I’m not sure why, but Spring seems to be a popular time to hold karate tournaments. In the last couple of weeks, I’ve received invites to two local Shotokan tournaments, one scheduled for late April, the other for late May. If any of you has ever been to a karate tournament; large or small, there is an sense of excitement and anticipation that is evident throughout the place, now matter the venue. It’s a chance for serious competitors to place their reputations on the line and find out whether their techniques are as good as they’d like to believe. It is the ultimate representation of the sports aspect inherent in so many of modern martial arts in America. And, whether the awards come in the form of trophies, medals or certificates, most every competitor’s main goal is to perform well for themselves, their schools, and their styles.

Although karate tournaments tend to look alike and the local ones are usually held in gymnasiums or recreation centers. Meanwhile, the large national/international tournaments one sees on the mainland tend to be held in huge convention centers or carpeted hotel ballrooms with many hundreds of competitors and thousands of attendees. Last weekend, Sensei Wayne, Sensei Peter and I were able to coordinate our vacation schedules and flew up separately to Las Vegas and attend one day of the annual Ozawa Cup International Karate Tournament together. This well known event has been held each year in Las Vegas for the last thirty years. This one was held at the Flamingo Hotel on the famous Las Vegas Strip. The tournament carries the name of it’s famous founder, Sensei Osamu Ozawa, a JKA trained black belt from an early generation of Shotokan karateka. If you’re interested, you might look him up in the internet. He has the distinction of being a kamikazi pilot who actually survived his mission and WWII (his plane crashed shortly after take-off). He began holding the tournament in Las Vegas because that’s where he lived and worked in the 1970’s – as a casino card dealer at the Las Vegas Hilton. He began teaching karate in his free time, and the rest is history. Unfortunately, he passed away in the 1990’s, but his organization still holds this well-attended tournament in his honor.

Obviously, we didn’t attend as competitors, coaches, nor as judges, but as interested spectators. It was of interest to us for a number of reasons: We wanted to see the caliber of the competition, what kind of styles were represented, what senior senseis might be present. One famous sensei I did recognize was Fumio Demura, the weapons expert who used to perform a well-known show at deer park in Los Angeles back in the 1970’s. He was also Pat Morita’s karate double in the “Karate Kid” (you didn’t think ex-accountant, ex-comedian, actor Morita really knew any martial arts did you?). The most interesting person I spoke with turned out to be a vendor – she was a caucasian woman, about my age, who was selling assorted karate related items, like t-shirts and such. In talking with her, I found out that the “vendor” was a long-time sensei in Shito-ryu and had actually taught in her own large dojo in Seto, Japan, where she had lived for 20 years. One teenage competitor that we all thought was pretty good (a brown belt) in kumite, turned out to be from Sensei Joey Bunch’s organization, and had flown in from Aiea to compete. There were competitors from Europe, Mexico, Canada, Australia, etc; among the many, many participants. So, you never know who you’re sitting next to at one of these events; except that they all shared a tremendous interest, knowledge and proficiency in the art. One observation that we shared: the strongest looking kata/kumite competitors appeared to be the black belts competing in the 49 years+ category; while the younger black belts seemed to have light “point-oriented” technique in kumite and “floating haras” in their kata, reflecting what we saw as an overall weakness. Our favorite competitor was an older gentleman who appeared to be from Canada. Both his kata and his kumite were very impressive: fast, strong and precise. He actually fought from a low dachi that resembled a modified hangetsu or sochin stance. He scored with both tsuki and mawashi-geri and displayed true karate courtesy. Most interestingly, he bore a strong resemblance to Captain Picard from Star Trek – the Next Generation…yes, he was bald head and all.

Although we don’t talk much about, nor train for tournaments in our ministry, there is a value to karate tournaments that goes way beyond winning a trophy or getting to spar in front of everyone, just like the climax to The Karate Kid. As a tangible goal, training for such events can lend an urgency and focus to one’s regimen that might not exist otherwise. It almost always forces one to get into better shape, learn how to perform katas better, and acquire experience in kumite. However, taken to an extreme, it can also begin to overtake one’s mode of training and become a continual focus…hence, my allusion to having tournaments become a way of life. I’ve known of really excellent karateka who spent virtually all of their time training for, or attending various tournaments. In other words, even when they’re not actually at the tournaments, their frame of mind is always in preparing for competition. This is very common among serious sportsmen…think about the recent Winter Olympics and the years of sacrifice and training that the olympians spend in the four years between each event. One can actually end up living one’s life and focus in the world of competition. This can have very good results – but I hope no one ever thinks that this is the true heart of why one should train.

Anyways, we all had a great deal of fun and got to see talented karateka from around the globe compete….but we’re all very happy to be back home, where we live.