Just before we left for the UK we went to the annual national meet in Tokyo, the kids all seem to love it but it is quite hard to get pictures of them because there are about 2,400 kids in there!
They start off with a speech and warm up, they they are split into age groups. Ebi-kun is now in the 3rd group, which is 5th and 6th graders. From our dojo there was only 1 kid for the junior high group and he didn't want to do it by himself so Ebi-kun had to double up and train with the JH kids too. He actually loved it because he got to learn some moves that normally he wouldn't get to try yet. I imagine the sensei all thought he had a growth defect of something, he is little for his age as it is!
Then each dojo gets a few minutes to do a display of the their skills. There are 5 marked areas and it all moves pretty quickly. Ebi-kun is throwing H-chan in this pic, can you spot him?
Then the university dojo's get to show off their skills, it still amazes me how little amount of effort seems to take place and then the opponent is on the floor...
Finally the head dojo have their sensei come and strut their stuff, more throwing around...
And finally, the great grandson of the chap who founded aikido comes on, does a speech and, yes, you guessed it, throws a load of people around. He starts with just the one but then moves onto three...
Thankfully it wasn't too hot this year, Ebi-kun left a happy bunny !
