Smiling players with a hand gesture of “1”, meaning “Meiji is No. 1 as always”, after winning the first ever championship
(Photo: Meidai sports)
The Kyudo Club took part in the 37th All Nippon University Kyudo Invitational Tournament, which was held at the Meiji Shrine Shiseikan Budojo (Shibuya City, Tokyo) from June 28 to 29, and won the women’s team championship for the first time.
In both the preliminary round and the final tournament, each team of four players competed for a total of 16 shots, shooting four shots each. Meiji University passed the preliminary round in fourth place.
In the final tournament, in which 16 teams competed, Meiji University advanced to the semifinals even though it ended up in docyukyosha (extended game) and faced Nihon University in the final. In the first half, Meiji University gave Nihon University a lead of 5-7, but in the third shot, all the players hit the target with 9-10, and the final fourth shot came. The fourth shot ended with three hits, including two kaichu (all four shots hit the target) by ochimae (the second person from last to shoot), NOMURA Mana (a fourth-year student of the School of Business Administration), and ochi (the last person to shoot), SAITO Nao (a second-year student of the School of Agriculture). Eventually, Meiji University won the first ever championship with a come-from-behind victory of 12-11.
Comment from SAITO Nao
There will be the Intercollegiate Championship (All Japan Student Championship) and the League (Tokyo Student League) in the future, so we want to win those tournaments as well.