April 18th-21st, 2013
The International Sabaki Challenge is hosted annually by Enshin Karate and Joko Ninomiya Kancho.
www.enshin.com. 11 competing fighters, coaches and managers traveled from Japan this year to attend the Sabaki Challenge, and as is tradition, stayed at Nippon Kan Headquarters. Many of the current Enshin Karate coaches and managers, who trained as uchideshi at Enshin Karate in their youth, have had a long standing good relationship with Homma Kancho; some for over 20 years.
Ninomiya Kancho and Homma Kancho came to Denver about the same time over 35 years ago. Homma Kancho remarked, “I used to go to Enshin Dojo and spend long evenings talking with Ninomiya Kancho. Ninomiya Kancho never drinks even one sip of alcohol so it was I who drank all of the sake from Japan with Ninomiya Kancho’s Japanese students.”
Reported by
Yuji Kosakowsky
AHAN Nippon Kan Youth Program Instructor