Our Story...
Our Team USA consists solely of amateur athletes who share a common dream - to become the best in the world. In order to become the best, our team has committed ourselves to train like our professional competition, dedicating nights, weekends and holidays to training and practicing together so we can best represent the United States at the World Kendo Championships. Our journey for the 20th World Kendo Championships will begin exactly 2 years before the tournament, which will be held on May 27-30th, 2027 in Tokyo, Japan.
Team USA has started competing at the World Kendo Championships since its inception in 1974. Over the past 23 years, the Men's Team has been able to place within the Top 3 of the World in the Team Championship at every WKC, and has placed 2nd in the WKC twice in 2006 and 2009. In the last 19th World Kendo Championships, both the Women's and the Men's Team were able to place in 3rd in the Team Championships. We will give our heart and soul to the next two years in order to hopefully surpass these results in 2027!
We ask for your continued encouragement, support and love as we embark on this next journey!
Respectfully,
Team USA
History
1st WKC – 1970 in Tokyo, Japan
Mens - Maki Miyahara, Tsugio Kawaguchi, Haruo Kagawa, Larry Yonemoto, Tadashi Onami, Hisashi Higuchi, Masashi Shikai, Shunji Asari, Stanley Morgan
Coaching staff - Torataro Nakabara, Yutaka Kubota
2nd WKC 1973 in Los Angeles (Team) and San Francisco (Individuals) California
Mens - Tadao Amemiya, Masaharu Shimoda, Maki Miyahara, Kenji Miura, Steve Nakauchi, Masashi Shikai, Makoto Yamaguchi, Shunji Asari, Yoshinori Takao, Tadashi Kurasawa, Iwamoto, Rod Omoto, Yoshinari Miyata, Sho Araki
Coaching staff - Hiromichi Hayashi
3rd WKC 1976 in London, England
Mens - Shunji Asari, Billy Mochidome, Steve Sakurai, Shig Yamanishi, James Murosako, Yoshinori Takao, Bryan Takeda, Hiroshi Umemoto, Osamu Okaniwa, Steve Nakauchi, Masashi Shikai, Keith Shirozono
Coaching staff - Maki Miyahara
4th WKC – 1979 in Sapporo, Japan
Mens - Masashi Shikai, Tadashi Kurasawa, Mark Grivas, Roy Kaneshiro, Steve Nakauchi, Keith Shirozono, Yoshinori Takao, Charlie Tanaka
Coaching staff - Yoshinori Takao
5th WKC 1982 in Sao Palo, Brazil
Mens - Roy Kaneshiro, Isamu Nakawatase, Glen Nakatani, Gary Taguchi, Mark Grivas, George Harada, Richard Uto, John Tashiro, Mark Uchida, Daniel Ebihara, Nobuhisa Ishizuka
Coaching staff - Yoshinori Takao, Taro Eto, Takuma Bunden, Yoshiteru Tagawa
6th WKC 1985 in Paris, France
Mens - Masashi Shikai, Daniel Craig, Mark Grivas, Hiroshi Shikai, Adam Isamu Nakawatase, Roy Kaneshiro, Gary Taguchi, Richard Uto, John Tashiro, Toyooki Sonoda, David Hiromura
Coaching staff - Atsushi Hori, Maki Miyahara
7th WKC 1988 in Seoul, Korea
Mens - John Tashiro, Don Tanaka, Jason Yamamoto, Steven Kinomoto, Koichi Matsukubo, Mark Grivas, Isamu Nakawatase
Coaching staff - Torataro Nakabara, Masashi Shikai, Tim Yuge, Taro Eto
8th WKC 1991 in Toronto, Canada
Mens - Roy Kaneshiro, Spencer Hosokawa, Koichi Matsukubo, Shinji Onitsuka, Yuji Onitsuka, Jason Yamamoto, Mike Yoshimura
Coaching staff - Tsugio Kawaguchi, Charlie Tanaka, Takeshi Yamaguchi
9th WKC 1994 in Paris, France
Mens - Spencer Hosokawa, Jason Yamamoto, Arnold Matsuda, Yuji Onitsuka, Mark Grivas, Steven Kinomoto, Steven Ishii, Tetsuya Nishimoto, Michael Komoto, Moses Becerra
Coaching staff - Tsugio Kawaguchi, Takeshi Yamaguchi, Tim Yuge
10th WKC 1997 in Kyoto, Japan
