Friendly Fight: Tobu Friendship Taikai, 3rd November 2010

Peter Here,

November 3rd was the Tobu Friendship Taikai. While still a 'local' tournament, this was a much bigger event than the Sugito Taikai last month. Held at the Satte City Gymnasium, the competition was open to more styles, including Yamaguchi-Ha Goju Ryu. It was great to see familiar faces as well as meet new ones!



The unfortunate part of the day was that I had been stuck down with cold, so I wasn't performing at my best at all (it's a good excuse, honest!). My group was only four people, and I had beaten the opponent I was drawn with in the Saitama Wadokai taikai in July, I should've done better than I did. However, my timing was off and I was kicking too high, meaning that I missed some vital 3 point shots and he pulled of a convincing win using little more than gyakuzuki. So, more basics training required for me. I also need to look at how I'm training on my own to see if there's any way of increasing speed and reflexes as I'm feeling slow.



The better part of the day came from watching the rest of the tournament. Shiramizu did well as always, Arakawa Sensei's son Masatoshi, Rikuto and Uchida-san being notable winners in their category. There were even a fair few all-Shiramizu finals!




The event was very well put together, with ample support as always from the families making a very enthusiastic atmosphere. At the end of the tournament there was a raffle draw for prizes using serial numbers on the back of the event programs (a very good idea I thought), with a few happy people leaving the event with a Ceramic heater, Adidas sports bag and a bicycle!

Sainokuni East Friendship Competition

The 6th Sainokuni East Friendship Competition

Erica here!

As Louise mentioned, we participated in the Tobu Taikai last week and were both surprised. Kumite is definitely not my favorite and after the Sugito tournament (where I won a gold medal in kata) Arakawa Sensei insisted that I needed more kumite practice. So practice we did, but it did not raise my confidence very much.

In my division at the Tobu Taikai, there were 5 other girls with kyu (non dan) rankings. They were all from the same university club and I was nervous and a bit disheartened (my previous kata match did not go as I planned). But for kumite we had an odd number of people in our division and I was the lucky one to be given the bi into the next round. So my first match was a semi-final one. I went in hoping for the best and surprisingly I won the match advancing me into the finals! There I hoped for the best again and at first I was in the lead, but she started catching up! I scored another point and the match was over. Much to everyone's surprise, I won gold in kumite.

Gold?.....in kumite??

At the end of the competition, when we were all supposed to line up with our clubs and bow out, everyone was running around like crazy. I looked around wondering what was going on when I realized people were going up to the bleachers to get their programmes. So of course I went and grabbed mine and discovered a number on the back of it. The reason for it was that there was going to be a draw!! The prizes included a digital picture frame, something that looked like a mini-heater (I'm not sure because I couldn't really see) and a brand new bicycle!! That's what all the kids were excited about. It was a very nice way to end the day =)

PRIZES!! It's so new and shiny!!

Tobu Taikai Surprise

Louise here,

Last Monday, the 23^rd of November, Erica and I competed in the Sainokuni East Friendship Competition, otherwise known as the Tobu Taikai. This competition is organized by Takamasa Arakawa Sensei and Shiramizu, and is a 'friendship' competition because it isn't a selection for another, higher level tournament; it is just a chance to get competition experience. Held at the Kuki City Sports Hall, about 600 children and adults entered.

Competition Programme

I didn't do so well in kumite, losing my first round. I was nervous and didn't fully commit to my attacks, so they were too short and obvious. At the end of the time the points were 2-2, so we went into encho-sen. My opponent and I both punched at the same time, but because she initiated it, she got the point and won the match.

Kuki City Sports Hall set up with eight courts for the competition

There were five women in my kata division (Dan Grade Women). In the first two rounds I did Chinto, and both times managed to mess up the last spin and kick, so you can imagine my surprise when I won those rounds. My opponents and I performed our kata at the same time so I didn't see how they did. In the finals I did Kushanku and, to my even greater surprise, I won again. So for the first time ever I won a gold medal in kata.

Erica won her kumite division as well and she'll be telling you about that soon.

Erica and I with our medals

Tobu Taikai Competition

CARL here, aka the ENGLISH Intern...







The 5th Tobu Taikai competition, or the ‘Sainokuni east friendship competition’ was held on Monday 15th September at the Asukaru Sports Centre. Apparently the motto for this comp is taken from Dragonball (a really cool, world famous Japanese cartoon series).

Arakawa Sensei even went so far as to warn everyone in his opening speech that ‘even though the comp motto is taken from Dragonball, you can’t use the Kameameah! And the referee’s will give you a warning if you do!’

I’d even made a deal with Lawrence to replace the last junzuki in Chinto for a Kameameah, however I was too nervous to remember! This is probably for the best because my kata was terrible anyway.


