“After twenty years’ waiting, we come to TKU immediately after the first step in Taiwan,” said Kitahara, the supervisor and coach-in-chief of Chuo University. He led the ken-do team of 28 students to TKU on 12 March, and had friendly combats and demonstrations at Student Activity Center with TKU’s ken-do team and alumni ken-do team, and other players form National Physical Education College, Taipei Physical Education College, and other institutions.

The unprecedented visit and exchange was mediated by Wu Hsian-lo , chair of TKU’s alumni ken-do team and Association of Ken-Do, ROC. The visitors include coach-in-chief Kitahara, two associate coaches, and twenty-eight students with well-disciplined ken-do prowess. The first event at Student Activity Center was the first round of group combat, which was held at two sites with triumphs and defeats on both sides. Friendly combat came up after brief warm-up practices. Both sides sent out the combatants who performed better in the previous two stages, and TKU team was defeated tightly.

TKU’s ken-do team used to win prizes in College Cup of Ken-Do Contest. As the team leader Chi Kuan-liang (senior form Dept. of Public Administration) indicated, “Players from Chuo GAKUIN University are good at powerful frontal attacks. Their solid basic training and excellent physical energy bring us much shock.” After this shocking experience, TKU’s team members will readjust their regular training under coaches’ directions.

In the evening the same day, Chair Wu Hsian-lo invited all the participants to the dinner party. He said that the ken-do teams of Chuo GAKUIN University and TKU belong to the famous ken-do fraction in Japan and Taiwan respectively, and their strengths are almost the same.

The supervisor of Chuo GAKUIN University Kitahara has acquired the six-duan qualification in ken-do. During the visit to TKU, he attentively watched the performance of TKU’s ken-do team. “Student fencers’ sharp gazes display their excellence,” he commented. He wished to practice what he learnt in Taiwan in the coming contests in Japan. (Han-yu Huang)