Kenpou: Grading test for shodan

Some of the Waseda fighters

070624, Sunday

For the third Sunday in a row it was time for a new kenpou fight. Unlike the two previous times, today was not a tournament but a grading test to see if you can go up to a higher level. In the morning I performed the kata for shodan with a Waseda partner. It went well :) In the afternoon it was time for the fights. My first fight was against a woman with the same grade as me, 1kyuu. I have met her twice before and won both times. Luckily, I was able to win today too. My second fight was against a woman with 2 dan. I have also met her twice before. The first time she won, the second time I won. Today I was able to win again :) This meant I proceeded from 1kyuu to shodan, that is getting the black belt!! This has been my goal ever since I started doing kenpou in October last year. I knew that I only had this one chance today, since I will be leaving Japan shortly, and I am very happy that I was able to reach my goal!! :)

Kenpou tournament: Yanohai

For the 20th time the individual kenpou tournament in the east of Japan was being held

Me, to the left, in my first fight against a shodan

070617, Sunday

Like last Sunday it was time for a new kenpou tournament. Just like the previous time, if you lose your fight, you are out but if you win you may proceed. Me being 1kyuu, I met in my first fight a woman with one rank higher than me, shodan. I had met her once before in April and then I lost so today I had really set my mind to beat her. Which I managed to do, with 2-0 :) Just after a couple of minutes I had my next fight against a woman with 2 dan. It was the same woman I met just last week and lost so poorly against. But this time I knew her strategy, I was rather convinced that she would come running towards me and attacking again so I kept my cool, waited for her to come and then attacked. It went well, I won with 1-0. Just a couple of minutes later I had my next fight against a woman with the same rank as me, 1kyuu. I won with 1-0. Now having had 3 fights, one fight lasts for about 2 minutes, without too much rest I was starting to get tired. Especially since I had won the fights so far by throwing my opponents down, and then you get a bit tired. Nevertheless, without any more rest it was time for a new fight. The opponent was a 1kyuu. I had met her before in April, when I won, and today I managed to win again, with 1-0, by throwing her down. Having won 4 fights, my next fight would be about the 1st and 2nd place. Thankfully I did not have to do this fight right away, I could rest for about an hour. During the four fights I was not nervous but now when I started to realize what this last fight would be about I started to feel a little, little anxiety. My opponent was a 3 dan and she is the captain of the women's team in the east of Japan. Now she is in her last year at university and she has been doing kenpou since high school, that is for 7 years! Compared to my sheer 8 months. One hour passed and it was time. I actually managed to get a hold of her, throw her down and score a point. But then she got a point. I am not quite sure how though, to be honest. Might have been through a kick to my stomach, however it was not a very nice or clear kick so I was really surprised that she got a point! Nevertheless, now it was 1-1 and the next person who would score a point would be the champion of this tournament! I managed to get a hold of her, but she escaped so we both fell outside of the mat. So I could not get a point. After that, I managed to throw her down again, but again she escaped so we fell outside of the mat, meaning I could not get a point this time either. When this happened the 2nd time the three judges actually had a discussion. Sometimes when someone is fleeing all the time the other fighter gets a point. This is what the judges were discussing, but since it was the final I do not think they wanted the fight to end by giving away a point like this. Hence the fight continued. She then managed to get a point by a kick to my stomach. Unlike her first kick, this kick was clear so of course she got a point. This meant my losing with 1-2. I felt SO sad having lost!! :( Because I do not have too many opportunities to enter competitions since I soon have to leave Japan so in this tournament I really had my chance!! And unfortunately I was not able to make the best out of it :( When the fight ended I could not hide my disappointment or hold away the tears :( Nevertheless, I received a big trophy for coming in 2nd place out of 15 women. At that time of course I was still rather disappointed but later I started to become a bit happy thinking about the outcome of this day.

