The crème de la crème of the Osaka shiai-circuit were out in force today to take part in the Osaka preliminaries for the Kokutai taikai (“National athletic meet”). What that translates to exactly is young tokuren police professionals, jitsugyodan (semi-pro business teams), and teachers. The odd random person tried their luck to (but to little avail): out of the 8 spots on offer (sempo, jiho, chuken, fukusho, and taisho for the mens team, sempo, chuken, and taisho for the ladies) 6 were decided by shiai, and the other 2 (mens and ladies taisho) by recommendation. All the spots save one were taken by professional police kenshi, with fhe final position being won by a prison guard.
I was there not only to support friends who were competing and to take pictures, but also because my students were selected for shiai-jo work (time keeping, score recording, etc.). Anyway, here is a small gallery of pictures from todays shiai. Enjoy!
