Canadian Naginata Federation

A shinpan seminar was held in Montreal on August 14 to teach beginners the basics of being shinpan for shiai matches – we went through basic vocabulary, motions, and how to judge ippon!

June 18th was the return of the Toronto Naginata Tournament, rounding off our flurry of Spring events! Special thanks to Jordan Macklem for organizing the tournament. Congratulations to everyone!

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Individuals

• First Place: Marija Landekić
• Second Place: Jordan Macklem
• Third Place: Tomas Almonte

Teams

• First Place:
  • Lutan Liu, Kaori Kubo, Bryce Hu, Muchun Han
• Second Place:
  • Mira Wu, Mary Phan, Erin, Marija Landekić, Richard Yang
• Third Place:
  • Mary-Kate Proud, Wendy Leung, Grace Yoo, Jordan Macklem, Kevin Hallé

Fighting Spirit Award

• Abigail Lim

The annual UTNC gasshuku was held May 27-29, with participation from both our university clubs (UofT & McGill). It was three-day whirlwind full of practice, hard work, and fun. Everyone had the chance to reflect on their naginata and set priorities for what to work on for their next practices!

The annual TNT is returning this year! It will be held in Toronto on Saturday, June 18th. There will be individuals and team matches, and volunteers are welcome to help run the tournament!
Please check the Facebook event page for the latest details via this link. 

• Date: Saturday, June 18th, 2022
• Location:
  • Marshall McLuhan Catholic Secondary School
    1107 Avenue Rd, Toronto, ON M5N 3B1
• Contact: Jordan Macklem at [email protected]

We had a great showing at the JSS Taikai, held on April 2-3. Congratulations to everyone who went and represented Canada at the tournament! 

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Dangai Engi

• First Place: Daiki & Brigit Siegert-Iriyama
• Third Place: Jérémy Frandon & Audrey Sassi

Dangai Shiai

• First Place: Daiki Siegert-Iriyama
• Third Place: Jérémy Frandon

Yudansha Engi

• Second Place: Kevin Hallé team

Yudansha Shiai

• First Place: Kevin Hallé

March 19th marked the fourth annual Canadian Winter Classic Tournament! It was a jam-packed day with engi, individual shiai, and team shiai matches. Thank you to the volunteers who helped to run the tournament, and thank you to Marija Landekic for organizing the entire event.

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Engi

• First Place: Julia Luo & Marija Landekic
• Second Place: Joanna Nguyen & Keisuke Nakajima
• Third Place: Lutan Liu & Tomas Almonte

Individual Shiai

• First Place: Tomas Almonte
• Second Place: Marija Landekic
• Third Place: Kevin Hallé

Team Shiai

• First Place:
  • Tianyu Zhang, Marija Landekic, Grace Yoo
• Second Place:
  • Kevin Hallé, Keisuke Nakajima, Jason Lujan
• Third Place:
  • Jérémy Frandon, Raquel Trentin, Tomas Almonte

Best Match Award

• The Third Place Engi Match – Grace Yoo / Akiko Nakagawa vs. Lutan Liu / Tomas Almonte

Fighting Spirit Award

• Grace Yoo and Audrey Sassi

Three different Canadian Regional Taikai took place this year during the months of October and November. See below for the results of each one!

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Toronto Regional Taikai

October 30 was the Toronto Regional Engi Tournament!

It was a busy 10-match round robin engi tournament and everyone had the opportunity to shinpan for multiple matches. We hope everyone had the chance to show off what they’ve been working on and to practice being shinpan. Special thanks to Mary-Kate Proud for organizing the tournament.

Congratulations to:

• 1st Place: Tianyu Zhang & Lutan Liu
• 2nd Place: Juliette Lee & Tomas Almonte
• 3rd Place: Mirage Wu & Victor Lu

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Edmonton Regional Taikai

November 30 was the Edmonton Regional Tournament!

It was a peer-ranked uchikaeshi, engi, and kakari keiko tournament. Everyone had two attempts to try and improve their score where the highest scores counted towards a total. Excited to see everyone incorporate their feedback into regular practice for the next tournament! Special thanks to Alan McDougall for organizing the event.

Top scorers:

• 1st Place: Dan Bouchard
• 2nd Place: Alan McDougall

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Montreal Regional Taikai

Nov 13-14 was the Montreal Regional Tournament.
It was a shiai and engi tournament each with two pools of round robin. We were excited to see such an amazing turn out, and especially to welcome McGill Naginata beginners to their first tournament ever! Everyone had the opportunity to shinpan and to help run the tournament. Special thanks to Marija Landekic for organizing the event.

Shiai:

• 1st Place: Marija Landekic
• 2nd Place: Simon Bruins
• 3rd Place: Kevin Hallé

Engi:

• 1st Place: Simon Bruins & William Choi
• 2nd Place: Marija Landekic & Julia Luo
• 3rd Place: Jérémy Frandon & Akiko Nakagawa

Fighting Spirit: Akiko Nakagawa

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Congratulations and we hope everyone had fun!

Oct 16-17 was the return of the annual CNF Seminar! It was incredible to have so many clubs gather and to practice safely with everyone in person again.

This year’s seminar focused on solidifying fundamentals, taking bogu practice to the next level, learning to teach, and shinpan training. We hope that everyone found some points to reflect on and take back to home dojos!

Thank you very much to the instructors for all the sessions:

• Kaori Kubo (5dan)
• Marija Landekic (4dan)
• Tomas Almonte (3dan)
• Simon Bruins (3dan)
• Mary-Kate Proud (3dan)
• Lutan Liu (2dan) and Alan McDougall (2dan)

Keep an eye out for a future post on the Regional Taikai results!

We’re excited to announce the return of the annual CNF Seminar, and that Regional Taikai will be held in Western Canada, Toronto, and Quebec. Details below:

CNF Seminar:

• Dates: October 16 & 17
• Location: Montreal, Quebec
• Notes:
  • In person
  • CNF members only
  • Double-vaccination required
  • Mask required
  • All local, provincial, and federal health guidelines will be obeyed

Regional Taikai (and the relevant point-person):

• Toronto: October 30 – Mary-Kate Proud
• Edmonton: November 7 – Alan McDougall
• Montreal: November 14 – Marija Landekic

Please contact the point-person for each region for further details!