The 6^th Womenfs World Karate Championships

Chiba Japan 

By Doug Potter

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 karatecJapan. 

After a gruelling 10hr flight we arrived in gthe land of the rising sunh (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 werenft gin Kansas anymoreh.  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 Josefs registration for the tournament, as we needed the rest of the day to get adjustedc. 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 Canadah 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).

Josefs first fight wasnft 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 Josefs strategy for the day.  Sensei scouted Josefs 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 Josefs 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. 

Josefs second round match opponent was the runner up from the last world tournament, Anna Kopyrina 3^rd 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 gShefs 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 Senseifs coaching was outstanding.  At about the 2-minute mark, realizing that she was losing, Josefs 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 Russianfs 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 4^th placec..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 Disneylandh crowd that we were going. We gave incas most parents do.

The next day was an unspoken gI told you soh 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 Japanc 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! 

Senseifs 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, itfs 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!