On sunday may 17th the annual Dutch Championships for iaido & jodo were held in Nijmegen. Kendo Kai Den Haag was present and won many matches, to which we are very proud of. The results were as following: For iaido: 5th dan silver for Kenichi4th dan gold for Noël2nd dan bronze for Artur1st dan gold for Antoni1st dan bronze for SanderMudan gold for Juan And for jodo: 5th dan gold for Piotr3rd dan silver for Jolanda1st dan silver for JeppeMudan gold for Alexandra Congratulations!

Mudan tournament On sunday 19th of april 2026 there was an opportunity for the not-yet-black-belt or mudan-grade of jodo & iaido practitioners to participate in the Mudan Tournament. Of which 7 participants of Kendo Kai Den Haag entered: Jodo:SanderAlexandra Iaido:NataliaIlyaFuadJuanDuncan With multiple competitions, there were 5 gold medals to earn. Excitingly we can proudly announce that Kendo Kai Den Haag took home all (!) 5 gold medals and on top of that a silver medal and the Fighting Spirit award. Congratulations Juan, Alexandra, Sander & Duncan! The Mudan tournament also gave the opportunity for 3rd-dan grade and higher to act as jury and appoint points to the participants. Atleast 4 higher grade members of Kendo Kai Den Haag took the role as jury of which the highest ranking sensei on the event were Edwin sensei & Aad sensei for jodo & iaido respectively. Thank you to the organizers, photographers, and special thanks to the volunteers and supporters!

Shoden Ryu Seminar On march 29th KKDH organized its first koryu seminar of 2026 lead by Aad van de Wijngaart sensei, 7th dan kyoshi. With 29 total participants from 8 different MSR dojo in the Netherlands, which is a 50% increase of participants from last years single koryu seminar in june! Soon we will announce the follow-up Chuden Koryu Seminar, and hope to see both familiar and new MSR faces!

On saturday 28th of March, 2026 Kendo Kai Den Haag held exams for their kyu-grade candidates. Thanks to their dedication to practice and calmness during presentation all candidates passed!Guest candidate Khang from Shin Karasukai- 6th kyuIlya, Natalia, Fuad - 5th kyuJavier, Juan - 2nd kyu Congratulations to all participants, and good luck continuing on the path of the sword! On saturday april 11th 2026, Kendo Kai Den Haag held their jodo kyu-grade exams and with great pleasure we can proudly announce that all participants passed! Thank you to Edwin sensei, Aad sensei, Steven sensei for their guidance. Special thanks to Lorena & Jeppe for taking uchidachi roles during exams and Piotr for guiding the participants during the gradings. Participants were:Alexandra - 2nd kyuJohanna - 4th kyuSander - 6th kyuAlexandra - 6th kyu Good luck to all on The Path!

—— ENGLISH BELOW —— Op 24 & 25 januari 2026 vond het Ishido Cup plaats in Helsdingen Sport en Cultuur te Vianen. In de iaidocompetitie namen 9 KKDH-leden deel: Juan & Fuad - mudan (eerste deelname)Sander en Antoni - shodanArtur - nidanLorena & Noël - sandanListon - yondanEdwin - rokudan Waarvan de volgende plaatsen werden behaald: Juan - eerste plaats in mudanAntoni - tweede plaats in shodanArtur - derde in nidanLorena en Noël - derde in sandanFuad - mudan fighting spirit prijs Op zondag vond de jodowedstrijd plaats. 5 KKDH-leden namen deel: Alexandra - mudan (eerste deelname)Jeppe - shodanJolanda - sandanPiotr - godan Er was ook een embu van de 12 seitei kata gedaan door de twee rokudan, onder wie Steven van KKDH. Alexandra behaalde de eerste plaats, Jeppe de tweede en Jolanda de derde. Aad en Edwin waren dit weekend ook aanwezig als docent, scheidsrechter en examinator. Examens iaidoIn december 2025 tijdens het ABKF winter seminar in Belgium is Kenichi godan geworden en op 24 januari 2026 tijdens de Ishido Cup zijn Lorena en Noël yondan geworden. —— On January 24 & 25 Kendo Kai Den Haag was present at the annual Ishido Cup organized by the @nederlandsekendorenmeiA Dutch event named in honour of Ishido sensei, headmaster of the Muso Shinden Ryuha in Japan, and open to international budoka. Among the many international sensei both Aad sensei & Edwin sensei from Kendo Kai Den Haag taught the students during the seminar portions and acted as judges during the taikai for both iaido and jodo. Competition was fierce, but great results were made nonetheless. For iaido taikai:Mudan - Juan (gold)Shodan - Antoni (silver)Nidan - Artur (bronze)Sandan - Lorena (bronze)Sandan - Noël (bronze)Fighting spirit - Fuad For jodo taikai:Mudan - Alexandra (gold)Shodan - Jeppe (silver)Sandan - Jolanda (bronze) Besides the seminar and taikai, there was also an opportunity to participate in exams led by Aad sensei among others. Both Lorena and Noël managed to pass their exam and advance to yondan grade.Earlier at the ABKF in december 2025 Kenichi also managed to pass his godan exam. Congratulations to all winners and graduates!

