SFUK Guide : Japan

Sports Kaikan - Gym write-up

Text by Nikuraba, photos by Rob Sulski

15th July 2002

Rob came over to Japan recently on a training holiday to try and find high level submission grappling sparring. There's alot of it about here, so we thought we'd share a little of the experience of what its like to train in Japan, focusing on Sports Kaikan, a sports gym frequented by Grabaka amongst others.

Directions

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.

Contact - Mr Tenshin Matsumoto, SK Absolute, 2-23-25 Hyakunintyou, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan 169-0073. tel: 03-3364-0101

Facilities

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.

Classes

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.

Opponents

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.

Conclusion

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.