Opening ceremony picture from Arakawa Sensei's blog.

After the customary team warm-up, where Shiramizu took up a full quarter of the huge hall, we had the opening ceremony. There were a few speeches, and some of the senior sensei introduced themselves. Then followed the typical roman salute from a young Japanese kid, I laughed to myself at this part because it reminded me of the Gladiator movie with Russell Crow, in particular the part in the coliseum where the gladiators shout to the emperor ‘we who are about to die, salute you!’ It’s the same sort of thing (almost!), the kid made an oath to Arakawa sensei on behalf of all the competitors that they would do their best.



I was well up for my kumite and feeling pretty confident despite this being my first fight wearing a Japanese style head guard (just think storm trooper!), despite this I still lost my first fight and crashed out in round 1.

Lawrence did well, he was seeded to 3rd to start with, and drew up against Ueno-san also from Shiramizu. It was a really good fight, and Lawrence did what any seasoned fighter would do against a taller opponent, he took the fight straight to him. It was very close, and the fight could have easily gone the other way. Ueno was just that bit quicker on the final punch and won at time up with 2points to Lawrence’ 1 point.


Two kids competing, from Sensei's blog.

Ueno went onto the finals against the guy that beat me. The little Japanese guy was too quick and nimble for Ueno to counter but he put up a good fight, despite this being his first tournament as a dan grade.

Kumite analysis
I figure that I did three things wrong, which lost me my fight:

1. I underestimated my opponent, he looked very meek and I self-assuredly said to myself that ‘I could take him!’ a fatal and basic mistake!

2. I didn’t switch on; I knew that the smaller opponent would come straight in with tobikomizuki every time. That’s exactly what he did, I just didn’t react. I let him get too close and then my reach advantage meant nothing.

3. I misjudged the time of the bout. I thought I still had 30 seconds remaining when the referee stopped the fight for the last time. That would have been more than enough time to rescue the fight and my pride with it.

Kata, ha! Only Lawrence and I were in the category (and turned up) which automatically made it the final. So, you could say that I got 2nd place in only my second ever kata competition and in Japan of all places. Yes, obviously Lawrence beat me lol! I’m still working on controlling my nerves in my competition kata and didn’t really have a hope in hell against a Wadokai World Team Kata Champion (and individual World Wadokai Kata silver medallist).

Here’s a theory!
I have figured out why my kata is so bad in competitions. Fear! I was always taught to imagine that you’re fighting someone when performing kata. Now in competition kata, you’re effectively fighting yourself, your shadow even. So I’m only scared of myself and my own fighting abilities. Okay, maybe not! The funny thing is though; I never get so nervous in kumite that it actually affects my performance.

Competition summary
The Competition overran by a bit, but I think this could have been due to all the extra high school fighters. There were some really good bouts, the teams really got into it and they’re all heavy hitters. So much so that the collective punches actually took me away from my sleepy state (with IPod plugged in) because I thought there was a thunderstorm (no really!). I quickly realised that it was the collective noise of 3 areas running high school team kumite with everyone’s favourite technique being gyakuzuki.

It was a good day, and it was fun. The demonstrations at the end were good, this consisted of a good display of Unsu from a shotokan team, then the Shiramizu ladies (and Wadokai World Kata Champions) re-enacted their winning performance of Wanshu with bunkai. Due to the time constraints, the second group of Shiramizu kids had to miss their chance to show their demo which was shame because it’s my favourite. Two young Shiramizu girls smoke three Shiramizu boys, it’s very good. Both Shiramizu demo’s can be seen on this blog.

I was again disappointed with the lack of senior competitors in particular my kata event (2 entries!).

Tournament setup
This competition was organised and run by Arakawa sensei, with the Tatami chief being Uehara Sensei. We set up the competition the night before; Arakawa sensei had amassed a group of 40 volunteers which made the whole process very quick.

There were 6 areas, one area with jigsaw mats and the rest marked out on the floor in tape. As per custom, the Japanese were meticulous in making sure that the areas were exactly 8m by 8m, and that they were perfectly square. Even the red and blue strip of tape that marks were each competitor will stand was exactly the same length on every area!

I particularly liked the way they had organised the area equipment, the red and blue tags; flags, bells and whistles etc... They were all pre-sorted into clear plastic bags and sealed. This meant that all the equipment was at hand immediately. When they packed up the competition at the end of the day, they re-packed everything into clear bags again thus making the next event that bit easier. I thought this was a very simple but good idea.

The After Party
Party afterwards, we were late because of a misunderstanding about the start time, oh, and then we got lost!. When we finally arrived, most people were already merry but the food was delicious, and their was lots more drinking and speeches still to be made.


