Shoryuhai

The Harvard Invitational Shoryuhai Intercollegiate Kendo Tournament, or Shoryuhai (昇龍杯, Shōryuhai) for short, is the oldest intercollegiate kendo tournament in North America. Now in its 26th year, the Shoryuhai is hosted annually by the Harvard Radcliffe Kendo Club each spring. The 2024 tournament held March 16 and 17, 2024. Teams come from all over North America and Europe, including teams from Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The tournament is held in the Harvard University Malkin Athletic Center basketball court. The fundamental purpose of the Shoryuhai is to promote kendo at the collegiate level.

History

Origins

In April 1997, several Northeast-region college students came together at Harvard for an informal good-will kendo tournament. The tournament was sparsely attended - totaling not more than 15 competitors. The following year, attendance increased three-fold, and included teams from Harvard, Yale, Cornell, McGill University, the University of Connecticut and the University of Waterloo in Canada. In 2009, a team from the University of Münster in Germany joined the competition for the first time, making it the first European team to participate.

The Trophies

"The Permanent Trophy"

In 1998, the two tournament trophies were donated by the former Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Ryutaro Hashimoto, as tokens of his encouragement. At the time, Hashimoto-sensei saw this tournament and all of North American collegiate kendo as a "rising dragon", or 昇龍 (shōryu), hence the name shoryuhai. The first of the trophies - permanently held at Harvard - bears the engraved names of each year's victorious team. The second, traveling trophy is loaned to each year's winning team to be displayed at their respective university or college until the following year's tournament.

Fighting Spirit Awards

"The Permanent Trophy"

In 2024, Shoryuhai began presenting Fighting Spirit Awards in honor of Masaru Mori (5 dan) and Hironori Tahara (hanshi 8 dan). In the early days of Shoryuhai, Mr. Mori was a pivotal character who forged connections and brought figures such as Tahara-sensei to Shoryuhai. Tahara-sensei served as the shinpancho of Shoryuhai for the majority of years since 2006. Sadly, Mr. Mori passed in July 2020 and Tahara-sensei passed in Oct 2023. In their honor, the 4th place winner who lost to the 1st place winner is presented the Masaru Mori Fighting Spirit Award in Individuals, and the Hironori Tahara Fighting Spirit Award in Teams.

Format

The tournament is divided into team and individual rounds on Saturday and Sunday. Individuals are single elimination, unlimited encho, no hantei. Teams are round robin.

Results

Team Tournament

Year	Final		Third Place		Hironori Tahara Fighting Spirt Award
	Winner	Runner-up
2024	University of California, Berkeley	New York University A Team	Boston University A Team	Brown University	Harvard University A Team
2023	University of Washington A Team	Boston University A Team	New York University A Team	Cornell University A Team
2022	POSTPONED DUE TO COVID-19; Hosted Ryuko Taikai in lieu of Shoryuhai
2021	POSTPONED DUE TO COVID-19
2020	CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
2019	University of Washington	University of California San Diego	Stony Brook University A Team	University of California, Riverside A Team
2018	Stony Brook University	New York University A Team	Boston University A Team	New York University B Team
2017	Stony Brook University	New York University A Team	Boston University A Team	New York University B Team
2016	New York University A Team	University of California, Los Angeles A Team	University of California, San Diego A Team	University of California, Riverside A Team
2015	New York University A Team	University of California, Los Angeles A Team	University of California, Santa Barbara A Team	University of Washington
2014	New York University A Team	University of California, San Diego A Team	Boston University A Team	University of California, Riverside A Team
2013	University of California, San Diego A Team	University of California, Riverside A Team	Boston University A Team	Stony Brook University A Team
2012	University of Washington	University of California, San Diego A Team	New York University A Team	Soka University of America
2011	University of California, San Diego A Team	Boston University A Team	Boston University B Team	State University of New York at Stony Brook A Team
2010	University of California, Los Angeles A Team	University of Washington	State University of New York at Stony Brook	Soka University of America
2009	University of California, Los Angeles A Team	State University of New York at Stony Brook A Team	University of California, Davis	University of California, San Diego
2008	University of California, Davis	University of California, San Diego	Cornell University A Team	State University of New York at Stony Brook A Team
2007	University of California, Los Angeles A Team	University of California, San Diego A Team	Harvard University A Team	State University of New York at Stony Brook B Team
2006	University of California, Los Angeles A Team	University of California, San Diego A Team	University of California, San Diego B Team	University of Washington
2005	University of California, San Diego	Salem State College	State University of New York at Stony Brook	University of California, Los Angeles
2004	University of California, Los Angeles	University of California, San Diego	State University of New York at Stony Brook A Team	Virginia Polytechnic Institute
2003	University of Waterloo	State University of New York at Stony Brook A Team	Cornell University	Harvard University A Team
2002	Harvard University A Team	George Washington University	Cornell University	State University of New York at Stony Brook
2001	Cornell University A Team	University of Washington	Harvard University A Team	McGill University
2000	University of Connecticut	Harvard University A Team	Cornell University A Team	McGill University
1999	McGill University	Cornell University A Team	Cornell University B Team	University of Connecticut
1998	University of Waterloo	Harvard University A Team	Cornell University A Team	Yale University
1997	Harvard University A Team	Not Recorded	Not Recorded	Not Recorded

