Judo

Judo has been going extremely well, so much so that I am now only 1 point away from getting an authentic Japanese black belt. It started with my second points tournament which was in the same place as the first one, the difference being that this time I wasn't suffering from a throat infection and subsequently didn't have a temperature of over 100!! Same format as well, 4 matches, although this time the quality of opposition was higher and the time between matches was longer. First match was over quickly as I did a lame hiza-guruma which got him down but not for a full win but I got on top for the hold down. Second guy was a bit of a nightmare as although it was an easy enough win, it was one of the nastiest points of my competition lifetime. I got him down the same as the first guy, but this time I couldn't get into position for a hold down. However, I did get him into a side arm lock (or ju-ji-gatame in Japanese) and secured that, thinking I had it on and he would tap out. He didn't though, and in the heat of the comp I cranked it hard and in doing so, really hurt the poor guy who then tapped out. Think it was a dislocation which is quite common in judo if someone refuses to tap out from it, wasn't a nice feeling though. Third and fourth matches were much better, higher level opponents but I was well prepared this time and I won with good throws, a tomoe-nage seen here on the right in which you can see the Professor laughing in the background and also a sumi-gaeshi seen here on the left. Both of these throws are called "sacrifice throws" in that you have to roll onto your own back and throw your opponent over your head, risky but spectacular when they work. Great day overall, brought the tally to 8-0 meaning at this point I only needed 5 more wins in these grading competitions to get an authentic Japanese black belt or shodan as its called in Japanese. Again, Tiff was there to take all these photos and to keep me from getting agitated during all the waiting.

Training has also been going very well and recently my predecessor Ben came back to the island to attend his friend Mori's wedding. While here, he came to training on my request to take some photos so I could show people how I spend every weekday between 5 and 7. Unfortunately my recently embroidered judo uniform was in the cleaners which was a shame as it has グラム　(gu-ra-mu which is the closest the Japanese language can get to saying my name!!) and アイルランド　or ai-ru-ra-n-do embroidered on the back in competition style. The really high end guys weren't there which was lucky for me as most of the photos would have been on me getting slammed, but these photos were very good, showing the drills we do first and then the open practice later.

These two gems came from the open practice. Poor Junpei felt the wrath of my Euro style o-soto-gari, get down......

.....and stay down.

Next was Junichiro getting the sumi-gaeshi Id been practicing for months and used in the competition.

Been having endless success with this one the last while. As I'm right handed and left footed, I can do these kinda reversed with a right hand drip and left foot action. Works well.

Finally, the group. Only about half were there the night Ben came along with the camera, but still a great photo. Great bunch of guys, having this every night during the Winter keeps me from going crazy with boredom down here!!

Just last weekend after Tiff went back I had another tournament and won that one too, bringing the tally to 12-0 and just needing one more win to get the black belt. The black belt competition is on December 16th so I have to practice this...

Nage-no-kata or なげのかた　

to pass the final exam after one more tournament win.

Thanks for reading, check back soon for the story of Dave's departure and the new JET's arrival!!

Graham