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Kachinuki (Old-Style Tournaments)

Things change. It is a cliché to note this, but as one grows older, the examples of it tend to occur with more and more frequency. I encountered an example of change the other day, while talking with a group of young budoka. One of them asked me when I had begun my practice of the martial arts and Ways. When I told him, he replied, “That’s the year I was born.” So I was feeling like a dinosaur anyway. Then, when I mentioned the once common type of martial arts tournament called kachinuki, all I got in response were blank stares. None of them had heard of kachinuki, none had ever participated in what was once a major social activity in the budo and a fundamental training method. It was as though I was talking to people who had never been sledding on a snowy evening or eaten caramel apples at a fair.

A few decades ago, the idea of shiai, or contests, in karate, judo, and kendo was quite different than it is today. The emphasis then was on an interaction between various dojo. Members got to see and experience the techniques used by others, methods taught in other schools. There was also a great deal of social interaction. Martial arts contests were almost always followed by potluck dinners and informal parties. Many budoka of non-Japanese ancestry got their first taste of sushi, sashimi, and other Japanese food after these shiai back in the sixties, made by the mothers, wives, and girlfriends of contestants. Oh, and one other thing about those shiai that distinguished them from today’s matches: there were, technically speaking, no winners.