Nikuraba's
Japanese MMA Bible
5. Training
in MMA
As
you know, Tokyo is awesome for a MMA experience. There
are lots of gyms, fight shows and fight shops all around
the area. Other cities have this stuff too, but I know
Tokyo so I’ll concentrate on that here.
5.1 Gym
details and addresses
PUREBRED
Omiya-kenko
center, Yuni-sato, Shinkan 1F, Marugasaki 2919-1, Omiya-shi,
Saitama-ken 330-001
Tel:
048-686-3328, Fax: 048-685-4915, e-mail: www.e-force.co.jp
Directions
- take the Utsunomiya line from Omiya station to Higashi
Omiya. Turn right out of the ticket barriers and down
the steps. Right infront of the stairs is a pick-up
point for the special Yuni-sato minibus. It’s free,
stops directly outside Purebred, and runs every half
hour (on the 00 and the 30).
Membership
is a one-off Y20,000 and then Y8,000 a month for unlimited
training. When you join you must pay 2 months up front.
Non-members pay Y3,000 for a day’s training. Classes
can be watched for free.
Training
is from 1pm to 9pm, mostly free training or sparring.
Scheduled classes are 6:30pm every day, except 4:30pm
Sunday. There’s shooto and BJJ classes. BJJ is
taken by Yoshiaki Dai who recently got his black belt
from Enson. Shooto classes are mostly taken by Kimihito
Nonaka, but sometimes other pros. Enson drops in but
doesn’t teach regular classes.
There
is a boxing ring, punchbag area, large matted area and
a small weights room. Male and female changing rooms
with toilets and showers.
I
train here and I’d recommend it to anyone. The
BJJ sparring is very good and even the yellow belts
stretch you. Most BJJ sparring is 50/50, done in spurts
of 10minute rounds. Shooto is a little more manic, but
the sparring is split into intermediate and advanced.
Purebred
recently opened a gym in Kyoto. E-mail them for details.
PUREBRED
GOLDS GYM
Gold's
Gym, Saitama shintoshin 2-27, Saitama Super Arena 6F
Right
next to Saitama Shintoshin on the Utsunomiya and Keihin
Tohoku lines. Turn left out the station and you can't
miss the Arena. Gold's Gym is in the arena.
This
is a Purebred affiliate gym where some of the Purebred
instructors come down everyday to run classes. The timetable
is: BJJ sunday 16:15 to 17:45, thursday 18:45 to 20:15.
Shooto tuesday 20:30 to 22:00 and thursday 20:30 to
22:00. Membership is Y5,000 and a monthly sub of Y7,000
Bascially
its a cut-down branch of Purebred Omiya.
PANCRASE
YOKOHAMA
T231-0031
Yokohama City, Chu-ku Ho-yo machi 1-2-4 dainabe Biru
B1
Nearest
station: Kannai. Take the Negishi line from Yokohama
for 2 stations, or the Keihin-Tohoku line towards Ofuna
from central Tokyo (e.g. Ueno station). Turn right out
of the station (south exit) and cross the road and keep
walking down the seedy back street. Pancrase is in the
basement on the next corner.
Membership
is a one-off Y20,000 and then Y10,000 a month for unlimited
training. The gym is open 5:30pm to 10pm. Classes are
6pm to 7:30pm and 8pm to 9:30pm monday to friday, saturday
7pm to 9pm.
The
teaching roster has a different recognisable pro each
night, including Minoru Suzuki, Osami Shibuya, Takafumi
Ito etc.
Facilities
are similar to Purebred but a bit smaller. The atmosphere
seems good but I`ve never trained there.
PANCRASE
TOKYO
T106-0047
Tokyo-to ?ku, minami ? ? 4-2-25
Near
the french embassy. Take the private (eidan) subway,
Hibiya line, from Ebisu to Hiroo and leave by exit 1.
It takes 5 minutes walk from there. There's no car park.
Prices
are the same as Pancrase yokohama, and virtually the
same class schedule.
PARAESTRA
KICHIJOJI
Kichijoji
City, Honcho 1-22-10-B1 tel:0422-21-0611
Take
the sobu or chuo line west to Kichijoji from Shinjuku.
North exit, walk past the bus rotary towards Mitsukoshi
department store. The gym is in the basement behind
Mitsukoshi. You can usually hear the bag work when you
walk past.
