Kendokai Karate 1987 Osaka Demonstration

This has to the best thing that happened to this blog yet. Someone was kind enough to upload the first official demo of Kendokai karate that took place in Osaka back in 1987. The video includes speech by Nakamura sensei, some intense training footage (kihon, kata, kumite both jiyu/yakushoku kumite), and of course the demo itself. Amazing demonstration by the famous Kuramoto sensei is at around 18:44 mark. His segment was widely seen on Youtube previously. Kata demonstration by Ishiyama sensei who is the current president is seen at around 23:47 mark. Of course, the highlight is the great Nakamura sensei's demo at around 26:03 mark. Sincere thanks to the person who uploaded this video!

2013 All Japan Korean School Karate Tournament

Below is a video highlight from 2013 All Japan Korean School Karate Tournament. As I've written earlier, Nakamura Hideo sensei was born in Pyong Yang had deep ties with North Korea. So it's little surprise that the ethnic Korean schools in Japan (Chong Ryon specifically, with ties with Pyong Yang. They use the traditional name for Korea, Choson) follow the Kendokai dojo curriculum.

Just from casually observing, I could tell these kids have put in long hours of hard work. They are at or near their physical peak. I though the group kata performance was quite impressive, moving in unison with precision and speed. Kumite featured full-protection helmet with mask, which allows face punch but of course they are not beating each other into submission; it's still point-based kumite. I don't see any problem with it since kendo does the same thing; full protection gear and points awarded for decisive attacks. All in all, I thought the performance was not too different from most traditional karate, such as shotokan and shito ryu.