The other day the weather was finally cold enough to put on my favorite green coat which was given to me by the Konishi family, relatives of my friend here in the states with whom I had the pleasure of visiting throughout my stay in Osaka. Now in the USA more than a year, I slipped my hand into the left pocket and found a small piece of paper on which was scribed hand written directions to the station where I was to meet before getting a ride to the 51st annual All Japan Collegiate Karate Championships.
Never before had I seen so many karate-ka (practitioners) in one place before! It was pretty awesome to behold. sadly I only had my little point and shoot which is decent for close things but has a terrible zoom. If only I had my new Cannon rebel back then, man!!! Anyway, Iwabuchi sensei and myself plus a few other students of his took to the nosebleed section where we watched from above for about 10 hours, breaking only to go in search of meals.
There was kumite...
and some pretty intense-looking kata from different ryu (styles) including shotokan.
My college (Kansai Gaidai) unfortunately didn't compete that year because the club was banned because one of their members stole one hospital slipper from a local clinic. Luckily I had left the club the week prior to the incident to go train with Iwabuchi sensei at the Iwabuchi Karate Kaikan, so I didn't have to do any community service.
...man, you don't fool around with karate in Japan. I'll tell you what.
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