With all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season in the Philippines, we still find time to get together and duke it out at the dojo with all the IGA-Ken members available to end 2017 with a bang. The annual IGA Kendo Club Philippines year-end shiai and party was held last December 17, 2017 at the City Club Alphaland Makati.
See the results of the various events below:
Kid’s Individuals
- 2nd Runner Up – Mico Bolisay
- 1st Runner Up – Tomas
- Champion – Yara
Kid’s Team Match
- 1st Runner Up – Arena Kids
- Champion – Dasma Kids
No Bogu Class Team Match
- 1st Runner Up – Team Dasma/City Club
- Champion – Team Arena
Mudansha 3-Man Team Match

The Team City Hunters Byron Badong, Rocky Sison, and Marco Gregana places first on the Mudansha 3-Man Team after defeat by the Dasmaniacs.
Champion – Dasmaniacs
- Lawin Bulatao
- John Henry Lumayag
- Jacob Agleron
Yudansha Individuals
Fighting Spirit Awards
- Mico Bolisay
- Jet Tirona
- Rocky Sison
- Siota Akihiro
Congratulations also to the newest members of the IGA-Ken Bogu Class!
- Jay
- Seth
- Riel
- James Benedict
- Jonathan Pabico
- Charlie Dave
- Jet Tirona
- Claudine Umali
- Raquel Cabrieto
- John Martinez
After the shiai, we transferred to the pool floor and bonded over food, games, and gifts.
We also had the annual IGA-Ken Fun Awards, with the following people receiving the most number of community votes:
The Incredible Improvement Award – Rocky Sison
for being someone who has worked very hard to improve in training. Way to go!
The ALL STAR Award – Johnny Besa
for being someone who always treats everyone with respect and showing great sportsmanship every time. You rock!
The NBA (Never-Been-Absent) Award – Tamorah Mae Sison
for being someone who has an almost perfect attendance in 2017. Your dedication is inspiring!
The Tough Cookie Award – Joshua Espiritu
for being self confident, strong-willed, and resilient and training. (The ultimate tank, RPG-wise! :D)
The Fabulous Friend Award – Florencio Sebastian III
for being extremely pleasant to talk to. Our second (and third, sometimes even fourth) dojo has never been more consistent than ever. If you need food recommendations, he’s the go-to guy 😉
The Hustle Award – Jerome Bautista
for being one of the most determined people in the dojo and always giving your 100% in training. Keep at it!
The Notice-Me-Senpai Award – Dardsie Abriol-Santos
for being someone who sets a good example to everyone. Kouhais secretly utters “notice-me-senpai” (with hearts for eyes) when they see her in training 😉
The Kouhai Powers Award – Lhou Gin Magluyan
for being someone who is always up to learning more. Your senpais definitely noticed you so keep up the good work!
The IDOL! Award – Shinmei Sugawara
for being someone who is most voted as the person to emulate in the dojo. Well, you guys better smile more!
The Humble Humanitaria Award – Kristopher Inting
for always looking after us and all our shenanigans at the expense of your hair. Oops… We love you anyway 😉
The Personality Plus Award – Koji Igarashi
for always inspiring us in Kendo or otherwise. We love you, lolo sensei!
Merry Christmas from our dojo to yours!
Photos from JB Gutierrez, Isak Empeño, Koji Igarashi, Maya Guilatco.