Yet again, the dragonball influence!
Picture courtesy of Arakawa Sensei' blog

I was particularly pleased with my (rather limited) speech which was entirely in Japanese! When I stood up to start I took a piece of paper out of my pocket as though I had prepared a speech. I quickly put that away and just winged it though. I said something along the lines of hello/thanks for letting me talk then I moved to say that my kumite was terrible and my kata was worse. I then asked Arakawa sensei to keep on teaching me (which I thought was a nice touch ) I finished by saying that the Tobu Takai competition was fun. See, easy when you know how.
I did have to look up the word for terrible – hidoi!

Amy couldn’t attend the competition because she was working, yes on a Japanese holiday! (The company she works for is run by English/Americans). All she ended up saying was ‘I was at work, I’m sure the competition was great, Kampai’ Lawrence kindly translated this into Japanese as Amy ran off.

You’ll notice that there are no cool action photos for this competition because of the fact that Amy was working. She is a professional photographer with a first class honours degree and was quickly designated the ‘official’ Shiramizu event photographer. I promise my readers some better photo’s from the next competition.

The 5th Annual Tobu Taikai

Lawrence back again and here to talk a bit about the Tobu Taikai that took place this past Monday, Sept 15th.

The Tobu tournament is essentially for the eastern region of the Saitama prefecture and is open to any style. Last year it was held in a huge gym in the nearby city of Kuki while this year, it was held at the Satte city Asukaru (aka ATHCUL, for Athletic Culture) Sports Centre. This is the same place that Shiramizu holds a branch class at every monday night and is often used for other events, like the Shiramizu year end training and July's All-Saitama Wadokai Championships.

Monday we were in Asukaru's main arena (gym) and it all went according to standard Japanese tournament plan. Doors opened at 8:30, bow in at 9, and the first matches kicked off just after 9:30. And, like my standard Japanese tournament plan, I entered in both kata and kumite.

Kata was really interesting in that there were only three people entered. And one of them didn't show up. So seeing as my only other competitor in the adult men's black belt kata division was Carl, it became a sort of "International Shiramizu Intern Showdown". I won, but if I'm honest, I won with a kata I wasn't completely happy with. So it's more training for me I guess!

I also felt the same kind of feeling I got from the team kata division in Canada. I mean, last year there were 6 or 7 people in the division and none this year. I wonder.....

The kumite division faired a bit better (relatively speaking) with 6 registered competitors, although the mysterious missing man from the kata division dropped that down to 5. It also meant I got a bye since he was my first opponent. My first match (a semi-final round) was against the very tall Mr. Ueno, also from Shiramizu. I lost 2-1 so it's even more training!

In addition to some very good kumite from some very strong high school teams, the day ended off with two great team kata demos, one of Unsu from a Shotokan club and the other being the World Championship-winning Japanese female kata team from Shiramizu, with Wanshu.

Tournment Progress Begins...

Shiramizu's Mikiya Kikuchi (aka) scoring a point in the junior high school boys team kumite

This Tobu Taikai (Tobu meaning East, as in Eastern Saitama) was my first Japanese competition and indeed, first competition in a long time. The heavy rain couldn't keep dojos all over from coming out and there was lots of very good competition. It was a pretty great experience although that's not what I could say about my results.

In kata, my Chinto was trumped by my opponent's Kururunfa and it was, sadly, an early end to that division for me. Oddly, I had envisioned myself being a puddle of nervous sweat, but the nervousness didn't hit til after I had finished.

In kumite, I scored the first two points against my opponent, Takashima-san (who attended the kata classes with me at the camp the week prior; we've since become passing acquaintances), which he responded to with by scoring the next 3 (a jodan tsuki and a chudan geri). We each scored one more point after and at precisely when the buzzer rang, we both tried for that last point. He got the point and the victory (5-3) and went on to win the division. But I was happy with the result, nonetheless, and came away rather excited.

Regardless of result, I was pretty happy with my performance, especially in kumite where final score was close enough that I thought I did better than I expected. I won't go as far as to say I could have won, but I think I could have won, perhaps not the division, but the match. Although results are the only things that count.

The best part was that losing is by no means discouraging. I walked away from the ring unscathed, aside from a really sore left side of my jaw where I took a good punch, and eager to train more and improve my standings next time (on the 21st, for the Sugito City competition). I don't have such grandiose images of winning everything though, as progress is my only goal. There will be lots more opportunities to test my mettle and the results will come on its own.

The dojo on a whole, however, did very well- Shiramizu students placed or won their category often. Particularly exciting were the elementary and high school boys team kumite matches, which Shiramizu took top honours in both.

