Last Saturday, Feb.11th, Yoshinkan Aikido Ryu and the Urayasu Aikido Federation hosted the 8th Annual Junior Tournament here at the Maihama Sports Center in Urayasu. 160 students from second grade to the 6th were split up in to upper and lower levels and competed in various kihon waza, jiyu waza, 31 no jo, and kihon dosa renzoku tournaments.
Then as in the picture below, the upper and lower level groups were split in to two different sections (4 areas in total). Being 4 different tournaments going on simultaneously, the staff required is ridiculous - Over 55 teachers / regular students assisted in everything from judging (20 3dan and up instructors) to writting out certifcates, working the reception, lining up kids, score keeping, sound and screens and a number of other jobs. Thanks to everyone for all your help.
The first round was kihon dosa renzoku - out of 5 or 6 kids the top two would move on to the second round. For Brown belt and up, the second round was kihon waza - shomen uchi sankajo osae ni and ryote mochi tenchinage ichi. For orange belt and below the second round was again kihon dosa renzoku.
The third and final round before semi-finals all groups did kihon waza. Orange belt and below did katate mochi shihonage ni and shomen uchi sankajo osae ichi. The 8 top people from the 4 sections were then on to the semi-finals. But before that the 31 no jo tournament would take place. This was the first year we added this extra section to the taikai. Students could choose whether or not they wanted to take part in it. 31 no jo ran straight threw to the finals - leaving 4 people (1st place, second, and two 3rds).

Next was the semi-finals - brown belts and above did shomen uchi jiyu waza. Only 8 people left, so everybody was giving it 100%. Sad to say but the jiyu waza looked better than many of the adult students out there. For the finals, the lower level group also did some simple jiyu waza (4 techniques repeated twice). The upper class finished with ryote mochi jiyu waza (which was fun for them since its not on the regular testing syllabus and most of them haven't practiced it before the tournament training began).
Thanks to all the students, families, and staff for all thier time not only on that busy Saturday, but for the weeks / months before preparing for this years competition. And of course congratulations to everyone on a great job, especially all the winners in their perspective categories.
Following the kids event was the 5th annual adult training. This year there were 3 shihans present - Ando Shihan, Chino Shihan and Aiki-kai's Nakajima Shihan. The 80 or so participants split in to 3 different groups and trained for about 30 minutes with each Sensei.
A lot of the Ryu members found it interesting to train with a different style teacher. Each Sensei focused on different things, but it the end it was all aikido. This was the first year that Nakajima Shihan joined us, giving the Yoshinkan crew a chance to experience some Aiki-kai first hand.
After the training about half the participants went upstairs to the Sports Center cafeteria for a short, but well deserved party. We finished up at about 8pm, but then Ando Shihan, Chino Shihan, Mizuno Sensei and the uchideshi went to the nearby family restaurant - COCOs for some coffee. A long, busy, hectic... BUT fun, exciting and successful day. Next year we are thinking of adding junior high school students as well as some other changes to the ever evolving event.
Jim Dawes