Individuals Tournament

Year	Final		Third Place		Masaru Mori Fighting Spirit Award
	Winner	Runner-up
2024	Keita Tanabe, University of California, Berkeley	Tetsuro Takao, University of California, Berkeley	Atsushi Saito, Soka University of America	Yeongjae Shin, Yale University	Miori Kino, Boston University
2023	Kyle Fukuda, University of Washington	Andy Yuen, University of Washington	Manu Shivakumar, University of Pennsylvania	Joshua Yang, Drexel University
2022	POSTPONED DUE TO COVID-19; Hosted Ryuko Taikai in lieu of Shoryuhai
2021	POSTPONED DUE TO COVID-19
2020	CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
2019	Akira Fujii, University of Washington	Sungha Park, Columbia University	Victor Peng, New York University	Gen Takahashi, University of California, Los Angeles
2018	Masayuki Katsumi, Stony Brook University	Sungha Park, Columbia University	Alissa Mori, Columbia University	Yumeto Shigihara, Boston University
2017	Masayuki Katsumi, Stony Brook University	Sung Hun Choi, New York University	Chihiro Shiromoto, Tufts University	Colin Smith, New York University
2016	Sung Hun Choi, New York University	Hwoyoung Choi, University of California, Los Angeles	Keishi Okazaki, Brown University	Mashiro Yamazaki, Bergen Community College
2015	Naonori Suto, San Diego State University	Damian Williams, University of California, Santa Barbara	Viet Nguyen, University of California, San Diego	Philip Kwon, San Diego State University
2014	Shintaro Takahashi, University of California, San Diego	Sung Hun Choi, New York University	David Moon, University of California, Riverside	Colin Smith, New York University
2013	Fumiaki Ayabe, University of California, San Diego	Terima Nagatani, University of California, Merced	Isabel Lorimer, University of California, Riverside	Matthew Yang, Rutgers University
2012	Yannis Hachouf, University of California, San Diego	Mevlana Gemici, Cornell University	Matthew Yang, Rutgers University	Tomoyuki Fujiyama, Columbia University
2011	Matthew Yang, Rutgers University	Hojin Park, University of California, San Diego	Takashi Ohashi, Cornell University	Mevlana Gemici, Cornell University
2010	Hideto Kinjo, University of California, Riverside	Julian Amano, University of California, Los Angeles	Tenji Takino, Soka University of America	Alex Eitoku, Boston University
2009	Takeshi Yokoyama, University of California, Los Angeles	Aki Goya, University of California, Los Angeles	Keisuke Shimoyamada, University of California, Los Angeles	Teppei Shima, University of California, San Diego
2008	Mizuo Kudo, University of California, Los Angeles	Matthew Yang, Rutgers University	Eugenia Yang, Boston University	Antoine Fortier, McGill University
2007	Tenji Takino, Soka University of America	Aki Goya, University of California, Los Angeles	Antoine Fortier, McGill University	Hojin Park, University of California, San Diego
2006	Tenji Takino, Soka University of America	Ann Tamura, University of California, San Diego	Katsushi Chinen, Mt. San Antonio College	Hirotsuga Takahashi, University of Massachusetts Amherst
2005	Sadanobu Inoue, Salem State College	Nathan Makino, University of California, Los Angeles	Eugenia Yang, Boston University	Yoshihiro Homma, University of California, Los Angeles
2004	Daniel Han, Cornell University	Randall Iwashita, University of California, San Diego	Nathan Makino, University of California, Los Angeles	Young Shik Cho, University of California, San Diego
2003	Shinya Deguchi, George Washington University	Hyungjin Lim, State University of New York at Stony Brook	Arthur Nam, Thomas Jefferson University	Daniel Han, Cornell University
2002	Takashi Kido, University of Bridgeport	Tomohiko Hayashi, Boston University	Shinya Deguchi, George Washington University	Kentaro Fujita, New York University
2001	Miyuki Koga, Wesleyan University	Tomohiko Hayashi, Boston University	Shinya Deguchi, George Washington University	Oliver Nguyen, McGill University
2000	Shinya Deguchi, George Washington University	Manabu Ito, McGill University	Hyunsik Jeong, University of Connecticut	Tomohiko Hayashi, Boston University
1999	Mitsuhiro Sudo, Yale University	Jon Shishido, Harvard University	Manabu Ito, McGill University	Tomohiko Hayashi, Boston University
1998	Robin Tanaka, University of Waterloo	Hyun June Choi, University of Waterloo	Not Recorded	Not Recorded
1997	Not Recorded	Not Recorded	Not Recorded	Not Recorded

External links

• Official Shoryuhai Website at Harvard