A small team from JKS South Africa, headed by our Chief Instructor Shihan Norman Robinson, travelled to Japan in April 2007 to participate in the World Karate-do Championships 2007 which was held in Naha City, Okinawa. The championships were held under the auspices of our mother body, the (NPO) Japan Karate Shoto Federation (JKS), and took place on 21 and 22 April. From there we travelled to Tokyo where six of our members were to attempt Dan gradings at the Honbu dojo in Sugamo.
The choice of Naha City (the capital of Okinawa) as the venue for the championships and also to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of the father of modern day karate, Gichin Funakoshi, was significant. Much of modern day karate is derived from Okinawan karate, where unarmed combat developed during a period of occupation when Okinawans were banned from carrying weapons. Different towns developed different styles: Naha-te, Shuri-te and Tomari-te. The Goju styles derive from naha-te and the shotokan styles through Sensei Gichin Funakoshi from the shuri-te line. It is interesting to note that these two towns are little more than 10km apart and yet developed two very different styles!
Hong Kong
The trip started with almost everyone meeting in Hong Kong on Tuesday, 17 April, where we stayed at the YMCA hotel in Kowloon. The next two days were spent sight-seeing with memorable trips to 'the great Buddha' at Lantau Island via cable car, taking a sightseeing roundtrip on the ferry in Victoria Harbour, the dazzling 'Symphony of Lights' multimedia light and sound show 
involving 33 buildings on both sides of Victoria Harbour, and up to 'The Peak' with the Honk Kong Peak Tram for fantastic views over Hong Kong and Victoria Harbour. In between some of us enjoyed a great shopping experience where great deals could be bargained at the various shops. Some members of the team certainly arrived back home much more loaded than when they left.
Two early morning training sessions were held in Kowloon Park, alongside a host of Chinese locals also enjoying their daily exercise routines in the park. We practiced our katas under Shihan Norman's watchful eye, principally loosening up and refining dynamics and correctness of movement. On the second day we even received applause from the onlookers, which certainly made us feel good.
Okinawa
We flew to Okinawa via Taipei on Thursday, 19 April, landing in the early evening and then catching the monorail into town. Fortunately the hotel was not too far from the railway station, so our walk down the main street of Naha City to our destination - Hotel New Okinawa - with our luggage 'in hand', didn't raise too much of a sweat. At the hotel we also met up with the rest of our contingent from the Western Cape. They came via Singapore and had already enjoyed two days of Okinawan sightseeing.
Friday was regist
ration day, with a training seminar scheduled for the afternoon. The seminar - taught by the head coach of Takushoku University and the Japan National karate team, the renowned Tsuyama Sensei - focussed on the basics of karate. Great emphasis was placed on important technical fundamentals: hikite, foot position, snap back, precise targets for techniques, quick knee lifts, correct use of hips, etc.
For those of us watching intently from the side, and judging from the volume of sweat produced by those on the floor, it was a fairly intense workout.
What was noteworthy was the difference in standard and focus of the top Japanese karateka compared to the rest. They were just that much more precise, correct, fluid and fast, with very little superfluous movement - pure 'poetry in motion'. This is definitely an area we should focus on more and continue to improve.
The competition was held over two days, with the juniors taking part on Saturday and the seniors on Sunday. Overall, the standard was very high. What impressed most was the degree of control throughout the championships, with very few injuries and a conscious effort made by all referees to ensure good technique and control.
The overriding impression was that the Japanese were generally more controlled, accurate and precise than the rest. Their overall strategy in kumite was one of very quickly closing the gap in a linear fashion, scoring from range with continuous attack, with little or no typical WKF style movement.
In kata, Unsu surprisingly did not feature well in the senior division and Kanku-sho, Sochin and Gojushiho-Dai placed high. The winning kata was Gojushiho-Dai, followed by Sochin.
