Sports & martial arts - 13th Impact

If you think sports and Japan, it reminds you of martial arts, right?! Of course there were many at Japan Expo but you could also enjoy some sports which the Japanese are fond of and we tell you more about them all right now!

On the tatami

About a dozen disciplines were represented this summer on the martial art area, on the tatami or dedicated areas such as for kyûdô.

Passionate sportsmen and teachers met during for days to take your breath away with demonstrations of their favorite disciplines and of course propose you to have a go at them thanks to initiation sessions.

Among the disciplines you could try, let’s mention aikidô, chanbara, iaidô, karate and body karate, kendô, kyûdô (the impressive traditional archery), ninjutsu, or shôrinji kenpô. On the cultural stage, you have also discovered and admired Okinawa karate performances.

Yakyû

You also tried Japan’s national sport: yakyû, i.e. baseball. The Batting Center was expecting you for workshops with experts.

On the wrestling ring

This year, puroresu (or wrestling if you prefer) was spectacular, fierce… and feminine! The duo of Japanese female wrestlers Triple Tails.S ravished the discipline lovers.

The ICWA wrestlers also expected you for matches which were sometimes in the air, sometimes… very down on earth (quite often for one of the adversaries only).

The ring also hosted MMA (mixed martial arts) wrestlers for the release of the manga Free Fight by Tetsuya SARUWATARI who gave signing sessions on the ring!