Judo... Fun for all ages!

I had the distinct honor and privilege of being invited to a 柔道 (Judo) competition on Sunday. My coworker, Lonnie, has been practicing Judo for the better part of his adult life and continues to practice the discipline here on the Miura Peninsula, at a dojo near his home.

Judo, for those of you that don't know, is a martial art, sport, and philosophy founded by Kano Jigoro here in Japan in the 19th century. Judo was derived from jujitsu and takes from it the principle of using your opponent's strength to your own advantage and adapting to changing situations. Judo techniques include rolls, falls, throws, pins, chokes, amongst others. Having never seen any such sport, especially in its home country, I couldn't pass up the opportunity.

On Sunday, I took the train to YRP Nobi station and met Lonnie and his girlfriend, Takami-san. Lonnie drove to the dojo from there and we arrived just in time to watch the junior level students (kids) warming up and preparing for the tournament. Of course, when I walked in the room, at least a dozen kids took a few moments from their warming up to look at me like I was from another planet. If Lonnie (who's American also) hadn't been a student at the dojo, I'd have sworn that I was the first America-jin that these kids had ever seen. After a half hour or so, the warmups ended and the tournament began, at which time I watched boys and girls of all ages taking turns tossing each other around the room for several hours. It was an amazing experience and I would love to be able to witness it again.

Towards the end of the tournament, the winners from each age group took turns fighting against each other. I got a great snapshot of one of the junior challengers taking on one of the adult black belt competitors (bottom left picture).

Afterwards, I was invited to stay for what was described by the sensei as a "simple meal". In my mind, I figured it'd be the equivalent of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a bag of potato chips. Instead, the "simple meal" turned out to be a feast for about 150 - 200 people, including sashimi, rice and curry, vegetable soup of some sort, Asahi beer bottles the size of Hokkaido, and a bunch of veggies that I couldn't name if I tried. A few of the young adult attendees sat down near Lonnie, Takami, and me and we had great conversation in both Japanese in English. One of the guys was quite the ham and as he drank more, he got even funnier. Throughout the meal, he asked me about American women, did an impression of the stereotypical American guy (chest out wide and walking with a strut), and poked fun of me a little too - all in fun.

All in all, the group was very welcoming to me and when I left I was full of sashimi and Asahi. The pictures from Sunday are in our Gallery, dated 02/21/06. Sunday was the first day that I shot the photos in RAW format, which apparently helps preserve some of the "natural look" of the photos and creates a much more realistic digital negative. It was also the first opportunity I've had to shoot photos at a sporting event, where my subjects were in motion more often than not. Please let me know what you think of the photos!