Kenpou fight: Kagamibiraki

3 dan Waseda fighter to the right

070114, Sunday
My kenpou friends and I went to a kenpou competition held at an university in Umegaoka in Tokyo. Since we just had the winter holiday and have not done kenpou for a long time we all wondered how it would go today. The Kagamibiraki is a special type of competition also known as King of the Hill. Usually in our competitions you have a fight and if you win you can rest a bit while others are fighting and then it is your turn again. But today, if you won, you had to fight again right away. If you won even the second time then it was time for a third fight right away. After five won fights you were "King of the Hill" and then you could just sit back and relax. All five women members from Waseda entered the competition. To our big surprise we were only seven women in total, i.e. us five and two other women from two other universities. This meant that the Waseda women would have to fight each other. We lined up in two lines, three people in my line and four in the other line. It was best out of 3 points, 2 minutes fight. In the first fight I had to meet the same woman I met 061210 at the grading test. Now she is 1 kyuu and I am 2 kyuu. Luckily I won by scoring two points, so 2-0. Since we were so few the referees decided that we would only have one fight each except for me. After the two other women in my line had fought I would have to meet the fourth woman in the other line. This woman is from Waseda and has 3 dan. She is probably the best woman kenpou fighter in Kantou region and I understand why. She has a lot of talent! Just my kind of luck having to fight her, I thought. After the others fights it was my turn again. Actually I was able to grab a hold of her and toss her down, allowing me to get a point by a punch to the head. But then, as fast as she is with her punches, she scored two points by two very fast and very "nice" punches to my head so I lost with 1-2. I was really disappointed at myself being fooled twice by the same thing :( After this fight it was time for the men. A lot more men had gathered so they competed in the King of the Hill spirit. Only two men represented Waseda today. One, 2 kyuu, won his first fight. The referees called of his second fight due to his head protection almost falling of after his opponent hitting him. It is really a shame "losing" a fight this way :( The other Waseda man, 3 dan, did very well. He won three fights but unfortunately lost the fourth. It is pretty tough to continue fighting new opponents without being given a couple of minutes to catch your breath so he performed well. With all the fighting being over all the fighters lined up in neat lines for the closing ceremony. The people in charge called out the names of people who would receive a prize. Among them were the men who had won five fights. To my surprise, me as the only woman, I also received a prize :) We got a Burberry towel! Nice. After this the Waseda team went to have tasty Curry Rice at the restaurant Nakamuraya in Shinjuku :)