This
is actually called Cross Point Gym, but its affiliated
to Paraestra now. The main draw is the kickboxing. Muay
Thai world number two Rambar M16 teaches Muay Thai twice
a week (he's fighting mma in Deep now), and a former
All Japan Kickboxing champ Genki Yamaguchi teaches kickboxing
5 times a week. Naoya Uematsu does Shooto and BJJ classes
once a week each, and another two BJJ classes are taken
by Satoshi Takatani, a Yuki Nakai purple belt.
Facilities
are a bit weak, just a matted arean, some heavy bags,
and shower / changing room. Its small, because its so
close to the station. Membership is Y15,000 and the
monthly sub is Y10,000. The gym opens at 3pm and closes
at 11pm, classes are 6:30pm until 9pm
SK
ABSOLUTE
Mr
Tenshin Matsumoto, SK Absolute, 2-23-25 Hyakunintyou,
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan 169-0073. tel: 03-3364-0101
Leave
Okubo station (chuo line) and cross the main road out
front using the pedestrian crossing. It's a wide one,
so keep to the right hand side of it. There'll be a
tiny pedestrian street immediately infront of you that
hugs to the right hand side of the train tracks. Follow
that a little way until a fork in the road by a love
hotel that has a cat for it's emblem. Take the right-hand
path and keep walking for a while. You'll pass a collection
of about 7 vending machines on the right. At the first
crossroads turn right and the Sports Kaikan should be
more or less visible. The gym is on the 3rd floor.
The
core is a large matted room about the size of a tennis
court with mirrors lining one side. It's fully matted
in the wrestling style. There's a shower and jacuzzi.
There's also access to a weights room and boxing space
downstairs. It costs Y1,500 a time to train.
There's
no classes as such, this is purely a sparring space.
On mondays training is a solid hour of sparring from
8pm, but people do stuff before and after the alotted
time. For example, pro-Pancrase fighter Mitsuyoshi Sato
came down at 9pm to work on his standup for a fight
this weekend. There's training on wednesdays too.
The
big draw of this place is that pro fighters and active
sub-grappling competitors use it as a training space,
so you are guaranteed very high quality opponents. There's
variety too. Grabaka regulars include Akihiro Gono,
Mitsuyoshi Sato, Wada and sometimes others, so that's
top-five-rated Pancrase guys. The head guy, Mr Matsumoto
is a former judo champion, though they train exclusively
no-gi. There's also a sambo contingent and a few Greco-Roman
guys. The atmosphere is relatively relaxed, with only
the occasional explosion of strength, and no big egos
on display.
This
is a place you come to if you're already high-level
and you're looking for new sparring bodies. Beginners
wouldn't last the pace, and there's no structured teaching.
Note:
The gyms listed above get fuller write ups simply because
I've been to them to either train or check them out.
I don't mean to imply that they are any better or worse
than the gyms with shorter write-ups.
5.2 Where
to find the other gyms
Pick
up a fight mag from the bookshop and there's always
a directory of gyms and fight shows, as well as features
on particular gyms and fighters. Its all in Japanese,
so find a fit bird to translate for you. I did, and
here's some info:
Shooto
A
complete listing of Shooto gyms can be found by either
buying a programme at the show, or by logging on to
www.x-shooto.co.jp/ That's an expensive pay site though.
I've translated alot of the gym list below:
Question
marks indicate incomplete translation. Phone numbers
starting with 090 or 070 are for mobiles so beware of
the price.
Hokkaido
Paraestra
Sapporo: Tel 011-733-5301
Paraestra
Hira?: Tel 011-818-7885
Paraestra
Miyanozawa: Tel 011-671-3862
North
Kings Gym: Tel 011-756-0908
Paraestra
?kawa: Tel 090-8270-7365
Paraestra
?kan: Tel 0138-31-0024
Hokkaido
Shooting Club HCK: www.all-comer.com/kakutos.htm
Hokkaido
K Academy: Tel 0154-42-9687
Aomori
Prefecture
T-Pleasure:
Tel 0173-72-7637
Paraestra
?: 0178-22-7454
Iwate
Prefecture
Paraestra
?te: Tel 090-1069-2351
Grappling
Academy: Tel 090-8057-0151, www.h2.dion.ne.jp/~shooto/index.html
Akita
Prefecture
NHB
Water: Tel 0186-49-6745
Saito
?kan: Tel 090-1495-4902
Miyagi
Prefecture
Paraestra?
: Tel 023-645-1442
MRBC:
Tel 090-2795-8690
Yamagata
Prefecture
Paraestra
Yama?: Tel 023-645-1442
Fukushima
Prefecture
Paraestra
?shima: Tel 090-2883-9458
Paraestra
?yama: Tel 090-2883-8458
Ibaraki
Prefecture
Shooto
Mach Dojo (Hayato Sakurai): Tel 0297-65-3966
Paraestra
?: Tel 0280-33-2211
?
