Your Japanese word of the week is...

"hirakegoma" 開けゴマ. The first half of the phrase (hirake, 開け) means "to open" and the second half (goma, ゴマ or 胡麻) means "sesame". Yes indeed, hirakegoma translates literally to "Open Sesame!".

I found out this neat tidbit as I was standing in front of the Komazawa Olympic Gym (web page is Japanese only), built for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Waiting for the doors to open, I asked a friend what people say when they want doors to open and she quickly answered "hirakegoma!". While we stood there blabbing away about the crazy odds that the phrase is the same in both English and Japanese, another friend calmly pointed out that the phrase comes from "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves", hence the same translation..... right....

Anyways, this past Sunday was the Kanto area Wadokai Championships. I competed in this last year as well, but for some reason it looks like I forgot to write a post for it. Anyways, last year all I did in kumite was give my opponent a bloody nose and all I did in kata was not win.

Usual large Shiramizu turn-out. Picture courtesy of Arakawa Sensei's blog.

This year, because of a slight registration mix up, I was entered in kata only. Which was fine with me, but I found out that they also split up the university students from the adult kumite divisions, which means I would've stood a better chance had I entered kumite. Mostly because university students in Japan are known for not really studying (they do that in their high school years leading up to university) and thus spend every waking moment taking part in whatever club they're in, karate included.

Either way, I watched the kumite rounds and got ready for my kata match. I had set my sights on Top 8 for kata but that didn't happen because I crashed out in the first round. Luckily, Carl taped my performance but after watching it twice, I still couldn't see what the difference was. I felt I was sharper on a lot of the moves but somehow the decision still went to the other person.

I had a short chat with one of the judges after the division was over and he explained that while there was nothing "wrong" with my performance, there were lots of little details that were missing. I asked for an example and he just said "Lots of different ones". Sufficiently confused, I thanked him and sat down to ponder the profound statement.

It wasn't til the day after that Richard explained that perhaps the other guy's kata had more "emotion" and that helps even if the kata itself isn't as good technically. That made a lot of sense and explained that judge's comments and the video difference....... so, it's back to the drawing board.....

Arakawa Sensei leading the afternoon demo. Picture courtesy of Arakawa Sensei's blog.

I had a good time despite that, as I always do. But the absolute best part was that all of the Shiramizu instructors (all of whom, I believe, are over 40) competed except two, who were judges. It's inspiring to see them compete and even better that a few of them took medals home.

In fact, special mention goes out to Yoshihara Sensei who won silver in BOTH senior women's kata and kumite. I should also mention Uchida-san who, after getting his black belt just two weeks ago, went in and won the senior men's 50+ kumite!

Here's to hoping that I can be that sprightly when I get to that age haha......