Japan's Martial Arts Demonstrated in Egypt

The capital city Cairo, Egypt, was a stage of Japanese martial arts November 12 where six different forms of combating arts were demonstrated by experts from Japan - including Judo.

Judo and Egypt is a familiar word combination that reminds many Japanese of a still lingering memory of the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. This desk is one of them and takes the liberty of touching on the story for a moment.

In the LA Olympics, Japan's Judo team has the legendary Judo master Yasuhiro Yamashita in the unclassified division. In the final match, he had Egypt's Mohamed Ali Rashwan for his opponent - not a formidable foe but not too lightly taken off.

Yamashita had his right leg injured in his previous match and was visibly limping. The result was Yamashita's win by Osaekomi or immobilization. He managed to turn Rashwan face up and pressed him flat on his back. After the match, Rashwan was praised for his "samurai's compassion" not to have attacked Yamashita's injured right leg.

Egypt's Mohamed Ali Rashwan became an international hero overnight for his samurai way of fighting an injured opponent. The legend still lingers on today. But, the real fact is that Rashwan did attack Yamashita on his injured right leg - so Yamashita admits and even admits he would have "done the same if he had been in Rashwan's position".

The truth is there; so is the once established legend.

Now, let's get back to the subject of today's episode. The occasion must have been a rare one for the Egyptians and the hall was jam-packed with over 150 sports enthusiasts.

A brief video introduction on Japanese martial arts was followed by live demonstrations by experts in Judo, Karate, Aikido, and altogether six different forms of arts. Women, in particular, responded most enthusiastically to small women players throwing taller men.

Himself a member of a local judo team, a certain Muhammad said:

"It would be great if Judo could tie Egypt and Japan close together. I hope Japanese martial arts will find their way into Egypt".