For Jose and I this was the trip of a
lifetime. I still find it hard to believe that we were involved in
a world championship tournament let alone travelling all the way
to the heartland of karatecJapan.
After a gruelling 10hr flight we
arrived in gthe land of the rising sunh (ok not so gruelling..with
a little help from a friend our entire group got bumped to first
class..wow!). After clearing Japanese customs we boarded a
commuter train for the hour-long trip from Narita to Tokyo. It did
not take long to realize we werenft gin Kansas anymoreh. We were
greeted by more blossoming cherry trees than I had ever seen
before, they were everywhere. Drained rice patties ready for
spring planting and houses with the definitive Japanese tile roofs
lined the railway right of way. It seemed each yard no matter how
small had an immaculately groomed garden.
Upon arrival in Tokyo we transferred
to the subway and made our way to what we thought was our hotel.
As it turned out there was some foul up in booking and with jet
lag beginning to set in we headed half way across Tokyo again on
the subway to a different hotel. From there, the rest of the day
or night or whatever it was was in a bit of a jetlag fog. I think
there was something about Sensei Brad, a noodle house and beer.
We woke up to a beautiful Friday
morning, at least my watch said it was Friday morning, my internal
clock was having a hissy fit. Good thing we only had to confirm
Josefs registration for the tournament, as we needed the rest of
the day to get adjustedc. sleep that is. At the registration we
met up with rest of the Canadians from Montreal where Diane Polis
and Sylvan Lemire presented Jose with a gTeam Canadah shirt.
With nothing planned for Saturday we
noticed on a map that our hotel was only a few blocks from the
Japanese Imperial Palace grounds which is now mostly a beautiful
park. So we hiked back in history to the time of the samurai. We
explored the beautiful palace garden and the buildings that made
up the original Edo Castle that date back to 1457. The perfectly
preserved stone walls that lined the kilometres of moat were truly
impressive.
Early Sunday morning we boarded a bus
for the hour-long trip to the tournament in Chiba. Shortly after
we arrived at the venue we saw proof of how big Kyokushin Karate
is in Japan. There was a crowd of people as far as the eye could
see lined up to get in to the event. Inside we were greeted by the
10 tournament rings and sea of competitors (approximately 1500).
Josefs first fight wasnft until 11:45
so we had time to reconnect with Dobroslawa Soltysik from Poland
and Rachel McLean from New Zealand, new friends that we met in New
York.
With the fight draws in hand Sensei
Brad began to plot Josefs strategy for the day. Sensei scouted
Josefs first opponent and coached Jose on the best way to defeat
her. As it turned out Jose fought the way she trained, with ring
control and devastating punches she defeated the very tough First
Kyu, from Poland in the allotted two minutes.
Unfortunately the girls from Montreal
did not have success in their first matches, except for Emilie
Provost who made it to the second round and could not get by
Russian Ksenia Arkiphova. It was a valiant and honourable effort
put forth by all.
By the time we made our way to ring
side for Josefs second bout, friends Rachel and Dobraslowa had
fought. Rachel put in an admirable performance against, New York
Open and European champion, Daniela Cherneva and just coming up
short. Dobraslawa made it to the second round only to be defeated
by one of the powerful Russians.
Josefs second round match opponent was
the runner up from the last world tournament, Anna Kopyrina 3rd
Dan. Much taller than Jose with far more experience, Sensei
figured this would be a tough fight. He did some of his best
coaching in this match. As the referee was about to start the
fight Sensei started yelling repeatedly to Jose gShefs going to
kick with her front leg!h and as he predicted she led with jodan
mawashi geri which Jose handled with ease. The fight was back and
forth with Jose maintaining ring control through much of the first
two minutes. When time was up there was a questionable hikkewake
and they went to extension with Jose coming out on top and on her
way to the semi-final against a very young Russian girl.
By the semi-final rounds all the heavy
hitters in the heavy weight division had been defeated including
the reigning World Champ, the World runner up and the New York
Open/European champ.
Jose fought an excellent semi-final,
controlling the ring and knocking the Russian around pretty much
at will. Once again Senseifs coaching was outstanding. At about
the 2-minute mark, realizing that she was losing, Josefs opponent
launched a furious 20-second storm of punches, one of which was a
devastating shot to the throat that caused Jose to lose her voice
for three days. Unable to breath properly Jose fought through the
remainder of the fight with true Kyokushin spirit. In the end the
combination of the Russianfs tenacity and the throat injury was
insurmountable. The duel ended with the judges calling a very
close victory for Alina Aldatova, who would go on to win the world
championship title.
Jose left the ring hurting and yet
feeling good about her tie for third place that was decided by
tameshiwari. After the boards were counted Jose was awarded 4th
placec..in the world, an outstanding achievement at 43 years of
age.
After a quick check by the tournament
doc, Jose picked up her trophy and we headed back to Tokyo by
train. With all the stress and excitement of the tournament slowly
decompressing, I think the Sensei in Brad began to fade.
In fact when the train passed Tokyo
Disney the Sensei vanished and we were left with a much younger
version of Brad Gillespie who wanted so badly to go to Disneyland,
he spent the rest of the night trying to convince gthe too mature
to go to Disneylandh crowd that we were going. We
gave incas most parents do.
The next day was an unspoken gI told
you soh from Brad. We had a blast and closed the place down. We
were the last people in the park at 10:30.
Tuesday we went on the first of three
tours. In Japan Mount Fuji is a sacred place and now I know why.
To see first hand the geographic feature that has defined Japan
for centuries was surreal. The gods of the volcano blessed us by
clearing the clouds from the 12000 ft summit as we stood at the
visitor centre. The upper cone is only seen about 100 days a year
and most often in winter. Mount Fuji is so revered by the Japanese
that is not uncommon for people to carry a small replica around
for spiritual inspiration even if it is only of origami.
Late afternoon found us on a station
platform waiting for a modern defining feature of Japanc the
Shinkensan (Bullet train). In extreme comfort at over 225 km/hr we
shot back to Tokyo.
For dinner Sensei Brad took us to an
all you can eat/drink Japanese barbeque where you cook your own
food on barbeques in your table. Another great experience!
Senseifs time in Japan was at and an
end on Wednesday, so the rest of us spent the day checking out the
shopping in Tokyo. The city is so clean and everyone is so
courteous and polite. We were glad we were karate students because
all the bowing did not seem to foreign.
We went on two more tours that sent us
to the major landmarks in Tokyo, like the Tokyo tower (a larger
copy of the Eiffel tower), we experienced the Japanese tea
ceremony and then off again into the mountains to a collapsed
volcano crater with a huge lake inside. We were also witness to a
wild Japanese snow monkey stealing food from a store and rudely
eating in front of us.
Being a part of the tournament was an
experience of a lifetime, let alone experiencing a small part of
Japan, itfs people and unique culture.
Jose and I want to thank all the
people who encouraged and supported her in getting to this event
and those who once again allowed their bodies to be punished and
karate skills to be tested. And last but not least those who went
along in spirit to be with Jose as she took Canada and Calgary to
the Kyokushin world stage.
OSU!