Mens - Yuji Onitsuka, Mark Grivas, Koichi Matsukubo, Christopher Yang, Mike Yoshimura, Mike Minami, Arnold Matsuda, Dick Anderson, Joshua Caroll
Womens - Judy Abe, Shaun Devine, Yuriko Shikai, Karen Fukumoto, Michi Takeda, Naomi Nishimoto
Coaching staff - Tim Yuge, Shozo Kato
11th WKC 2000 in Santa Clara, USA
Mens - Yuji Onitsuka, Spencer Hosokawa, Mike Minami, Koichi Matsukubo, Tadasu Abe, Mike Yoshimura, Christopher Yang, Kunito Hashimoto, Daniel Yang, Tetsuya Nishimoto
Womens - Naomi Nishimoto, Rika Uto, Miwa Nagano, Jean Kodama, Mitsuyo Sakae, Kaori Takada, Elizabeth Marsten, Shaun Devine, Shannon Mikuni
Coaching staff - Masaharu Makino, Shozo Kato
12th WKC 2003 in Glasgow, Scotland
Mens - Spencer Hosokawa, Mike Yoshimura, Christopher Yang, Arnold Matsuda, Daniel Yang, Steve Yoshimura, , Mike Minami, Fumihide Itokazu, Katsushi Chinen
Womens - Kaori Takada, Reika Mikuni, Elizabeth Marsten, Mitsuyo Sakae, Debi Farmer, Kaori Kikunaga, Mayura Takasaki
Coaching staff - Atsushi Hori, Jean Kodama, , Shinichi Koike
13th WKC 2006 in Taipei, Taiwan
Mens - Christopher Yang, Daniel Yang, Brandon Harada, Sandip Maruyama, Marvin Kawabata, Fumihide Itokazu, Simon Yoo, Jason Brown
Womens - Mitsuyo Sakae, Saeko Tew, Shannon Mikuni, Kaori Kikunaga, Mika Hagiwara, Emi Anderson, Adriene Aono, Sumi Domen
Coaching staff - Masashi Shikai, Yuji Onitsuka
14th WKC 2009 in Sao Paulo, Brazil
Mens - Christopher Yang, Daniel Yang, Marvin Kawabata, Kevin Huh, Brandon Harada, Sandip Ghodgaonkar, Simon Yoo, Jason Brown, Han Soo Kim, Jarrod Hatakeyama
Womens - Shannon Mikuni, Mitsuyo Sakae, Kaori Kikunaga, Sachiko Tamura, Grace Lee, Nishiki Sano, Michiye Cabral, Aya Kuwabara
Coaching staff - Charlie Tanaka, Yuji Onitsuka, Spencer Hosokawa, Song Yi Choi, Shuntaro Shinada Yuji Hosokawa
15th WKC 2012 in Novara, Italy
Mens - Christopher Yang, Daniel Yang, Brandon Harada, Sandip Ghodgaonkar, Simon Yoo, Jason Brown, Jarrod Hatakeyama, Taishi Kato, Hiroyuki Ogikubo, Travis Hill
Womens - Sachiko Tamura, Nishiki Sano, Emi Anderson, Michiye Cabral, Arisa Nakamori, Asaki Shinada, Keri Chen
Coaching staff - Shozo Kato, Yuji Onitsuka, Christopher Yang, Song Yi Yang, Shuntaro Shinada
16th WKC 2015 in Tokyo, Japan
Mens - Christopher Yang, Daniel Yang, Sandip Ghodgaonkar, Brandon Harada, Simon Yoo, Jason Brown, Jarrod Hatakeyama, Julian Williams
Womens - Nishiki Sano, Kaori Kikunaga, Sumi Domen, Keri Chen, Esther Kim, Yuri Kil, Christine Eickhoff
Coaching staff - Yuji Onitsuka, Spencer Hosokawa, Shuntaro Shinada, Kevin Huh, Marvin Kawabata
17th WKC 2018 in Incheon, South Korea
Mens - Jason Brown, Takuro Yamaoka, Jarrod Hatakeyama, Julian Williams, Travis Hill, Arashi Steele, Branden Wang, Daniel Lee, Damian Williams, Manabu Uto, Masa Muramatsu, Mashu Sugiyama
Womens - Esther Kim, Yuri Kil, Seyeon Park, Kasey Tada, Saki Maekawa, Healin Park, Kay Liu
Coaching staff - Yuji Onitsuka, Spencer Hosokawa, Christopher Yang, Daniel Yang, Shuntaro Shinada, Brandon Harada, Song Yi Yang, Kevin Huh
19th WKC 2024 in Milan, Italy
Mens - Jason Brown, Julian Williams, Takuro Yamaoka, Arashi Steele, Brandon Wang, Damian Williams, Manabu Uto, Dave Nam, Taiyo Ariga, Jacob Huh
Mens Junior - Samuel Jo, Jonathan Yu, Andrew Kang, Demian Roh, Hugo Mizuhashi
Womens - Healin Park, Kasey Tada, Allyson Dong, Zidi Allison, Ai Matsumoto, Dale Steele, Aika Onitsuka
Coaching staff - Yuji Onitsuka, Spencer Hosokawa, Christopher Yang, Daniel Yang, Shuntaro Shinada, Brandon Harada, Song Yi Yang, Kevin Huh