19th Impact: sports and martial arts

Many clubs gathered on the 3000 sqm the Budô area to teach you the ancient codes of various martial arts and immerse you into Japanese sport traditions. Certified instructors from 8 organisations dispensed you 7 hours of daily demonstrations and initiations, which gave you enough time to fully discover 16 disciplines throughout the festival.

Le Temple du Ninja taught you ninja’s techniques with ninjutsu, Shôrinji Kempô Club Neuilly members made you major in self-defense, USV Aïkido went back on aikidô poetic origins, and the French League of Kyudo introduced you to the way of the bow by letting you shoot arrows on a 28-meter long distance.

Some clubs even offered you to try out several arts at once. CNKDR initiated you to kendô (Japanese fencing), iaidô (an art focused on drawing and cutting smoothly with your sword), jôdô (a fighting style using a staff), chanbara (free fencing with different weapons), or naginata (an art requiring a pole weapon), and Judo club Pontault-Combault taught you jûdô, jujitsu, taiso (judoka’s warm-up), and how to handle kata.

You also had the opportunity to train with two great masters of martial arts: Master Mitsuru WATANABE and various clubs presented you the many facets of nihon budô, a fighting technique which found its roots in different Japanese martial arts, and Master FLOQUET shared his knowledge of aikibudô, a modern art accessible to all, and kobudô, the art of Japanese sword.

However, martial arts weren’t restricted to the Budô area. Thanks to their great aesthetic, these disciplines are often staged to create gripping shows. Several artist companies came from Japan to carry you to the Age of Warring States through demonstrations inspired by samurai fights.

If you passed by the Sakura stage, then you might have attended Aki Hiroshima Busho-Tai’s performance, which told the story of famous samurai Motonari MOURI and his companions during a show full of swordplay and rock music, or Katanaya Ichi’s frantic katana battles. Samurai-Kamui celebrated the 160th anniversary of diplomatic relations between France and Japan with saber shows on the Sakura, WABI SABI, and even the huge Ichigo stages.

In addition to martial arts, you could complete your discovery of Japanese sports with more modern disciplines such as puroresu, also known as Japanese wrestling.

Located in hall 6, a large ring welcomed seven professionals: famous mask designer Mister Cacaco (who also talked to you about his creations Cosplay Masterclasses), El Hornet, Kikutaro, Senza Volto, but also French wrestlers Ace Angel, Pierre "Booster" FONTAINE, and Tristan ARCHER. These guests would all meet you at signings after their matches!

Some of you even dared to join one of the three daily initiation sessions organized by ICWA, and got to experience the true sensations of puroresu battles.

The female players of the Tomcat’s club from Tremblay-en-France shared their passion for Japanese baseball (yakyû), by teaching you how to play within an inflatable structure.

Finally, the Grain Theory team specially came from the United States to make you discover kendama, a traditional wooden cup and ball game from Japan that has evolved into a full freestyle sport around the world. And in order to animate their booth, they had also prepared contests and other games for everybody.