On October 25 Naha City, Okinawa Prefecture held the great martial arts festival known as the “Day of Karate”.
October 25 was established as the Day of Karate in 2005 in Okinawa, the homeland of karate. This year marked the ten-year anniversary of that decision.
This large martial arts festival began last year. The heart of the city, Kokusai Street, is entirely devoted to the festival.
The Okinawa Dentou Karate Shinkoukai (Traditional Karate Promotion Group), Okinawa Prefecture, and the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly sponsored the event. Truly, this festival is one where Okinawa, the birthplace of karate, sees karate and the administration come together. This year’s festival drew especial attention due to the proposal of adding karate to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The number of participants doubled, and many spectators rushed to attend.
In the first part, all kinds of schools and traditional karate practitioners skillfully demonstrated karate techniques on the Bunka Tenbusu Center plaza stage.
The highlight was the second part. Extending nearly 340 meters along Kokusai Street, over 2,000 people including local children studying karate, karate enthusiasts, and others, lined up together to simultaneously perform the basic kata (form) “fukyugata ichi.”
