Canadian Naginata Federation

The Canadian Naginata Federation was thrilled to send a large contingency to this year’s 8th World Naginata Championships held in Boulder, Colorado. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to both the USNF and INF for making such an event possible!

Team Canada had an amazing showing! In particular, we would like to highlight:

• Marija Landekic: 4th Place Women’s Individuals
• Lutan Liu: 1st Place Women’s Goodwill Taikai
• Daiki Iriyama: Goodwill Taikai Fighting Spirit Award

Our first ever WNC rhythm performance coordinated by Birgit and Daiki Siegert-Iriyama was extremely well-received and all new Team Canada members performed incredibly well.
Truly amazing work by our first-timers and we look forward to seeing your progress in Naginata!

As for grading results, every member of the CNF who attempted grading or certification was successful!
1 – Ikkyu
2 – Shodan
1 – Sandan
4 – Yondan
3 – Shimpan-in

The 2024 Toronto Naginata Tournament was held on May 11-12th 2024 at Loretto College School, Toronto Canada. Thank you very much to Jordan Macklem for organizing the tournament!

Individual Shiai
1st – Marija Landekic
2nd – Jordan Macklem
3rd – Alex Lin

Team Shiai
1st – Team Terra (David Luong, Will Choi, Andrew Boyd)
2nd – Team Venus (Taiga Jay, Rose Ly O’Brien, Jordan Macklem)
3rd – Team Jupiter (Khoa Doan, Athena Vithal, Kaori Kubo)

Shikake-Ouji
1st – Jordan Macklem / Marija Landekic
2nd – Mary Phan / Kaori Kubo
3rd – Andrew Boyd / Dan Bouchard

Kantosho (Fighting Spirit)
David Luong

The Canadian delegation at the 42nd All Japan Student Naginata Federation Seminar held in Tokyo from Feb 29 to March 3!

At this seminar, we drilled on fundamentals, worked on shikake-ouji, had bogu practice, learned about emergency first aid, and did rhythm performances!
Thank you so much to sensei and the AJSNF for allowing us to participate in this seminar. We learned so much and had a lot of fun practicing and meeting everyone!

The 2024 JSS Taikai in New York was held on April 6-7 featuring great success and representation from Canada! Congratulations to the winners:

Dangai Shikake-Ouji:
3rd – Athena Vithal / Jonathan Lee

Men’s Dangai Shiai:
1st – Banrong Hu
3rd – Gabriel Poujol

Yudansha Shikake-Ouji:
2nd – Daiki / Birgit Siegert-Iriyama
3rd – Jérémy Frandon / Ji Ni

Men’s Yudansha Shiai
1st – Jordan Macklem
2nd – Jérémy Frandon
3rd – Daiki Siegert-Iriyama

Women’s Yudansha Shiai
3rd – Mary Phan

The 2024 Canadian Winter Classic was held on March 30th featuring a flurry of events and an amazing turnout from eight clubs across Canada! A huge thank you to Sam Zhou for organizing the event!

Corner Kihon:
1st – Cheryl Lew [UTNC]
2nd – Julia Cassandjian [Concordia]
3rd – Taylor Haw [UTNC]

Dangai Engi:
1st – Mira Wu / Khoa Doan [UTNC]
2nd – Cheryl Lew / Taylor Haw [UTNC]
3rd – Clementina Kang / Emma Li [McGill]

Dangai Shiai:
1st – Emma Cheung [UTNC]
2nd – Banrong Hu [UTNC]
3rd – Audrey Sassi [McGill]

Dangai Shiai:
1st – Emma Cheung [UTNC]
2nd – Banrong Hu [UTNC]
3rd – Audrey Sassi [McGill]

Yudansha Engi:
1st – Jordan Macklem [JCCC] / Marija Landekic [Rosemont]
2nd – Mary Phan [JCCC] / Dan Bouchard [RDNC] 
3rd – Jérémy Frandon / Kevin Hallé [Concordia]

Teams Shiai
1st – Ali Mohammd Javad / Emma Cheung / Athena Vithal / Julia Cassandjian / Daiki Siegert-Iriyama
2nd – Gabriel Poujol / Raquel Trentin / Ryan Shim / Jérémy Frandon
3rd – Alec Gagnon / Birgit Siegert-Iriyama / Mira Wu / Jonathan Lee / Sam Zhou

The 2023 Toronto Regional Taikai was held on December 17th featuring 2 dangai divisions: Individual Shiai, and Shikake-Ouji (1, 2, 4). Thanks to everyone who organized, volunteered, and attended – the taikai and ensuing potluck were a huge success!

