Martial Arts Tournament

It's been quite a while since I posted on here. I'm planning to do a post this weekend or early next week. I'm competing in a martial arts tournament on Saturday. These tournaments are done twice a year. In April it's the Holiday in Dixie tournament and in November it's the Deep South Martial Arts Championship. These are open tournaments. That means that people from any style can compete. The man in charge of the tournament runs an Isshinryu karate dojo. A lot of his students compete. The dojo I attend is also an Isshinryu dojo and a lot of the students from there compete. In addition to Isshinryu students, there are also kung fu students, tae kwon do students, and students who do various forms of karate, such as Kenpo and Shotokan.

Here are some pictures from the tournament last April.











In these pictures I'm doing the Tokumine no kun kata. A kata with the bo, the wooden staff. I got 5th place. I also competed in empty-hand kata and got third place. I want to do better than that this time. In the tournament this Saturday I am competing in weapons kata and empty-hand kata again. This time I am doing the kusanku kata for empty-hand, and the kusanku no sai kata for weapons. I mentioned in previous posts that I love watching Sasuke. These martial arts tournaments are my version of Sasuke. I am trying for my own kanzen seiha. In the six tournaments I've competed in I've never won a first place trophy. This time I want to get first place in at least one of the two divisions I'm competing in. That will be my personal kanzen seiha. And like my hero, Shingo Yamamoto, I won't give up. I've never won first place, but I'll keep coming back and trying until I do.