English below Tijdens de laatste centrale training van het jaar is er traditiegetrouw een speciale gelegenheid voor de mudan, of beginners, om hun kunsten te laten zien aan de andere aanwezigen met een embu, oftewel demonstratie. Ook krijgt de mudan deze laatste training van het jaar les van de ‘oudste’ aanwezige leraar, in dit geval Aad sensei van Kendo Kai Den Haag. Juan van Kendo Kai Den Haag voltooide zijn embu en ontving daarvoor een certificaat voor zijn participatie. Proficiat Juan, en succes op jouw weg van het zwaard! —— During the last central training of the year it is tradition that the mudan, or beginners, perform a embu, or demonstration, to all other attendees. The mudan also have the privilege to receive teachings of the oldest present teacher, in this case Aad sensei of Kendo Kai Den Haag. Juan of Kendo kai Den Haag completed his embu and received a certificate for his participation. Congratulations Juan, and good luck on your path of the sword!

Op 30 november 2025 kwam burgemeester van Leidschendam - Voorburg Martijn Vroom op werkbezoek bij Kendo Kai Den Haag tijdens Jodo les. Naast zijn ambtelijke taken is de burgemeester zelf ook jodoka! En wij zijn het eens met de stelling, dat naast Kendo en Iaido, jodo zeker de leukste budo is om te beoefenen!

In the beginning of november 2025, members of Kendo Kai Den Haag were selected to partake at the 23rd European Iaido Championship held in Prague, Czech Republic. At this event Antoni, Sander, Artur, and Kenichi had the opportunity to compete against other top iaido talent from other European countries to a panel of referees which included Aad sensei from Kendo Kai Den Haag. Both Artur and Kenichi succeeded in earning a ‘fighting spirit’ award for 2nd dan and 4th dan category respectively. After the championships Antoni and Sander managed to both pass their 1st dan exam under the watchful eyes of Aad sensei who was head of the exam panel for the 1st - 3rd dan exams. Congratulations to all, and special thanks to Liston for his support throughout the entire event.

Op zaterdag 1 november 2025, hebben we dojo-examens gehouden voor jodo en iaido. Felicitaties voor de geslaagden!

On the early morning of Sunday, April 12th, 2026, seven brave members of Kendo Kai Den Haag traveled to Groningen to participate in the Edo Cup and Katsumori Cup. The Edo Cup is a mixed three-person team competition, while the Katsumori Cup is a short but exciting “dead-or-alive” style individual tournament. Our participants were Jon, Lonneke, Manabu, Mugisho, Milou, Roald, and Yi. For the Edo Cup, we formed two teams: “Shinmujo 2.0” (Jon, Manabu, Mugisho) and “Kendo Pandas” (Lonneke, Roald, Yi). Milou joined a combined women’s team, “Shrimp Fried Rice.” The day began with the Odinot Cup, an individual competition for kendoka over 50 years old. While no KKDH members participated this time, it was inspiring to watch. In a few years, some of us (myself included) will be eligible—so we’re already looking forward to making things even more interesting! Next came the Edo Cup. Both Shinmujo 2.0 and Kendo Pandas were among the first teams to start, competing on different courts. Unfortunately, this meant we couldn’t watch or cheer for each other, but both teams successfully advanced to the knockout stage. Shrimp Fried Rice, unfortunately, did not make it through, though to be fair, they were placed in a particularly tough pool. The highlights of the morning included Mugisho’s match against Ikeda and Milou’s match against Pakwan. Ikeda, a Japanese university student, placed third in the most recent Iijima Cup, while Pakwan is the current European women’s champion. Mugisho earned one flag for a well-executed ai-men, and one of the referees later admitted it should have been awarded as a full point. Milou also fought impressively against Pakwan, with several very close strikes. Both showed great fighting spirit against top-level opponents. Adding a bit of drama to the day, Shinmujo 2.0 faced Kendo Pandas in the knockout stage. As the more experienced senpai team, Shinmujo 2.0 came out on top. That said, we could clearly see the growth of our kohai team throughout the match, not least Roald’s impressive ippon against Jon. After that, Shinmujo 2.0 won another match to advance to the final. Their opponents consisted of three national team members. Although Mugisho managed to score an ippon against the team captain, Shinmujo 2.0 was ultimately defeated, finishing in second place in the Edo Cup. Immediately afterward, the Katsumori Cup began. This unique format features 40-second ippon-shobu matches with no draws—if neither competitor scores, the referees decide by hantei. As a result, matches tend to be very aggressive and fast-paced. The atmosphere felt almost like a festival, with enthusiastic cheering from the audience. There were even moments that resembled sumo wrestling! One standout moment was Milou defeating Mugisho in just 15 seconds. Despite our fatigue after the Edo Cup, everyone had a great time. In the end, we brought home three silver medals to Den Haag. It was a long and tiring day, but definitely one worth participating in.