Congratulations to the winners:

Shikake-Ouji:
1st – Cheryl Lew / Erica Lai [UTNC]
2nd – Banrong Hu / David Luong [JCCC]
3rd – Athena Vithal / Jonathan Lee [JCCC]

Individual Shiai
1st – Banrong Hu [JCCC]
2nd – Jason Lujan [JCCC]
3rd – Ali Mohammed Javed [UTNC]

On November 25^th, 2023, the Naginata dojos of Quebec competed in the 3rd Quebec Regional Tournament. Held at the McGill Athletics Centre and organized by Sam Zhou, this event allowed the Quebec Naginata community to see how far they’ve come since the last national tournament.
We were saddened to learn that the Quebec Naginata Kai were unable to join this edition of the tournament, but glad to see that all four Montreal-based clubs, the McGill Naginata Club, the Rosemont Naginata Dojo, Naginata Montréal, and the Concordia Naginata Club, attended.
This tournament in five parts: Corner-Kihon, Dangai-Engi-Kyogi (shikake-oji 1, 2, and 4), Open Engi-Kyogi  (shikake-oji 4, 6, and 8), Individual Shiai, and Team Shiai, offered a full experience to the participants. After the Concordia University Naginata Tournament, some students viewed this regional tournament as a chance for a rematch.
The day’s matches were definitely worth watching. Multiple intermediates took on their Sempai and got closer to victory than ever before. This “Kohai Uprising” signals a clear progression of the intermediates’ level in the Quebec region. We hope to see the continuation of this trend, and we enthusiastically await the tournament in which the “Kohai Uprising” turns into a “Kohai Victory”!
Written by: Jeremy Frandon – Collegiate Naginata Reporter for the Quebec Region xD

Corner Kihon “Simon Says”
1st: Itay [MGNC]
2nd: Ava [MGNC]
3rd: Alexandra [MGNC]

Dangai Engi-kyogi
1st: Ryan & Mei [MNC/CNC]
2nd: Julia C & Jaspreet [CNC]
3rd: Emma & Clementina [MGNC]

Open Engi-kyogi
1st: Marija & Julia L [RNC]
2nd: Jérémy & Kevin [CNC]
3rd: Ryan & Mei [MNC/CNC]

Open Shiai-kyogi
1st: Marija [RNC]
2nd: Kevin [CNC]
3rd: Daiki [MNC]

Team Shiai-kyogi
1st: Jaspreet, Jérémy, Kevin [CNC]
2nd: Audrey, Ryan, Marija [MGNC / MNC / RNC]
3rd: Julia C, Yumeng, Julia L [CNC / MGNC / RNC]

Fighting Spirit
Emma & Clementina [MGNC]

The Second Montreal Intercollegiate was held on November 4th, 2023 at the Concordia downtown gym. Almost exactly one year after the first Montreal Intercollegiate Tournament, students from both McGill and Concordia gathered at “Le Gym” in the basement of Concordia’s EV building for this new Shinjin Taikai.
In this edition, intermediate members of each club stepped up to introduce the beginners to the fundamentals of Naginata tournaments, from the etiquette of competing to the logistics of running tournaments; some members even got to experience shinpaning for the first time. 
All the events of this tournament were a sight to behold. The newly introduced Migi-Engi-kyogi (shikake-oji 1, 2, and 4) levelled the playing field by making all participants feel like beginners again; the beginner Engi-kyogi (shikake-oji 1, and 2) allowed practitioners of less than a semester to demonstrate their aptitude and understanding of Naginata; and the McGill intermediates got a front-row seat to discover Concordia’s newly developed Shiai proficiency.
This tournament was the first inter-university event organized by the Concordia Naginata Club. The club’s executive team ran an extremely smooth tournament, demonstrating that, despite their small size, they can pull more than their own weight. The guest of honour, Marija Landekic Sensei, congratulated Concordia for running a very successful tournament, calling the event “Impressive”.
After successfully and  jointly organizing two beginner tournaments, both clubs created the Quebec Intercollegiate Naginata Committee to continue creating more successful joint events. We now wait in excitement to see what will come out of this effort of Concordia uniting with McGill.
Written by: Jeremy Frandon – Collegiate Naginata Reporter for the Quebec Region

SHINJIN ENGI-KYOGI
1st place : Axelle and Danilo [CNC]
2nd place : Sarah and Halia [MGNC]
3rd place : Rami and Mathis [CNC]

MIGI ENGI-KYOGI
1st place : Jeremy and Kevin [CNC]
2nd place : YuMeng and Mei [MGNC/CNC]
3rd place : Clementina and Emma [MGNC]

SHINJIN SHIAI-KYOGI
1st place : Jaspreet [CNC]
2nd place: Julia [CNC]
3rd place : YuMeng [MGNC]

Fighting spirit award:
Jaspreet [CNC]