Kakutogi TOPS: Tel 0298-23-9705
Total
Fighting Shimodate Wizard: email shimodate_wizard@Itot.mail.com
Saitama
Prefecture
Purebred
Omiya: See above
Purebred
Saitama Super Arena: See above
Kakutougi
STF: Tel 070-6183-0340
Pogona
Club: 048-294-9406
Chiba
Prefecture
?
Tanaka: Tel 0474-74-1841, www2k.biglobe.ne.jp/~shinauo/tanaka/
?
Tanaka2: Tel 047-377-6082
Paraestra
Chiba: Tel 070-6659-2303, www.h2.dion.ne.jp/~parematu/
Paraestra
?: Tel 047-369-5663, same website
Sports
Gym JETS: Tel 047-384-6221, www.sportsgym-jets.com/
Tokyo-to
Paraestra
Tokyo (Yuki Nakai): 03-5984-3209
Paraestra
Ikebukuro (Yuki Nakai): 03-5955-7766
Paraestra
Suidobashi (Yuki Nakai): 03-5955-7766
Paraestra
?: 090-1601-3170
Paraestra
Kichijojo: 0422-21-0611
Paraestra
Hachijoji: 0426-28-9370, www.gozo503.com/
Gutsman:
03-3325-1500, www.globetown.net/%7Egutsman/
Tokyo
IeRomans: 03-3927-5528, www.ki-jin.com/
SK
Absolut: 03-3364-0101, www.bekkoame.ne.jp/(top wiggle
thing)sambo/c00.html
Sutoribaru
(Naoyuki Hirai): 03-3917-9434. www.grappler-taira.com/
Kiguchi
Workout Studio (Gokita): 042-726-1460, www2.ocn.ne.jp/(top
wiggle)workout/
?
Club: 090-9395-4673
Kanagawa
Prefecture
Shooting
Gym Yokohama (Kenji Kawaguchi): 045-316-3663, www.01.246.ne.jp/(top
wiggle)shoot/
Shooto
Gym K'z Factory: 042-740-5710, 1-14-3 Kamituruma Sagamihara,
Kanagawa, Japan 228-0802
Shooting
Gym ?: 045-786-1818
X-One
Gym: 0466-50-5370, town.fujisawa.ne.jp/1358/
Rodeo
Style: 0468-61-1672
Niigata
Prefecture
Pirokytetesu
Niigata: 025 287 2172, www.the-niigata.com/schoolHP/sport/piro.html
Nagano
Prefecture
Karatedo
Zendokai: 0265-34-2170
Ishikawa
Prefecture
HS:
0767-74-1261
Shizuoka
Prefecture
Shooting
Gym Shizuoka: 0545-57-1180
K.O.
Shooto Gym: 053-466-7754, http://plaza.across.or.jp/[funny
high squiggle]hamamatsu-ogusu/index.html
Aichi
Prefecture
Alive:
052-719-0133, http://www.hat_hi-ho.ne.jp/aliveacademy/
Chokushinkai
Nagoya: 052-705-1319
Shooting
Gym Tokai Kakuto-Jyuku: (Tomoyuki Ohara) 0569-32-3301
S&G
Factory: 090-8677-5070, http://www.geocities.co.jp/Athlete-Olympia/5496/index.html
Fukui
Prefecture
Sotokai
Sanmura Dojo: 0776-29-1445
Livewire
Shooto Sanmura Dojo: 0778-24-5801
Vale
Tudo Lab: 0776-37-1111, www.hello.co.jp/(high wiggle
thing)yasuji_numa/
Gifu
Prefecture
Paraestra
Gifu: 090-8866-4625, www.geocities.co.jp/Athlete/9376/
Shiga
Prefecture
Omidojo:
077-534-5221
Kyoto
Prefecture
Purebred
Kyoto: 075-254-7777, www.geocities.co.jp/Athlete-Samos/7499/
Kokusaikakutobudokyokai
(that's International Fighting Arts Association or something)
075-971-2592, www.skd21.com/
Sogokakutougi:
0774-63-6605, www.angura.net/
Osaka
City
Shooting
Gym Osaka: 06-6390-5010, www.geocities.co.jp/Athlete-Crete/7434/
Chokushinkai
Kakutougi dojo: 06-6708-5350, www4.osk.3web.ne.jp/(high
wiggle thing)kakutougi/
Ryuseijyuku
Cannonball Gym: 06-6477-6609, www.sevenborne.co.jp/rexjapan
??:
090-8523-9886, www13.0038.net/(high squiggle)soho/top
Sogokakutougi
Musosonejyuku: 090-3724-6650
Rairutsu
Conan: 0723-34-8048
Wings:
06-6693-1457
Kawamoto
Judo Dan: 06-6458-8043
Stay
Cool Sports Gym: 06-6795-0030
Hyogo
Prefecture
Club
J: 090-7351-8534, www.itts.to/(high squiggle)shooto/
Paraestra
Kakogawa: 0794-27-2678, www18.tok2.com/home/paraestra
??
