aikido competition - kyoto, Japan

First day of the competition proper! Starting off with Shishida and Nariyama senseis seminars.

Scott then had to endure the first of several referee courses/seminars, where gaijin competed for the silliest question award!Shishida sensei did his usual study of minutae, whilst Nariyama sensei banged out groups of techniques for everyone to try and remember!

We're now all staying in the Ishicho hotel in Kyoto and enjoying the bath house! We have 3 rooms- seven guys in one, 6 guys in another and all the lasses together in the third room.

Day 2 - more ref meetings for Scott, and really bad pants to wear, but a cool T shirt that makes up for it. Then the opening ceremony and the official photo, which is always an amusing challenge!

Then a Sumo demonstration that was really cool! About 12 young guys in loin cloths slapping thighs and one another.

Then all the embu events followed. Rob and Richard did the best of our group by getting through 3 rounds in the jiyu embu. Rob totally beasted Richard and their last performance was definitely their best - well done guys!

Chris and James also did very well in the tanto randori no kata and were knocked out by the eventual winners!

After all the embu and mixed tem event, the epic 1st round of the mens individuals began.

By the end of the day, Scott had reffed enough randori to last a life time!

Caspar, Rob, Joe and Jono all got through their1st round matches.

Day 3 - The men continue to do battle, and the lasses enter the fray! Celine, Maggy and Lou got through the 1st round.

Then we had a kendo demonstration with tiny little cute kids squeeling kiais and whacking their seniors with their shinai - sooo cute!

Team tanto saw the students and the lasses get through one round.

Day 4 - All the semi finals and finals were played in the kyu bu toku den. A very old building listed as a cultural heritage site!

It was an amazing backdrop to the finals.

By this time SAUK/shodo diagaku had no representations but everyone was keen to see the best in the world on show.

We were also treated to a great demonstration of naginata. This is the long weapon with a blade on its end, and was used by women to defend their castles. Its length means it is a useful weapon against the katana! We saw some kata, and then a shiai match. I didn't know there was naginata shiai!

I really enjoyed the demonstration.

The Japanese dominated all the embu events - no surprise there! There were one or two foreign players on the last day, but the strength and depth of the Japanese were there for all to see.

Notably, Christian Kirkham from the UK fought his way to the final of the individuals and won through a tough match to take 1st place! Congratulations Christian!

Perhaps the moment of the finals was when the very slight Japanese lass, Rie Yamamoto, threw a big BAA lass with gedan ate for ippon in the very last second of the bout!

The mens team event was a showdown of the old boys from Kanto and Kansai, with Kanto just getting through.

There was then a shihan demonstration where shishida sensei decided bizarrely to demonstrate the itsutsu no kata with a very uncomfortable looking Kobayashi sensei. Nariyama sensei did his usual polished demo of kihon, oyo and ta nin dori waza.

After the awards ceremony we all went back to the hotel to change for the party. This is always a slightly strange affair with a cocktail of alcohol, comedown from the competition and long farewells.

There were few people at breakfast the following morning and people went their separate ways, some staying in Japan, some travelling on and some returning home.

Celine and I walked to several temples, including kiyomizu temple on its 40ft stilts, built into the hillside, and temple with its 1,000 tori gates! We got the train back to the Kyoto Traveller's Inn, finding a great little cafe on the way that served okonomiyaki. So Chris, Cora, Jono and we went back there for our last dinner in Japan.

Up at 5am to get the train to the airport and flight to Malaysia via Hong Kong. I am now writing this in Karen's room! It's great to see her again and I'm really looking forward to a holiday.

Will write more of our next adventure later.............