15th Hong Kong Open Dan Shinsa

Preparing for Dan Exam

Pep talk before the dan exam

The 15th Hong Kong Open was not just about the tournament. Of equal importance was the staging of the dan rank advancement exams. Some would argue that this is actually more important, as this is helping to build the future of the Club by adding to the acknowledged senior ranked students.

The dan exams (shinsa) was held last Friday, Feb 27, 2015, on the first official day of the event, in the Tin Shui Wai Sports Centre. Registration started at 1:00pm, and the exam proper started around 2:30pm. More than a hundred hopeful kendoka registered to take the exams, ranging from 1st-dan to 5th-dan candidates. IGA Ken sent 11 1st-dan, 5 2nd-dan, and 1 4th-dan candidates. We are proud to announce that all our 1st-dan and 2nd-dan candidates passed, thus increasing by a substantial amount the number of yudansha (dan ranked) seniors. The only bad news was that our 4th-dan candidate didn’t pass. It is okay though, as this exam historically has a 50% or less passing rate, and there is always next year to try again.


Showing off the exam numbers.

Here are our candidates and the videos of their exams. Congratulations to them all!

New 1st Dan

Prince Mallari

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Candidate Number: 101

Prince’s dan exam number 1

Prince’s dan exam number 2

Masayoshi Corpuz

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Candidate Number: 117

Dane Pio de Roda

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Candidate Number: 118

Masayoshi’s dan exam number 1 & Dane’s dan exam numbers 1 & 2

Masayoshi’s dan exam number 2

Vince Hernandez

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Candidate Number: 121

Raffy Javier

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Candidate Number: 123

Gerard Kevin B. Cagatan

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Candidate Number: 124

Vince’s dan exam number 1

Raffy’s dan exam, Gek’s dan exam numbers 1 & 2, & Vince’s dan exam number 2

Marc Yaptinchay

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Candidate Number: 139

Marc’s dan exam numbers 1 & 2

John Besa

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Candidate Number: 147

John’s dan exam numbers 1 & 2

April Rose Enerio

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Candidate Number: 157

Erica Abriol-Santos

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Candidate Number: 158

April & Erica’s dan exam numbers 1 & 2

Marie Angelyn Mercado

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Candidate Number: 160

Angelyn’s dan exam numbers 1 & 2

New 2nd Dan

Franco Carlos Liu

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Candidate Number: 212

Franco’s dan exam number 1

Franco’s dan exam number 2

Ejay Angeles

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Candidate Number:  213

Jomar Romero

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Candidate Number: 214

Josh Espiritu

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Candidate Number: 215

Ejay & Jomar’s dan exam number 1

Ejay’s dan exam number 2

Jomar’s dan exam number 2 & Josh’s dan exam number 1

Josh’s dan exam number 2

Lyndon Nolasco

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Candidate Number: 221

Lyndon’s dan exam number 1

Lyndon’s dan exam number 2

4th Dan Candidate

Shinmei Sugawara

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Candidate Number: 401
Note – While Shinmei did not pass her exam, we still think she did a good job. Good luck to her next year!

Shinmei’s dan exam number 1

Shinmei’s dan exam number 2

 

 

What dyou think?