Japan

Thanks to the encouragement of a few training partners, I travelled to Japan in late November for the So-Kyokushin World Tournament and the international black belt grading. 

Kyokushin World Tournaments are like the Olympics, held once every four years. 

It was great to watch the tournament live and support the Australian competitors. 

From a coaching point of view, international sporting events are always fascinating. We see the various technical, tactical, physical and psychological strategies of each country/culture play out in real time against each other. 

After the tournament there was much conversation from different countries about their strategies to attempt to surpass the Japanese in the next World Tournament in 2027.      

Next up was the international black belt grading with Karate-ka grading from 1st degree up to 6th degree black belt from around the world. 

The Aussies had one grading for Shodan (1st Dan), three grading for Nidan (2nd Dan), one grading for Yondan (4th Dan) and one grading for Godan (5th Dan). 

They all did incredibly well.  

Gradings are not easy. 

Think of them as a ‘right of passage’ in martial arts. 

They involve the physical demonstration of what called the basics (kihon), moving basics (ido-kihon), kata (upward of 20 kata’s for the most participants), conditioning (5 x 50 push-ups, sit-ups and squats) then sparring (kumite). 10 rounds for 1st Dan up to 60 rounds for 6th Dan. 

I was able to participate in the warm up, kihon, ido-kihon and kumite during the grading with other non-grading Australian training partners. 

A group of us hit the local Onsen (Japanese hot spring baths) straight after the grading. It felt great to do some hot cold exposure (this Onsen also had a cold bath) but I can only imagine how incredible it felt for the guys that graded. 

It was a tough day and they were in heaven for that hour! 

The next day, Shihan Cameron Quinn had organised a two day training tour led by Hanshi Oishi Daigo. 

Day one was at Mitsumine Shrine up in the mountains. Day two at the original Kyokushin Honbu dojo in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. 

Mt Mitsumine is famous for the place with spiritual energy in the atmosphere. It has a legendary story that Kyokushin founder Sosai Mas Oyama’s beloved Samurai, Miyamoto Musashi had got inspiration of the duel wielding style there and it is the place where trained while staying in the mountains. It’s also the location of the Kyokushin annual winter camps before Sosai Oyama’s passing. 

We did a short worship service followed by a training session with Hanshi Oishi Daigo. Next was time for photos as it’s beautiful up there. Plus there is a memorial of Sosai Oyama and other historical figures in Japan.

Next was transport to Ikebukuro in Tokyo for a training session at the original Kyokushin Honbu dojo the following day.  

Built in 1964 by Sosai Oyama, it has five floors and a basement. Shihan Cameron Quinn took us around the building and area piecing bits of Kyokushin history together for us including the location of the ‘Oyama Dojo’ before Kyokushin was called Kyokushin in the early 1960’s, the route of the early morning run and training sessions and what they involved, where they’d sweep snow in winter, the entrance to the Uchi Deshi dormitory and the like.  

Today only the second floor dojo is maintained as it originally was, with the rest of the building an art museum.

That said, we saw the instructors room on the first floor and where the first floor dojo was. 

Walking up the stairs to the second floor dojo is a window. It was through that window that Sosai would call the Uchi Deshi when needed. The Uchi Deshi living quarters were located adjacent to the building, but didn’t have direct access to the building. They’d literally have to run around the block, rain, snow, hail or shine, quickly to enter the building when called upon. Their living quarters doesn’t exist anymore.  

We got changed for training on the third floor in the room that used to be Sosai Oyama’s office. Sosai’s family lived on the fourth and fifth floors for a period of time. 

The training session itself was great. A traditional Kyokushin warm up followed by kihon and kata lead by Hanshi Oishi Daigo and interpretation by Shihan Cameron. It might sound strange, but it was humbling to train and sweat on the same timber floor as Sosai and all the incredible Kyokushin practitioners from Japan and around the world over the past 60 years. 

Shihan Cameron took a group of us to visit Sosai’s final place of rest in Tokyo. If you’d like to do this yourself I recommend watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIYhphpNRag&t=127s

Finally, thank you to everyone who made this trip to Japan as great as it was. I got to meet and train with great people from Australia all over the world. Plus a bunch of my training partners have either lived in Japan or speak Japanese making the experience even better.

Japan is an amazing place.   

Here’s a few of the hundreds of photos I took.