February 10, 2009

Dear Kenshi:

We are happy to invite for the 21^st you Annual Cleveland Kendo Tournament / Greater Northeastern United States Kendo Championships on April 18, 2009 at Adelbert Gymnasium at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. We celebrated the 20^th year anniversary last year, and we hope that this will be the new invigorated beginning for this annual tradition. We are happy to announce that Murakami Sensei, the president of the All United States Kendo Federation, will be attending this year’s tournament.

Also we are planning to do a short seminar for those who are going to take promotion tests Friday evening.

Attached please find invitations for the 21^st Annual Cleveland Kendo Tournament. We are processing applications the same way as last year. Please ensure that each participant  in your team is aware of the following.

1.    Please assign a team representative as a contact person. Duties include:

Each representative is required to report to a tournament registration desk at Adelbert Gym the night before the tournament to check in all members of your team, and to inform the registration desk if there happen to be any changes in the composition of your team (absent or additional members, et cetera). For each grou p arriving in Cleveland Saturday morning (April 18^th), the group representative is required to report to the registration desk at Adelbert Gymnasium at 7:30 am. The representative serves as the primary contact for your team. Thus, we may contact you while processing applications before and throughout the tournament. Each team representative is encouraged to send individual applications as one package as a team by the due date.

Please complete competitors entry list, send it along with applications.

2.      We will be processing tournament applications and kendo promotion testing applications in different locations by different due date this year. Please refer to the invitation documents for specific instructions regarding the tournament applications and exam applications.

Mail to Dr. Tsuyoshi Inoshita: Tournament applications and the tournament registration fees. Due postmarked by 4/6/2009 (Monday)

Mail to Ms. Isabella Church: Kendo promotion applications, fees, and materials related to the examination. Due 4/6/2009 (Monday)

3.      The hotel location will be the same as last year. We have reserved a block of rooms at the Cleveland Clinic Guest House, which is relatively close to Adelbert Gymnasium. It is approximately a 15 to 20 minute walk. Please refer to the invitation documents for more detailed information.

4.      Please join us for the Godo Keiko (general practice), which will be held at Adelbert Gymnasium the night before the tournament, 5:15 PM – 7:30 PM Friday, April 17, 2009.  Immediately following this (or concurrently if necessary) we would like to have a PROMOTION TEST SEMINAR (practice testing followed by individual critiques) for those planning to take promotion tests for an hour. This will be followed by a dinner at THE PRACTICE SITE (Adelbert Gymnasium) until 12:00 midnight.. The cost for the dinner (which will start after the godo keiko/seminar) will be $12 per person ($8 for 12 years old and younger). No alcohol will be served.