Melbourne University Kendo Club

3… 2… 1… 🎉

Good job to the MUKEN trio who passed grading today 🥳

- Ravon Chew (3 Kyu)
- Monique Tovey (2 Kyu)
- May Chung (1 Kyu)

Thank you to everyone who came by and visited us on Club’s Day at the UMSU WinterFest 🩵❄️☃️

We look forward to seeing you again in our next Beginners’ Course in February 2025! ☺️✨

On 13th July, several of our MUKEN members attended the ✨Otsuka Taikai✨ and achieved amazing results:

🥇May Chung (J. Tan, N. Robson)
🥈Ravon Chew (N. Nguyen, A. Lai)
🥉Julianne Cai (M. Wilson, M. Douch)

It was an enjoyable and valuable experience for our kyu and low dan graders. Well done team! 👊🏻💥

‼️Exciting news‼️

MUKEN will be featured on ABC’s Monday’s Experts (Ch 21) airing tomorrow at 9:37-10:08pm! 🤩

Tune in to catch all the highlights including a modified jigeiko between Tony Armstrong and Kevin Chin Sensei 💫

Celebrating a historic moment for the Australia Team with a record four Fighting Spirit Awards at the 19th World Kendo Championships 🏆✨🥂

With a top 8 finish in Women’s Individuals, top 8 and 16 in Men’s Individuals, 3rd place for Women’s Team, and top 8 for Men’s Team, we are beyond proud and inspired by their dedication and stellar performance. Go Australia!!! 🇦🇺

Photo credits: Photography

The Australia Men’s Team fought their way to the 🔥TOP 8🔥 at the 19th World Kendo Championships against Austria, New Zealand, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and USA 👏🏻

Their final match against the USA was incredibly close, keeping us all on the edge of our seats ❤️‍🔥 We couldn’t be prouder of their incredible effort and amazing performance 🇦🇺✨

Photo credits: Photography

The Australia Women’s Team absolutely crushed it at the 19th World Kendo Championships - once again securing🏅THIRD PLACE🏅in an epic showdown against Chinese Taipei and Finland. Their valiant effort against Japan was truly amazing and inspiring✨🇦🇺

Photo credits: Photography

The 19th World Kendo Championships start tomorrow in Milan, Italy!!! 🔥 We are incredibly proud to have five of our MUKEN members in the Australian squad this year:

Women’s Team: Yaya Jeong & Julie Tran

Men’s Team: Richard T’en

Coaching Team: Daniel Jeong (Assistant Coach), Yaya Jeong (Assistant Manager) & Nicole Saccardo (Team Physiotherapist)

Let’s cheer them on as they compete on the world stage! You can watch all the action live at: https://youtube.com/?si=meDgzkwU-oZMQU5V

Go Team Australia!!! 🇦🇺💪🏻🤩

We were thrilled to have Tony Armstrong from the ABC visiting MUKEN yesterday! 🤩🎥

Stay tuned to see the passion and discipline of Kendo in action on ABC’s Monday’s Experts! Can’t wait to catch the episode soon 📺✨

🏁 Gasshuku 2024 ✅

Our annual MUKEN Gasshuku was held at Victoria Uni over the last weekend 🤩 Thank you to all the participants for your dedication and energy (and for waking up early on a cold Sunday ❄️)

A special shoutout to our amazing Sensei for their invaluable instruction and guidance, and a big thank you to the committee for organising everything so smoothly 🩷

We couldn’t have done it without everyone’s amazing efforts 🥰✨ See you again next year!

📣 MUKEN Gasshuku registrations now OPEN 📣

We will be hosting an all-day training camp after the exam period once again this year 🥳✨

🗓️ Date: Sunday 23rd June 2024
🕒 Time: 9am to 5pm
📍 Location: Footscray Nicholas Recreation Centre (Building D, Level 5) at Victoria University’s Footscray Nicholson campus (a 5 minute walk from Footscray Station)
🎟️ Cost: $10

Gasshuku literally means “to stay together at a lodging house” but can also be used to denote “off campus training” (Kuwayama, 1996)

The MUKEN Gasshuku is designed to accommodate all levels of kendoka, regardless of your skill or experience. It is open to all levels of kendoka, and is a great opportunity to improve your kendo. We’re sure you’ll all be pushed to your limits and take home valuable lessons💡

In particular, beginners are encouraged to register. You will be joining beginners from other clubs around Victoria which will foster a stronger connection to the wider kendo community outside of our individual clubs 💞

