A small man who left a big mark in our club…
We were very sad to see one of our greatest members of our club have to leave us on the 8th of December.
For those who did not have the chance to meet him, Takeuchi Yoshito joined our club in early 2015. He came from Ritsumeikan University (Kyoto, Japan) on a one year study exchange. Joining our beginner program, Takeuchi did not boast his 3rd dan and humbly went along with our instructor’s program. After some time he received his bogu from Japan and immediately blew us all away with his Kendo skills. We were extremely lucky to have such amazing talent in our club for the entire year.
Takeuchi’s track record
Yoshito’s (let’s call him Yoshi…) really delivered the results. It began in the Hanrimwon Competition where he shone through with a gold medal taking 1st place in the Dan individual competition. He then carried this momentum as the taisho (caption) of the Dan team and brought the team to a 1st place victory.
Takeuchi making his first appearance at the competition scene – Aug 2015!
Did I also mention he can levitate to confuse his opponents? Caught on tape.
But of course, the biggest win for us was our most recent – grabbing the gold for the Dan team competition at the 2015 NSW state championships. Thanks to our captain again for being the solid anchor of the team!
Gold at the State Championships 2015: Thanks Captain Yoshi!
Did you know?
Yoshi initially intended to leave our club earlier, but due to our loss at the DHMDK competition, he agreed to extend his stay in Sydney (cancelling his holidays) just so that we could take a last stab at the biggest competition in NSW. He then delivered what he aimed for. Thank you Yoshi!
We all know that his competition results was only one component of why he was so likened by everybody in our club. What mattered more than this was his everyday dedication to our club training and events throughout the year. Irregardless of how busy he was with his own matters, he always put club training at high priority and showed by example how we should be at training. Never did he ever complain about our training or our people – what a great example for all of us to follow! Did I also mention he’s only 21? We all have no excuses now!
A happy send off!
We’re not big fans of sad send offs, so to celebrate the entire club rounded up and had a great pub night evening with his last training. Happy times!
Picture below…just incase you couldn’t find him
Food…drinks…hugs…glad to see Yoshi appreciating our gifts and thoughts to him!
Sorry to see you go Yoshi! But all the best with your life back in Japan, you’ve set an amazing example of a great Kendo practitioner and we’ll do our best to catch up to you. Hopefully will cross paths with you again!
