The 1st Okinawa Karate International Tournament Overview

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1. Purpose of the Tournament

The purpose to hold the 1st Okinawa Karate International Tournament is that Okinawa karate enthusiasts around the world will gather in Okinawa and create a place to deepen cultural exchanges, preserving and passing down correctly Okinawan Karate’s skills and spirituality nurtured and systematized by its pioneers and passed down to this day with the aim of promoting traditional Okinawan karate and kobudo for the future.

2. Name of the Tournament

The 1st Okinawa Karate International Tournament

3. Venue

Okinawa Karate Kaikan (hereinafter referred to as “Karate Kaikan”), Okinawa Prefectural Hall of Martial Arts (Budokan) (hereinafter referred to as “Budokan”)

4. Duration of the Tournament

(1) Duration: Saturday March 24 – Sunday March 25, 2018
Wednesday August 1 – Wednesday August 8, 2018

(2) Schedule:

5. Contents of the tournament

(1) Opening Ceremony, Closing Ceremony
The opening ceremony and closing ceremony will be held worthy of “Okinawa as the birthplace of karate” for the purpose of introducing Okinawa’s traditional culture and nurturing human resources filled with an international spirit.

(2) Inaugural Dedication, Demonstrations
We will conduct inaugural dedication and demonstrations with the aim of deepening international exchange and technical exchanges of participating competitors and karate enthusiasts from Okinawa and all over the world, and also in order to enhance the momentum of the tournament.

(3) Competition (KATA)
We will carry out a competition (KATA) with the aim of preserving and passing down the traditional kata that have been passed down to this day in Okinawa and to improve technical capabilities.
Making the best use of Okinawa karate’s characteristics, the competition (KATA) will be conducted according to each category and event in the table below in order to make the event suitable for “Okinawa as the birthplace of karate”.

*The age of each event is as follows:

• Juniors: over 15 years old and under 18 years old, as of April 1, 2018.
• Adults I: over 18 years old and under 40 years old, as of April 1, 2018.
• Adults II: over 40 years old and under 60 years old, as of April 1, 2018.
• Seniors: over 60 years old as of April 1, 2018.

(4) Okinawa Karate Seminar
In order to deepen the traditional techniques and spirituality systemized in Okinawa, we conduct Okinawa Karate Seminars for participating athletes and karate enthusiasts from Okinawa and abroad

(5) Exchange Reception
The cultural exchange reception will be held to praise each other’s brave fight in the competition, and to deepen exchanges between participating teams from all over the world and tournament officials with the aim of promoting and developing Okinawa karate in the future.

6. Hosts

The 1st Okinawa Karate International Tournament Executive Committee, Okinawa Prefecture, Okinawa Dento Karatedo Shinkokai

7. Supporters

National organizations, municipalities of Okinawa, local mass media, etc. (tentative)

8. Accommodations and Access

(1) Accommodations
The accommodation facilities for athletes, managers, guests, etc. (hereinafter referred to as “participants from around the world”) participating from all over the world must be reserved individually. Please refer to the hotel lists around the tournament venue.

(2) Access
For Okinawa and abroad participants’ travel and access to the venue, each person shall use public transportation and the expenses required for them must be paid by the participants. However, a free shuttle bus shall operate between the Karate Kaikan and the Budokan.

9. Promotion System

Prior to the preparation and operation of the tournament, we will establish a tournament implementation and management headquarters.

10. Others

In addition to what is specified in this overview, the executive committee will separately decide necessary matters concerning the management of the tournament.