🌟 Register with your club by Wednesday 19th June so you don’t miss out 👀

🎉Celebrating 35 years of MUKEN🎉

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us for the 35th Anniversary MUKEN Taikai over the weekend. This incredible milestone wouldn't have been possible without the dedication and support of our competitors, shinpan, sensei, and volunteers. Your hard work and passion made this event truly special ❤️

Here's to many more years of growth and camaraderie. We can't wait to see you all next year! ☺️

The 2024 MUKEN Taikai results are as follows:

Junior Kyu Division (Ungraded - 3rd Kyu)

🥇 Anna Quach (RMIT)
🥈 Ravon Chew (MUKEN)
🥉 Johnny Nguyen (RMIT) & Adam Ishmael (RMIT)

Senior Kyu Division (2nd Kyu - 1st Kyu)

🥇 Michael Douch (VUKC)
🥈 An Uong (VUKC)
🥉 Oscar Sun (MUKEN) & Ashraf Shahril (MUKEN)

Junior Dan Division (1st Dan - 2nd Dan)

🥇 Kai Kikuchi (MUKEN)
🥈 Nicholas Robson (NSK)
🥉 Duo An (MUKEN) & Victor Yap (RMIT)

Senior Dan Division (3rd Dan - 4th Dan)

🥇 Kentarou Nibu-Jones (MBK)
🥈 Masato Yano (MUKC)
🥉 Takeshi Hartono (MUKEN) & Zishi Wang (MUKC)

Fighting Spirit Award

🏅 James O'Neill (MUKEN)
🏅 Yujing Huang (MUKEN)
🏅 May Chung (MUKEN)
🏅 Rhiann Fan (MUKC)

Best Shinpan Award

🏅 Koki Hayao (MUKEN)

On 17th April 1989, the first training session of what was to become the Melbourne University Kendo Club was held in the Frank Tate building.

This year marks our 35th Anniversary and we hosted the MUKEN Taikai and dinner in commemoration of this special event (photos to come!).

We looked back at the last decade and reflected on our achievements, challenges and goals for the future. We celebrated with current members and old friends by capturing their thoughts in this video we prepared.

Please enjoy our little 35th Anniversary time capsule 😊

MUKEN 35th Anniversary

📣MUKEN Taikai registrations now OPEN📣

We’ll be hosting the MUKEN Taikai once again and this will be a special taikai celebrating MUKEN’s 35th anniversary 🥳✨

🗓️ Date: Saturday 25th May 2024
🕒 Time: 9am-5pm
📍 Venue: West Stadium (Nona Lee Sports Centre)
🎟️ Cost: $15 per competitor ($0 for Sensei Enbu)

There will be five tentative divisions:
1️⃣ Junior Kyu (Ungraded - 3rd Kyu)
2️⃣ Senior Kyu (2nd Kyu - 1st Kyu)
3️⃣ Junior Dan (1st Dan - 2nd Dan)
4️⃣ Senior Dan (3rd Dan - 4th Dan)
5️⃣ Sensei Enbu (5th Dan and above)

Competition format will be mixed individual knock-out, with the winner and runner up of each division progressing to the next division
🌟 Register with your club by Friday 17th May so you don’t miss out!! 👀

Congratulations to our 2024 beginners cohort for officially graduating from the Kendo beginners course 🎉🥳🥂

Let’s give a big round of applause to every single one of you for your hard work and dedication over the past 10 weeks 👏🏻 We’re so proud of you all for coming this far and we can’t wait to see how much you’ll continue to grow 🤍

A big thank you to Kevin sensei (instructor) and Cheryl (assistant instructor) for supporting them every step of the way. And of course, an extra shout out to our committee members for their tireless efforts behind the scenes 💞

At the Annual General Meeting held on Thursday 11 April a new committee for 2024-25 has been elected 🥳🎊

Thank you so much to the previous committee for your hard work and contribution this past year 🤍

Congratulations and welcome to our new committee:

President: Ravon Chew

Vice-President: Julie Tran

Secretary: Monique Tovey

Treasurer: Julie Wang

Armourer: Derrick Suganda

Social Representative: Rona Sang

IT Officer: Takeshi Hartono

Publicity Officer: Sandra Chen

General Representatives:
- Shirley Lin
- David Turner
- Nathan Tran

AUSTRALIAN KENDO CHAMPIONSHIPS 2024

Congratulations to our MUKEN members and the Victorian Kendo Team for their dedication and outstanding achievements at the Australian Kendo Championships this year 🥳

