It was an awesome Budo Festival to commemorate 55 years of Jyoshinmon Shorin-Ryu Karate-do in Japan, which was held in Tokyo from 28th to 29th July 2024. We had 18 members competing at the tournament and for about half of them it was their first trip to Japan.
We arrived a several days before the event to get acclimatised to the very hot summer weather. Some of the training sessions were outside at a local park near our hotel (see photo above), where we also practised the haka which attracted attention from residents in apartment buildings and made us feel rather self-conscious.
We had several opportunities to train at different Jyoshinmon Dojos in Tokyo and the experience was similar to how we train in New Zealand. A big Thank You to the Senseis for inviting us and for their kind hospitality. It was indeed an honour. Ouss!
At the Budo Festival the team performed the Haka to lay down our challenge to the competitors from other countries and not just those from Japan that included the USA, Mauritius, Bulgaria and Australia.
A big Congratulations to:- Sensei Sevita Sabine who achieved Bronze in the Senior Female Kumite and 5th in Shiwari
- Senpai Graciella del Rosario for Bronze in Kumite (High School division)
- Chris Wadsworth for Bronze in Veterans Kata.
All our competitors demonstrated great effort and improvement at the tournament as they progress in their categories for Kata, Kumite and Shiwari (board-breaking).
Well done to the rest of the team:
Sensei Bruce Sabine
Sensei Jose Castillo
Sensei Ross Sabine
Senpai Juan Castillo
Senpai Alaura Paul
Preston Littlechild
Akira Nakanishi
Dev Banga
Shaurya Narayan
Victor Paul
There was a day for seminars with the Dan Grades learning Tan Bo Jutsu kata, while our juniors had Kumite training with Sensei Chris Bennett taking some of the sessions.
Dan Gradings The Gradings took place after the seminars with Senpai Alaura Paul grading for Shodan and
Senpai Jojina Bennett grading for Sandan.
Congratulations to them both for passing their grading! They performed very well which was expressed by the Grading panel.
The Sayonara Party was held at the end of Day 2 of the festival and Soke awarded Chris Sensei with a certificate for second place in the Sensei Division for over 40 years old. Sensei Darren Blomfield was in the Sensei Division for over 50 years old and did very well competing in this category for the first time.
A massive Thank You to Senseis Bruce Laufoli, Ross Laufoli and Jose Castillo for being the team managers. They did a great job with organising the trip for the first time and supporting the team.
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