl Basham (Dallas) | Isao Ebihara | Russell Ichimura (Dallas) | Pierre Dakin (France) |
Women’s
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd | Kantosho | Kantosho |
| 2025 | Satoko Kurosaki (DFWKIK / SWKIF) | Natalie Tran (Baylor Kendo Club / SWKIF) | Denise Quach (Seattle Kendo Kai / PNKF) | Noori Song (Austin Kendo Doshikai / SWKIF) | Jayne Tran (Plano Kendo Dojo / SCKF) | Katia Nguyen (Shin Sou Fu Kan Tulsa / SWKIF) |
| 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 | 3rd | Kantosho | Kantosho |
| 2025 | Kazushi Isono (Plano Kendo Dojo / SCKF) | Forrest Berg (Houston Kendo Kyokai / SWKIF) | Brock Simonton (DFWKIK / SWKIF) | Macallan Maedke (DFWKIK / SWKIF) | Chris Nguyen (Austin Kendo Doshikai / SWKIF) | Yuichiro Ueno (DFWKIK / SWKIF) |
| 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) |
| 2009 | Katsuhiro Iwao (Arlington) | Eric Koyama (Laredo) | Jonathan Scherer (Seattle) | Attila Nemeti (Moorpark) | An Giang (Little Rock) | Jin Young Koo (Dallas) |
| 2007 | An Giang (Little Rock) | Jeff Chen (Austin) | Khanh Nguyen (Austin) | Masayuki Koyama (Laredo) | Phillip Panteloukas (Orlando) | |
| 2005 | Bryan Mosely (Oklahoma City) | Brian Cooper (Longmont) | Manny DaCosta (Austin) | Steve Sasaki (Omaha) |
Texas Open (4 Dan and Above)
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd | Kantosho |
| 2025 | Kenichi Hatakeyama (Waco Kendo Dojo / SWKIF) | Masaki Yoshioka (Plano Kendo Dojo / SCKF) | Masashi Maeda (DFWKIK / SWKIF) | Jonah Wu (DFWKIK / SWKIF) | Isamu Goto (San Diego Kendo Bu / SCKF) |
| 2023 | Kentaro Ninomiya (DFWKIK, SWKIF) | Takuro Yamaoka (Omaha Kendo and Iaido Kyokai, SWKIF) | Kazuki Yamamoto (DFWKIK, SWKIF) | Masahiro Muramatsu (Plano Kendo Dojo, SWKIF) | Junko Akimoto (Austin Kendo Doshikai, SWKIF) |
| 2019 | Michio Kajitani (Arkansas) | Kazuki Yamamoto (DFWKIK) | Andrew Shintaro Wolff-Takahashi (NOKC) | Peter Houston (HKK) | Jeff Chen (AKD) |
| 2017 | Koki Masuo (Laredo) | Takuro Yamaoka (Nebraska) | Makiko Adachi (HKK) | Katsuhei Yoshioka (HKK) | Carlos Guerra (Houston Kenshikan) |
| 2015 | Kenichi Hatakeyama (Baylor) | Michio Kajitani (Arkansas) | Makiko Adachi (HKK) | Hiro Kimura (HKK) | Makiko Adachi (HKK) |
| 2013 | Michio Kajitani (Little Rock) | An Giang (Arkansas/PNKF) | Masayuki Mizuuchi (DFWKIK) | Bryan Mosely (Sen Shin Kan) | Masayuki Mizuuchi (DFWKIK) |
| 2011 | Kenichi Hatakeyama (Waco) | Brian Cooper (Arvada) | Michio Kajitani (Little Rock) | Mark Uchida (Denver) | Michio Kajitani (Little Rock) |
| 2009 | Taro Ariga (Torrance) | Brian Cooper (Denver) | Bryan Mosely (Edmond) | Akira Okuma (Osaka/Dallas) | Bryan Mosely (Edmond) |
| 2007 | Yasuo Ishikawa (Arvada, CO) | Curtis Marsten (Renton, WA) | Kwang Chong (Woodside, NY) | Micho Kajitani (Little Rock) | |
| 2005 | Koki Abe (Oklahoma City) | Michio Kajitani (Arkansas) | Kiyoshi Abe (Japan) | ||
| 2003 | Jin-Kee Hyun (Dallas) | Curtis Marsten (Renton, WA) | Kiyoshi Abe (Dallas) | Tetsuji Yamaguchi (Dallas) | |
| 2001 | Mark Uchida (Col. Springs) | Shinji Isayama (San Antonio) | Dick Anderson (Seattle) | Tom Hooper (NY Ken Zen) | |
| 1999 | Russell Ichimura (Dallas) | Kiyoshi Abe (Dallas) | Mark Uchida (Col. Springs) |
Adult Teams
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd | Kantosho | Kantosho |
| 2025 | Dallas/Fort Worth Kendo & Iaido Kyokai – A | Houston Kendo Kyokai – A | Austin Kendo Doshikai – A | Plano Kendo Dojo – A | Satoko Kurosaki – DFWKIK | Michael McIver – New Orleans Kendo Club |