From a South African perspective, Sensei Filip Houndalas performed very well, receiving third place in the Veterans (40-50) kumite. Sensei Pierre Jordaan was complimented by Kagawa Sensei on the high level of his refereeing throughout the tournament and he was the only Western referee involved as centre referee in the prestigious finals. He and sensei Japie Storm were two of only four Western judges selected as corner judges for the final events, doing JKS SA proud! Sensei Pierre's student, the young Phillip Scherman, and Sensei Japie's student, Rikus Venter, reached the final 8 in their respective groups, also performing very well.
The choice of Naha City (the capital of Okinawa) as the venue for the championships and also to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of the father of modern day karate, Gichin Funakoshi, was significant. Much of modern day karate is derived from Okinawan karate, where unarmed combat developed during a period of occupation when Okinawans were banned from carrying weapons. Different towns developed different styles: Naha-te, Shuri-te and Tomari-te. The Goju styles derive from naha-te and the shotokan styles through Sensei Gichin Funakoshi from the shuri-te line. It is interesting to note that these two towns are little more than 10km apart and yet developed two very different styles! Hong Kong
The trip started with almost everyone meeting in Hong Kong on Tuesday, 17 April, where we stayed at the YMCA hotel in Kowloon. The next two days were spent sight-seeing with memorable trips to 'the great Buddha' at Lantau Island via cable car, taking a sightseeing roundtrip on the ferry in Victoria Harbour, the dazzling 'Symphony of Lights' multimedia light and sound show involving 33 buildings on both sides of Victoria Harbour, and up to 'The Peak' with the Honk Kong Peak Tram for fantastic views over Hong Kong and Victoria Harbour. In between some of us enjoyed a great shopping experience where great deals could be bargained at the various shops. Some members of the team certainly arrived back home much more loaded than when they left.Two early morning training sessions were held in Kowloon Park, alongside a host of Chinese locals also enjoying their daily exercise routines in the park. We practiced our katas under Shihan Norman's watchful eye, principally loosening up and refining dynamics and correctness of movement. On the second day we even received applause from the onlookers, which certainly made us feel good. Okinawa
We flew to Okinawa via Taipei on Thursday, 19 April, landing in the early evening and then catching the monorail into town. Fortunately the hotel was not too far from the railway station, so our walk down the main street of Naha City to our destination - Hotel New Okinawa - with our luggage 'in hand', didn't raise too much of a sweat. At the hotel we also met up with the rest of our contingent from the Western Cape. They came via Singapore and had already enjoyed two days of Okinawan sightseeing.
Friday was regist
ration day, with a training seminar scheduled for the afternoon. The seminar - taught by the head coach of Takushoku University and the Japan National karate team, the renowned Tsuyama Sensei - focussed on the basics of karate. Great emphasis was placed on important technical fundamentals: hikite, foot position, snap back, precise targets for techniques, quick knee lifts, correct use of hips, etc. For those of us watching intently from the side, and judging from the volume of sweat produced by those on the floor, it was a fairly intense workout.
What was noteworthy was the difference in standard and focus of the top Japanese karateka compared to the rest. They were just that much more precise, correct, fluid and fast, with very little superfluous movement - pure 'poetry in motion'. This is definitely an area we should focus on more and continue to improve. The competition was held over two days, with the juniors taking part on Saturday and the seniors on Sunday. Overall, the standard was very high. What impressed most was the degree of control throughout the championships, with very few injuries and a conscious effort made by all referees to ensure good technique and control.
The overriding impression was that the Japanese were generally more controlled, accurate and precise than the rest. Their overall strategy in kumite was one of very quickly closing the gap in a linear fashion, scoring from range with continuous attack, with little or no typical WKF style movement.
In kata, Unsu surprisingly did not feature well in the senior division and Kanku-sho, Sochin and Gojushiho-Dai placed high. The winning kata was Gojushiho-Dai, followed by Sochin.
