The Shorinji Kempo Club participated in the 57th Shorinji Kempo UNIVAS Cup held at the Nippon Budokan on November 5th.
The championship consisted of 23 different events such as paired embu, solo embu, triad demonstrations, and group embu demonstrations as well as match ratings, and competitions were judged on technical and artistic merit. Meiji University achieved victories in three categories, including two with the highest dan level, and also ranked among the winners in many other events. As a result, we finished third in both the men's overall and women's overall competitions and third in the all-around competition that combines both categories.
Winners and achievements
⋅ Men’s 3rd dan or higher, first place: KANZAKI Tadasue (4th year, School of Political Science and Economics) and SHIROSAWA Taiga (2nd year, School of Political Science and Economics)
⋅ Women’s 2nd dan or higher, first place: NAKANO Natsumi (4th year, School of Commerce) and TANAKA Yuma (2nd year, School of Political Science and Economics)
⋅ Mixed 2nd dan or higher, second place: NAKAMOTO Rin (3rd year, School of Political Science and Economics) and NIKKO Shunta (2nd year, School of Commerce); third place: ODA Kakeru (3rd year, School of Commerce) and KATANIWA Kurumi (1st year, School of Commerce)
⋅ Men’s triad, third place: FUNATO Soma (4th year, School of Science and Technology), MOTOHASHI Yu (4th year, School of Interdisciplinary Mathematical Sciences), and SUZUKI Izumi (1st year, School of Political Science and Economics)
⋅ Mixed brown belt, first place: KAWAKAMI Suzuka (2nd year, School of Global Japanese Studies) and MIURA Daichi (2nd year, School of Commerce)
⋅ Solo dan holders, fifth place: SAKAMOTO Riku (3rd year, School of Law)
⋅ Solo non-dan holders, fourth place: NOZAKI Rin (1st year, School of Political Science and Economics)
⋅ Second place in the group division
⋅ Third place in men’s overall
⋅ Third place in women’s overall
⋅ Third place in the all-around competition
Comment from Head Coach YAMADA Masayoshi (graduated from the School of Agriculture in 1989)
It was the policy of the seniors, including the captain, who had a passionate heart, to be “an organization where we can take pride in ourselves and the club.”
This passion spread to the junior athletes, mobilized the coaches and managers, and brought every single member together to move forward again this year. It began with a thorough review of daily training activities.
The results started to show in the rookie competition in September, and then in the world competition in October the team had grown to win first to third place in each category. At the UNIVAS Cup held in November, which serves as the assessment for the full year, the students finished third in men’s overall, third in women’s overall, and third in the all-around competition. The students did a great job, and I was deeply impressed with their efforts. I expressed my sincere congratulations to the 61st executives for their truly all-out effort as they cherished the process of giving everything they could to achieve the goal.
In the next school year, the new 62nd executives will run the division led by Captain ODA, but the spirit of the Meiji University Shorinji will continue: "Never retreat!" “Never give up!” “Never lose!” “Don’t limit yourself!” “Don’t forget the Meiji University spirit!” and the spirit to keep advancing Meiji University while never forgetting a sense of gratitude as we improve our human skills and move forward.
≪
Japanese version≫
