A little bit short, that!!?

Fukuda san and his illegal rental gi!

Back to the grind! I’m really happy to be back in Japan, and even more so to be back training at Triforce – I happily braved the rain and wind today to make it down to the 10:30AM class today, headed up by  Miyamoto sensei. Interest was had with the choice of Fukuda san’s gi – a little short in the arms, I thought!

Miyamoto sensei demonstrating some useful De La Riva escapes

Really useful work dealing with De La Riva escapes. The escapes were pretty complex, with four or five processes to finishing the pass – as I think of them this evening I think I can remember one or two of them!

Scottish open

How close are the spectators!

Well, the Scottish open is over, and I had a great time – unfortunately I lost my fight, but it was still a valuable experience. The event was totally different to those held in Japan! As the fighters assembled together at about 9:30am, we were told via mic by the event organizer that, “only white, black and blue gis are allowed – we will follow IBJJF rules”. Even so, that was about it! There was no gi check at all and gis that would definitely be flagged in any Japanese event were allowed in the Scottish – think very short gi pants, and super tight gi arms, gi patches everywhere.

There were no fight numbers, with the organisers calling belt / rank names out and asking them to weigh in – after that, your name was called and you were then expected to run on to the mat and get it on! Very ‘seat-of-your-pants’, but no less fun! The best thing though was receiving winning medals – after wining the final, the guy at the front desk just plopped it over your head! No waiting around there 🙂

I’m heading back to Japan on the 25th, and looking forward to getting back into training at least 3 times a week – I haven’t training in over a month now, and I am definitely missing it!

Scottish BJJ open, 20th Feb 2011

Greetings from the UK! I’m part way through a three week break here, visiting family and friends and catching up with all things in my hometown. I’ve managed to find some time for BJJ though, deciding to enter the Scottish BJJ Open, which will be held in Edinburgh this month – after giving my dad a crash course in  how to use the video recorder, I’m sure we’ll be able to take some movies of the fights – 頑張ります！

Beginners open

Congratulations to all the participants who fought in the Beginners open today – as usual Triforce was well represented and I think we got our fair share of medals!

I’m heading off to the UK for three weeks or so come Monday 7th, and I will enter the Scottish BJJ Open – will post entries from there. Good luck with your training and I’ll see you soon!

Shibamoto sensei and myself - Gotanda picked up a team award

Furukawa san & myself having some banter before our fights