At night, there was a party to celebrate both the good work done at the competition (Shiramizu Sensei and staff all contributed is some form either as refs, volunteers, managers, competitor support staff, etc.) and, more important, to celebrate Hachizuka Sensei, Iwazaki Sensei, Yamazaki Sensei, and Yoshiwara Sensei's recently attained 3rd degree black belt standing. The night was full of speeches and good times, no doubt partly due to the "all you can drink" feature at the restaurant.

All in all though an excellent first time out I thought, and I can only hope I have better things to say about the results next time, haha.......

Lawrence

Tobu Taikai!

The Tobu Taikai held on Sep 30 went very smoothly. Lawrence competed and I officiated, while some 450 karate athletes did their thing. The venue was the relatively new Kuki City Public Gymnasium, which is a rectangular arena with seats and the floor area for easily 6 courts plus warm-up space.

The tournament is organized by Shiramizu dojo and I thought it was for Tobu City which is just beside Sugito City where the dojo is, which is beside Kuki.

There were 27 divisions, and it was a regular local city event for beginners to advanced students, but with everyone divided up by age and sex, not by rank. So from kindergarten to over 40, for example, divisions were simply listed as 'elementary school grade 4 boys invidual kata'. There were team kumite divisions as well, for boys 5 members and for girls 3 members.


Here are the Shiramizu winners! From kindergarten to high school level, the best 8 for each division received a certificate of achievement and the best 4 received medals. For the adult divisions, just the top 2 got a medal and certificate.

Awards were handed out in typical Japanese tournament fashion, when as soon as a division was done and the certificates were ready, the winners were called over the PA to line up in front of the head table where a line of VIPS holding the medals and certificates would get up from their seats and wait for them. Arakawa Sensei would read out the division name and then the winner's name for the division over the PA, and then all at the same time, Sensei and the VIPs would present the awards to the athlete in front of them, lined up from first to last in a best 8, or for adults top 2.

At every tournament in Japan there is a room reserved off to the side where 2 or even 3 people labor away with filling out all the date, divisions and winners names on the pre-printed form certificates using artful Japanese calligraphy. Each event has hundreds of certificates pre-printed just for that event, so they can be used every year. Only the date, division and winner's names need to be added, but also the current president of whatever organization running the tournament must be added with their big tournament hanko, or stamp.

These shodo people are normally from a shodo club if not shodo teachers, and they may also do karate. One person runs to and from the head table to drop off finished division certificates and get another division's winner's names.

At the high school where I coach, when junior high school students come to take part in club practices, register for school entrance exams or come to the actual exams, parents bring along big folders of all of these tournament certificates their child has collected from their good results at every single tournament they've attended since 1st year elementary school. This is to help impress myself and the club director in the hope we will a) want to have such a dedicated and talented new karate club member next year and b) put in a good word for them to the school's entrance selection department who reviews exam results with each student's school application.

Sometimes parents just bring one certificate if it is something very impressive like winning the junior high school National Championships. If your a national champion, like in other countries, enough said...


The registration deadline for tournaments tends to be one month prior, which different for us from Canada where the standard is one week prior or same day registration. But the reason for this early registration requirement is that big programs are printed listing everyone's name and all the draws for each division, plus sometimes there are a few pages in the back to list prevuous year's winners and many pages of dojo ads and karate equipment supplier ads. No same day registration is allowed because a deadline is a deadline.

The other thing everyone does, me too, is keep every single tournament program we ever get. When I'm coaching, I or one of my students copies down all the results for every division, especially our club's results. Most tournaments have large blown-up poster size division sheets taped to a wall and someone from the head table updates the division results all day along. A small crowd of people almost constantly forms around these posters.

Everyone normally records at least the kata performed by their dojo members and the kumite scores respectively for each round. At the very moment a division is finished with one's dojo members in it, many people at the event send text messages from the cell phones to non-attending dojo members and parents to let them know how the tournament is going. Knowing how the 'drama' of the tournament is progressing is followed closely here, not just for one's own club, but for other clubs, especially the one's with top reputations for producing winners.

The other thing that is common for example is last Saturday when I ran a multi-high school club practice at my school, another club coach brought the program for an important tournament she and her top athlete attended way up north so that I could see the results and reflect on the current quality of the current athletes, plus see how her student did of course. Several times older retired coaches visiting my school have asked to see some of the recent tournament programs, and then off they go to drink a coffee (and have a smoke, some of them) while they ponder on how each club is doing, which are still producing top athletes, which clubs are getting weaker or stronger, etc.

Being a fun city event, this event was no yosen, or eliminations to a higher event. But for sure an enjoyable day for all, and it was finished by 4:30pm!

Richard