Circle Cobra Kai: 090-5062-3694, www.jttk.zaq.ne.jp/cobrakai/
Mito
Dojo: 078-735-1286
Wakayama
Prefecture
G-Free:
073-483-7819
Okayama
Prefecture
Zero
Sen Club: 090-3371-5552
Seconds
Out: 0868-42-2880
Hiroshima
Prefecture
Paraestra
Hiroshima: 090-3372-0747
Team
Junfan: 090-7124-1972
Trank
Keiras: 090-8609-8215
Totori
Prefecture
Shooto
Jam Water: 0858-22-3010, www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/(high squiggle)omizu/
Shimane
Prefecture
Van-Wolf:
090-9062-9130
Ehime
Prefecture
Ehime
Shooto Club: 089-977-1938, www.dokidoki.ne.jp/home2/minmi/
Fukuoka
Prefecture
Paraestra
Kita Kyushu: 070-9405-7168, http://homepage2.nifty.com/gudo-kai/YUKOU/yukou.01.htm
Seiryukai:
093-591-7153
Kyudokai
Kakutougi: 090-9076-2094, http://homepage2.nifty.com/gudo-kai/index.html
Teppouebi:
090-4350-3606
J.J.J.:
090-3077-1296, http://homepage2.nifty.com/gudo-kai/YUKOU/JJJ.htm
Nagazaki
Prefecture
Team
Q: 090-2512-2152, www.geocities.co.jp/Colosseum-Acropolis/1452/
T.F.Toki?:
090-1197-2946
Miyasaki
Prefecture
Kakutougi
Chikada Dojo: 0982-35-5554
Okinawa
Prefecture
Nothing
official, but there's BJJ classes at Kadena Air Base
on the main island. Also at least one Pancrase-based
training space in central Naha. Last time I was there,
directions were: At the Ryubo end of Kokusaidori, turn
right and head towards the Matsuyama area (passing with
Ryubo on your left) and keep walking, heading in the
general direction of Naha beach (the one with the overpass
across the sea). Its around there on your left. Can't
remember much more, I'm afraid.
And
of course there are tons of gyms that aren't affiliated
to the Shooto organisation. Pancrase only have the 2
official gyms, the rest are loosely affiliated. Rings
only ever had gyms for its own pro fighters. Shooto
seems to be the only pro company with a proper extensive
network of gyms.
Shootboxing
There
are several of these gyms. One of the Tokyo gyms is
right next to Fitness Shop in Suidobashi (see below).
Tel: 03-3265-4646. Membership fee is Y12,000, monthly
sub is Y8,000. Training is on Thursdays and Saturdays
from 7pm till 9pm. There might be more but that's all
that's listed on the flyer.
Kickboxing
There
are tons of kickboxing schools, but I'm only gonna list
what I have to hand right now, which is the J-Network
Kickboxing affiliated gyms in Tokyo:
Active
J Gym: Tokyo-to, Setagaya-ku, San?Chaya 2-14-12, Santen
building 5F, tel: 03-3418-5248. Open 3pm to 10pm
Sochitarada
Shibuya Gym: Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Shibuya 3-6-19 ?ki
dai 1 building B1F. tel: 03-3498-3067. Open 3pm to 10pm
Sabai
Machida Gym: Tokyo-to, Machida-shi, Haramachida 2-9-8,
Kogosakabashi building 1F, tel: 0427-22-2433. Open 3pm
to 10pm
Ikebukuro
Gym: Tokyo-to, ?shima-ku, Minami (south) Ikebukuro 2-12-5,
Dai 6.7 Nakano Building 4F. tel: 03-5954-8815. 3pm-10pm
Some
of those J-Network translations are highly suspect so
be prepared to call them when you get lost.
Next
Chapter : 6. Enjoying
the mma lifestyle
