After a long journey from approximately 15 hours we finally arrived in Tokyo Narita Airport on the 24th of April, then a couple of hours with a cab or subway before we finally stepped into our hotel room.
After some relax time we ate with the whole Dutch group, after that everybody took it easy because we needed to be fit for the next coming days of course.  The next day Kaicho and Kancho were very busy telephoning with Sosai’s Mas Oyama’s daughter, Kuristina Oyama and Daishihan Cameron Quinn from the Honbu to discuss further details about the upcoming matches. Because there is a lot to see in a big apple like Tokyo, we needed to make a selection of the things we wanted to visit. The first thing of course we visited was Sosai’s grave and memorial place. The cemetery is in the middle of downtown Tokyo, but strangely, it was absolutely silent there. Once I walked towards the grave I got a feeling which is difficult to describe, here lies a man who gave me, and with me many others, a way of living which you will always obey to, KYOKUSHIN KARATE. This place became a kind of pilgrimage for many people, and it this will probably always remain that in the years to follow.

After this we visited one of the biggest temples of Tokyo, where you could see the people praying, throwing coins and lots of ceremonial things. The next day we went to the legendary Mas Oyama Dojo, the kyokushin Honbu in Ikkebukuro, which made a very deep impression on me. I could see many pictures of Sosai Oyama were gone, when I asked Cameron Quinn about this, he explained to me that those were taken by Matsui. People are working hard at this time to originate the Honbu in the way it used to be, and things are looking good for this, the organisation is becoming stronger and firm. Kaicho and Kancho offered their help as well of the organisation, the IBK, we are very happy with this good progress. We are the only ones who are welcome in the original Honbu, they receive a lot of mail and telephone calls from people and organisations who want to become a member, just to state that they are a member of the one and only real Kyokushin Honbu of Sosai Mas Oyama .
We are very glad to see the Honbu is in good hands, and the organisation will test and review every request, so it will not be very easy to enter the traditional Kyokushin Honbu.

The day of the fights finally came, the opening which is done by the Taiko is always very impressive, after that Kaicho Bluming was invited to stand next to the altar a chintopriest started the ritual, Kaicho came in front of the altar and he was giving the opportunity to bow for his old master and pay his respect.
Then the matches started and it was Perry Wessels from Kancho’s dojo who had to open, although he was the eldest of the team, he started great, but had a very strong opponent, which was a pity of course because he showed real fighting spirit. After a good fight he had to leave the victory to his opponent. Next was Robert Pepels, with strong high kicking techniques he controlled the fight, but he had an unfortunate fall from which he was bothered by his old kidney injury and wasn’t able to continue fighting. He was very disappointed by this, as I could recon because he kept apologising to me, “sorry Hansi”, when I congratulated him with his good effort he answered with a firm and strong “Osu!”
Marc Frymuth  was the third in line, and he won his fight with a quick KO after showing strong techniques, this guy is what we call a strong and firm karateka from which we will hear again in the future, I am sure of that! Unfortunately he lost his next fight but left a very good impression behind.
Patrick Zondag won his first two fights very easy, fast and short. I complemented him in stating that I saw a second Peter Smit in this guy, he just smiled back at me, which proved his spirit is the same. In the end he ended up with the last 8 fighters (out of 200) which was a great result considering he only brings 65 kg on the scale!
After this the Tamishawara (breaking techniques) came and everybody succeeded in that. Being the IBK bondscoach I can say I am very proud of the whole team who did great!

Being a soldier with every pound of my body I can state, Bravo Zulu for the whole achievement!

Jan de Bruin
Hanshi  Bondscoach IBK