Splinter Group Festival

I've been under pressure to add pictures of the Shotokai 70th anniversary celebration, so here are a few of them. It took place in March, on the artificial island of Odaiba at the east edge of Tokyo.

Like many karate organizations in Japan, this "Shotokai" is a splinter group that seceded from the dominant "Shotokan" association; that's the 70th anniversary that's being mentioned here. Its members claim that their way of doing things is closer to the "original" karate as it was taught in the early 20th century.

For group photos the attendees were split up into 4 groups, so you can get a sense of how many people were present by mentally quadrupling this picture.










Here we see part of the "Kozono Group" preparing for their demonstration. The Group practices in the depths of Landmark Tower, an intriguing structure I'll write about before long. This particular club is overwhelmingly made up of female corporate executives.















Not having members fight each other is one of the distinguishing characteristics of this organization. It's in response to the fact that all of the dominant karate organizations are focused almost exclusively on preparing for tournaments. Since this organization doesn't have competitions, demonstrations like this one are held instead. It's taking place in a large gym full of people, but the bulk of the observers are sitting outside the frame of this photo.