Every Five Years

Only once every five years does Japan host a worldwide Taikai.

Here's a shot of the yudansha from the event.

After two days of intensive training, and a day of sight seeing in Nikko, we gathered in Omiya for the annual Shihan ceremony and formal banquet.

One of the sights was a giant waterfall that was seriously too tall to capture in one frame. Especially when people kept posing in front of it like we did.

Here we are all gathered on the steps of Toshogu Shrine.

This Shrine is famous for the three monkeys, "Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil."

If you look carefully behind the big monkeys, you can see the original monkeys on the top left.

Our dojo had a great turn out for this event.

Here we are all pictured with Irie Soke.

Including Ashley with her busted shoulder from one of the throws that was taught the day before.

We can't wait till 2015 when the taikai will be hosted in Kyoto.