All posts tagged: kata

100 Kata for Karate Day 2019

Published by

October 25th is Karate Day in Okinawa. There was a ceremony at the Karate Kaikan in the morning where 6 masters performed a kata, and in the evening there was the 100 Kata for Karate Day event organized by James Pankiewicz of the Asato Dojo and the Dojo Bar. This year the event took place in Matsuyama Park, one of the key spots for Okinawa karate. The kids started at 5pm and were joined by the adults at 6pm. Great job everyone. Here are some pics of the awesome kids going for their century. Video of the festivities on Karate Day and on Kokusai Street on the following Sunday coming soon….

100 Kobudo Kata Challenge 2019

Published by

On Saturday the 100 Kobudo Kata Challenge 2019 took place at Sakiyama Park, Shuri, Okinawa. Organized by James Pankiewicz the event was opened by Toshimitsu Arakaki 10th-dan Matsubayashi-ryu Karate. It was great to see so many young people taking part from the Asato Dojo and Okinawa Kenpo Kenyukai Dojo. The recently completely rear gate of Shuri Castle, seen in the background of the group photo, is also looking impressive.

100 Kata for Karate Day 2017

Published by

October 25th is Karate Day in Okinawa! Yesterday was the 100 kata event at the new Karate Kaikan in Okinawa. I was busy shooting some video so I passed the Pentax K-1 camera over to Yuki so she could take the photos. All the participants did really well undertaking the challenge, a huge thanks to James Pankiewicz for organizing, and great job Yuki with the pics!

Guinness World Record Breaking Kata

Published by

On October 23rd 2016 the Okinawan karate community attempted to break the record for the most people performing a kata. The record had been set in India in 2013 with 809 people. The Okinawan attempt on the record was a resounding success with 3793 confirmed participants. There was also a one of the biggest congregations of karate masters. I have photographed most of them for the Karate Masters Portrait Project so it was great to be able to say hello to so many of them. 2017 will have the opening of the Okinawa Karate Kaikan (training center), and with karate a demonstration sport at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, I expect that a mass kata performance may even become an annual event. If so, hopefully next year will be even bigger!  

100 Kata for Karate Day at Zakimi Castle.

Published by

October 25th is Karate Day in Okinawa, at 6AM members of several dojos gathered at Zakimi Castle to perform 100 kata (set forms). There were representatives of many different styles of karate. The event was hosted by James of the DOJO Bar, and Arakaki sensei gave the opening words of encouragement. It was great to see so many nationalities, ages, and ranks taking part. After performing 100 kata of their own styles. Everyone gathered together and performed a single kata at the same time. The group size wasn’t big enough to break a world record this year, but that’s just something to achieve another time. See you all next year! If you’d like a copy of the group pic you can download it for free HERE.