The 72nd All Japan Student Kendo Championships (sponsored by the Mainichi Shimbun and the All Japan Student Kendo Federation), which will determine the best individual student kendo player in Japan, will be held on the 30th at Musashino Forest Sport Plaza in Tokyo.
In the men’s division, Tsukuba University’s Naotake Hirao (4th year), who won the Kanto Student Championship in May, is on a roll. He is known for his precise tactics and is a type of player who seizes the momentum from a solid defense. He was defeated in the first round of the previous tournament, and is determined to “first go. I want to fight without looking ahead.”

Hosei University will also have a strong team of players who can aim for the top spots. Tatsuya Suzuki (4th year), who was the runner-up in the last tournament, Masatoshi Yano (4th year), who placed 3rd last time and also placed 3rd in the Kanto region this year, and Ryosuke Miyake (4th year), who was in the top 8 in the Kanto region, are also strong players. Hosei University will be looking to reach the top for the first time in 23 years.
The National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya, which is aiming for a “consecutive victory” as a university, has high hopes for Shota Ohira (4th year), who won the Kyushu Student Championship. Shin Fujishima (3rd year) of Nippon Sport Science University fought on equal terms with Hirao in the Kanto final, where he came in second.

Since the 2017 tournament (excluding the 2020 tournament, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic), athletes from the University of Tsukuba, Kokushikan University, and the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya have each won twice. Will fencers from other universities be able to rewrite the balance of power?