Men’s Kyu Individual
🥇First place: Simon Wang

Kata Pairs
🥈Second place: Jeffrey Khor

Men’s Kyu Team
🥈Second place: Simon Wang, Oscar Sun, Ravon Chew

Women’s Kyu Team
🥈Second place: Julianne Cai

Women’s Open Team
🥈Second place: Yaya Jeong, Julie Tran

Men’s Open Team
🥈Second place: Richard T’en, Jamie Shen, James O’Neill

Congratulations as well to Michael Dunn for achieving 5th Dan 🎉

We look forward to the next Australian Kendo Championships 2025 in Canberra! Go MUKEN!!! 🔥

📸 Photo credits: Justyn Koh

Good luck to our MUKEN members and the Victorian Kendo Team who will be competing at the Australian Kendo Championships held in Sydney‼️🔥

A big congratulations to our MUKEN members for successfully passing their kendo grading on Sunday 🥳🎉

- Oscar (1 kyu)
- Gandy (1 kyu)
- Derrick (1 kyu)
- Monique (3 kyu)

More highlights from Day 2 of the Victoria-Gwangju Exchange Kendo Seminar 2024!

Once again we would like to thank all sensei and participants from Gwangju and across Australia for showing your support 😊👏🏻

We hope you had as much fun as we did and are able to bring valuable insights back to your home dojo

We would also like to thank the Victorian Kendo Renmei and Gwangju Kumdo Association for supporting and making this event possible 🎉

Last but not least, we would like to say a huge thank you to the organising committee and all volunteers for your hard work and dedication! We couldn’t have done this without you 👊🏻🔥

Highlights from Day 1 of the Victoria-Gwangju Exchange Kendo Seminar and our Welcome Dinner 🤩✨

If you missed our first free trial yesterday, don’t worry! The next one will be on Thursday 1st March 5-6:30pm so please join us if you can!

UNIMELB O-WEEK

Thank you everyone for coming to our stall today! 🤩 See you at the free trial for our Beginners Course starting next Monday 5:30pm 🙌🏻

Remember to fill out the EOI form if you haven’t already: https://forms.gle/JxbZKtRkdkxhJSWv6

VICTORIA-GWANGJU EXCHANGE KENDO SEMINAR

Thank you to everyone who came to our welcome keiko last Friday! More photos of the seminar to come 🤩💫

Day 2 ✅

Day 1 ✅

Today is the 📣LAST DAY📣 to register for the Victoria-Gwangju Exchange Kendo Seminar 2024!

Wondering who will be our seminar instructors? 💭

🌟Mr. Dong-Jin JEONG: 8th Dan (Kyoshi)

- Principal of Seo-Seok Middle School
- Former Seo-Seok Middle and High School Kendobu Head Coach
- Shinpan at World Combat Games Riyadh 2023
- 12th WKC Women’s Deputy Coach

🌟Mr. Tae-Ho KIM: 7th Dan (Renshi)

- Head Coach of Buk-gu District’s Kumdo team
- 12th WKC Korean Men’s Team Member

🌟Mr. Tae-Yoon NAM: 6th Dan (Renshi)

- Head Coach of Seo-Seok High School Kendobu
- Former Cheong-Ju City Kendo Team Member

Accompanying these senseis are 4 students from Chosun University Kendobu, 3 students from Seoseok High Kendobu and 9 delegates from the Gwangju Kumdo Association (including Hyun Daniel Kim 5th Dan, former Hawaii national team member)

Make sure to sign up and we’ll see you there! 🤩🙌🏻

Register here:

Victoria -Gwangju Exchange Kendo Seminar 2024 On behalf of the Victorian Kendo Renmei, the Melbourne University Kendo Club would like to invite you to join the Victoria - Gwangju Exchange Kendo Seminar, held next year 16th to 18th February 2024. The seminar will be led by: Mr. Dong-Jin JEONG: 8th Dan (Kyoshi) Principal of Seo-Seok Middle School...

Highlights from our EOY Taikai ❤️‍🔥

Congratulations and thank you to all MUKEN members for showing your true kendo spirit that day 👑✨

P.S. if you haven’t registered for the Victoria-Gwangju Exchange Kendo Seminar 2024 , make sure to sign up now! (🔗 https://forms.gle/PRR7PVBQEr5kvVj28)

Thank you to all club members that expressed an interest in being selected to represent MUKEN at the 2023 Uni Nationals 💖

In prior years we have been able to allow all interested students to compete, however this year we have over 25 students interested which is a huge number!

Regardless of whether you have been selected this time, you have all been a very important part of the process and we greatly appreciate your energy and commitment to kendo

Thank you for your efforts and keep up the amazing work!! 💪🏻