From a South African perspective, Sensei Filip Houndalas performed very well, receiving third place in the Veterans (40-50) kumite. Sensei Pierre Jordaan was complimented by Kagawa Sensei on the high level of his refereeing throughout the tournament and he was the only Western referee involved as centre referee in the prestigious finals. He and sensei Japie Storm were two of only four Western judges selected as corner judges for the final events, doing JKS SA proud! Sensei Pierre's student, the young Phillip Scherman, and Sensei Japie's student, Rikus Venter, reached the final 8 in their respective groups, also performing very well. 
Tokyo
On Monday, 23 April, we embarked on the last leg of our trip when we flew in to Tokyo via Haneda airport and then travelled by train and underground to the Asia Center Hotel (near Aoyama-Itchome station), where we would be staying for the rest of our trip. On Tuesday morning we visited the Honbu dojo in Sugamo where we trained alongside the 'foreigners' class. The grading candidates trained with Shihan Norman, while the rest were schooled by Sensei Inada and Sensei Watanabe. Again, the class revolved around fundamentals, but at the end the students were sweating and begging for mercy.
Wednesday, 25 April 2007 - THE DAY for six of us - finally arrived and we returned to Honbu dojo for the 'main course' of our trip. It is fair to say that as the grading approached, so the chatter and cockiness of the grading candidates got less and less. Sensei Pierre remarked later that breakfast on the morning of the grading was a remarkably quiet affair, with not much more being said than basically just "Good morning".
Finally, the 'dreaded hour' arrived and we lined up before the grading panel of four, headed by Kagawa Sensei (8th Dan and technical head of JKS). Shihan Norman sat next to the panel as an observer.
The emphasis of the grading was clearly on technical ability: how well the fundamentals were understood and performed in the katas - both tokui kata and nominated kata - and attitude, focus and control in kumite. When two of the godan candidates (not from South Africa) engaged in kumite, it was glaringly obvious that the panel did not approve of their wild and uncontrolled contact. After being told for the third time "again", they seemed to 'get' the message and showed more control where after, finally, "yame" was called.
The kumite section involved fights against the other grading candidates and one or more of the Japanese instructors (kenchusei). It is obvious that they train to achieve precision and speed - more so than most Westerners. The other important factor is to 'go forward' - in other words the ability not just to mix it and defend, but to have a positive attacking and controlling approach. In this instance, we may have caught them a little off-guard since, having been endlessly taught by Shihan Norman to "go forward and take the attack off them", we managed to put them on the back foot more than what they expected, and that certainly counted heavily in our favour.
Finally, after being told that we could get dressed and what felt like an eternity, the results were announced: five South Africans and one Israeli passed.
The following grades were awarded to the South African contingent:
- Pierre Jordaan - 7th Dan
- Mervyn Gounden - 5th Dan
- Ayesha van Rensburg - 5th Dan
- Alan King - 4th Dan
- Belinda Howard - 3rd Dan
Wednesday evening was a far more festive affair than the previous evenings, with quite a 'few' Yen being spent on alcoholic beverages to celebrate our achievements. Even Sensei Pierre was observed to down a beer - the first and only one since his last grading in 1999. The rest of us just drank whatever was going. It was obvious that the stress that had been gnawing away at the grading candidates was now something of the past and it was time to party! Thursday was a group sightseeing day which involved a trip to see the world's oldest Buddha (700 years old) at Kamakura. Despite missing our trainstop on the return journey, it turned out to be another good day in Japan, even better now because of the extra grades we were 'carrying around'!
The trip home
Friday, 27 April, saw the bulk of our group returning to South Africa by way of Cathay Pacific Airlines, via Hong Kong. We arrived back home safely and tired, but elated!
Our sincere thanks to Shihan Norman for the hard and meticulous work he put in to ensure that we were properly prepared. A big thank you also goes to all those who helped organise the trip and make it such a memorable one.
Last, but certainly not least, we'd like to thank each and every one of our travelling companions, even though we were a rather small group, who shared this very special experience and made it such a fantastic one... thanks guys, you're the best!
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