Kenpou tournament: Ajisai

Kenpou tournament in a temple :)

070610, Sunday

There was a kenpou tournament in a temple today. In this competition you only have one chance, if you win you move up, if you lose then you are out! My opponent was a 2 dan fighter and unfortunately I lost. She managed to score 2 points rather easy which meant that I was out :( We were only 7 women today, and 5 from Waseda. A Waseda fighter came in both 1st and 2nd place :) Since we were so few women today everyone who competed got a small prize however I felt really stupid about accepting a prize when losing so poorly :( Of course I felt really disappointed but cheering for the other Waseda people made me a bit more happy. A male Waseda fighter managed to come in 3rd place so that was great :) There were a lot more male competitors so he really made an achievement.

Soukei sen parade

Happy players

The crowd following

Speech

070604, Monday

Today there was the final baseball game between Waseda and Keio and Waseda managed to win today as well :) The score was 7-2. Yesterday and today I was not able to see the game but since Waseda won I knew there was going to be a parade. It is a tradition that the Waseda players and a lot of the supporters walk from the baseball stadium to Waseda so my friends and I went to join them.....when they reached Waseda :) It was really crowded and you could tell that this was a big thing! We joined in the parade and then listened when all of the players made a short speech each. The atmosphere was great :)

Kenpou tournament: Zenkoku taikai

A lot of teams gathered

Who will win?

Attacking

To the right; the team representing the east part of Japan

070603, Sunday

There was a zenkoku taikai (a competition where teams from all over Japan were gathered) at Waseda. Unfortunately we could not participate this time but we went there to show our support. Different universities fought against each other but since there are not too many women doing kenpou the strongest women from different universities made teams. The woman team representing the east part of Japan fought well but unfortunately they lost. We still had a great time watching though.

Today there was one more baseball game between Waseda and Keio and Waseda won with 9-5 :)

Soukei sen

It is always very crowded at the soukei sen

Waseda's cheerleaders

Waseda's flag

Waseda supporters cheering

My friends and I also did our best to support Waseda :)

Waseda batter

The new and very famous pitcher Saitoh!
However, this being his first year at Waseda university
he did unfortunately not take part in the game today :(

Friends and I cheering

Unfortunately Waseda lost against Keio with 3-7 :(

070602, Saturday

Today it was time again for the prestigious baseball game between the rivalry universities Waseda and Keio. My friends and I went to the soukei sen last year as well, when Waseda won. However, it took 12 innings to beat Keio. Having had a blast last time we were really looking forward for today! Just like last time the atmosphere was great!! We were able to enter the stadium a bit past 10. Until the game started, at 1 o'clock, we were all singing songs to get in the right mood. It was great fun!! :) The weather was also great, the sun was shining practically the whole time without being covered by any clouds, so we all got a suntan too :) Waseda has a new and very famous pitcher named Saitoh. We were all very eager to see him play but since he is new all we got to see of him was during warm-up. I have seen him on TV and was very much looking forward to seeing him play live but unfortunately that did not happen. However, we got to see him live so that at least was a big treat :) The game started and unfortunately Waseda did not perform well today. The batters were not able to hit while Keio did much better. It was 0-0 until the 2nd inning, but in the 3rd Keio scored 5 points! Unfortunately Waseda continued with their poor play and was not able to get a point whereas Keio scored yet another point in the 6th and one more point in the 8th making the score 7-0 to Keio :( In the ninth inning Keio was not able to score a point so now this was the last chance for Waseda to redeem their pride. Like a gift sent from above Waseda scored 3 points! With two outs and one player each at the 1st, 2nd and 3rd base there was a lot of pressure on the batter. If he was to hit a homerun the score would suddenly change from 3-7 to 7-7! Everyone was hoping for the best but unfortunately the batter got 3 strikes and the game was over :( The game ended at about 3.40. This time Waseda unfortunately lost against Keio with 3-7. However, I have to admit that Keio did perform better today so they deserved to win. But still, it hurts to lose :( Nevertheless, we had a great time today and the soukei sen is definitely one of my most precious memories from my stay in Japan :)

Going back to school again

070530, Wednesday

Yesterday was the last day of our "one week long measles holiday" so starting from today we have classes again.