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
Candidate Number: 101
Prince’s dan exam number 1
Prince’s dan exam number 2
Masayoshi Corpuz
Candidate Number: 117
Dane Pio de Roda
Candidate Number: 118
Masayoshi’s dan exam number 1 & Dane’s dan exam numbers 1 & 2
Masayoshi’s dan exam number 2
Vince Hernandez
Candidate Number: 121
Raffy Javier
Candidate Number: 123
Gerard Kevin B. Cagatan
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
Candidate Number: 139
Marc’s dan exam numbers 1 & 2
John Besa
Candidate Number: 147
John’s dan exam numbers 1 & 2
April Rose Enerio
Candidate Number: 157
Erica Abriol-Santos
Candidate Number: 158
April & Erica’s dan exam numbers 1 & 2
Marie Angelyn Mercado
Candidate Number: 160
Angelyn’s dan exam numbers 1 & 2
New 2nd Dan
Franco Carlos Liu
Candidate Number: 212
Franco’s dan exam number 1
Franco’s dan exam number 2
Ejay Angeles
Candidate Number: 213
Jomar Romero
Candidate Number: 214
Josh Espiritu
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
Candidate Number: 221
Lyndon’s dan exam number 1
Lyndon’s dan exam number 2
4th Dan Candidate
Shinmei Sugawara
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