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When I came to Japan I thought Martial Art was to be found everywhere. To my surprise it wasn’t. It was all Hello Kitty, 100 Yen shops and Japanese fast food. Took a while to find the Martial Art, or for it to find me.

Since I take my training seriously and want to go for the black belt I could not say no to taking part in a tournament. I had done one fight before to get my first belt, but this time it was to be a real tournament with adversaries that fought back with all their power.

The tournament was held at a sports centre i Asakusa, an hour with train from where I live. On my way from the station trying to find the place I passed a kyokushin karate dojo. Kyokushin karate is known for its tough sparring so I thought this was a good sign. Seems like Asakusa is filled with Martial Art I thought when I passed a Kendo dojo right after. I had seen nothing yet.

Finally in the sports centre there was a front desk with a old man in a ill fitting security uniform sleeping at the desk. Making my way through the katakana on the board behind him I understood that this place had volleyball, basket boll and more, but no karate from what I could see.

Decided to see for my self so I started by going down a stair. Their was a big room with some very old men playing ping pong. Then I heard noise from the end of the corridor and went for a look. In a small room young boys were learning Sumo wrestling. This was the real deal with circle of sand on the floor, sparring in traditional sumo gear (not much). Large instructors showed the boys how to put booth fists in the sand to start the match. I wanted to stay and watch some more, but I had a fight to lose upstairs.

One flight up I thought I had found where I was going. Lots of people in white GI. And they were all black belts. I was wrong, second floor held a Tae Kwon Do tournament. Mine was on the third floor. I sneaked down later to get a closer look at the TKD. A guy there told me it was Japan’s national team performing! Unfortunately it was really crowded and I didn’t want to push my way thorough the crowd. Why, you ask. Well, blond foreigner with “karate” written in Japanese on his coat pushing friends of the national TKD team around. That would have been a little like Bruce Willis walking in Harlem in the beginning of Die Hard III. Well, not dangerous, but slightly uncomfortable. Besides, I had other things to concentrate on.

It was a large tournament with a total of 11 blocks. Different blocks for children, weight classes and rules. There is the Vale Tudo rules where the fight continues on the ground after take downs. And, yes, punches are allowed on the ground too. I was in the group with stand up rules. Which means that take downs are allowed, but that the fight then resumes standing up. For example catching the leg when the opponent kicks and sweeping the other is allowed, but the match will not continue on the ground after that.

I did one fight and that was it. It is to see here on video. I figured out by now that I need to work on my breathing. With good breathing technique you can stay calm longer and save your strength. A three minute round is exhausting enough with a guy attacking you all the time. Also I need to follow through with combinations when I attack.

Another way to improve my fighting would be to learn better Japanese. Being the only foreigner in an environment where announcements and fight cards are all in Japanese is demanding. Takes a lot of energy just to make sure you are in the right place at the right time.

Still I made it with a slightly sore leg. At the dojo the day after our sensei was suprised to see three of the six who had taken part in the tournament actually showing up. “Are you not hurting?” He asked. “Aha, I thought so!”, he said with a smile when we declined the mits training. Guess he thinks no pain to game. I learned a lot on that session, feels like I got to a new level. If you really want to learn fighting I think taking part in tournaments is essential. We will see, there is a new tournament in a few weeks. This time in Nagano, hopefully I can take part.