The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Swimming the hard way in Japan: in samurai armour Posted: 07 Oct 2012 08:51 AM PDT  Mutsuo Koga, wearing Japanese traditional armour and helmet, performs his swimming skills during an exhibition of the Japanese-style swimming competition in Yokohama on August 19, 2012. — AFP-Relaxnews pic "It's heavy, and it's hot in here ... Fan me hard," Mutsuo Koga, a 27-year-old doctor, told fellow disciples of traditional Japanese swimming at a recent meet. "I'm worried about whether I'll be able to get myself back out of the water. It's been three years since I last swam," said Koga as he readied to take the plunge in a public swimming pool. Traditional swimming was developed during Japan's feudal 15th and 16th Centuries, when feared samurai swordsmen roamed the country enforcing their masters' will. Part survival technique – there were times when a warrior just had to swim for it, boots and all – and part aesthetic performance, traditional swimming now has its place in the pantheon of Japanese martial arts. And like all martial arts, its adherents say it has real-life applications. "The primary purpose of this kind of swimming is to acquire practical skills for swimming in a real environment," said Tadao Koga, Mutsuo's father and the grand master of the Kobori school, one of twelve recognised by the Japan Swimming Federation. "If you can swim fast using Western strokes, that doesn't mean you can survive in a natural environment," said Koga, 67. Traditional swimmers have to master a kind of treading water, which will allow them to withstand powerful waves near a seashore. They also have to learn the "hayanuki" stroke, vital for swimming against a current or up a river, thrusting your body high into the air as your arms crash into the foam. Whatever happens, you have to keep your head above the water and your wits about you – that obstacle looming in front of you could be a rock, or it could be an axe-wielding enemy. Oh, and you have to do it while wearing 15 kilograms of armour. The appeal of the sport is that "swimmers compete on form and beauty, rather than the speed of swimming," said Yoko Suzuki, 25, a champion of women's traditional swimming. Masahiko Yaginuma, chairman of the Japanese Traditional Swimming Committee of the JSF, said the form was widely taught in schools in the early 20th century but fell out of favour and is now only found in a few institutions. "Nowadays women in their 60s or older are the main group of new learners," because they see traditional swimming as an extension of the other noble arts a cultured Japanese woman learns – like flower arranging and tea ceremony, he said. Briton Antony Cundy, a Tokyo-based advertising executive who has spent years being tutored in the Kobori school of swimming, said there were real benefits to taking up the sport. "It's a fun way of getting fit and enjoying Japanese culture and history," said Cundy. "It's astonishing you don't see many foreigners enjoying it." Around a minute after he slid heavily into the water, Mutsuo Koga slowly and unsteadily hauled himself out to roaring applause from the assembled crowd. He had managed about 20 metres using a stroke designed to make him glide across the surface of the water, his helmeted head making no abrupt moves. "Your chest was supposed to be above the water," Tadao chastised, as his son stood panting on the poolside. "I was not very good," gasped Mutsuo. "My body didn't float at all." — AFP-Relaxnews |
| Czech forest golfers make an extreme sport of game Posted: 07 Oct 2012 01:46 AM PDT  Forest golfers take part in a tournament near Uvaly village, east of Prague, on September 23, 2012. — AFP-Relaxnews pic Over the last decade, a group of Czech "forest golfers" have pioneered a novel approach to this gentleman's sport in the wilds of Bohemia on terrain that would usually be out of bounds on a regular golf course. "The idea was born when two friends at a summer camp decided to introduce the kids to golf," says Jiri "George" Rehor, a teacher and veteran forest golfer. "Besides playing, they wanted the kids to make the equipment themselves. When they returned home, they were thrilled with their idea and asked their friends to join them." The sport has caught on, with dozens of Czechs competing up to nine times a year at forest golf tournaments played across the republic, including both singles and team events. On a sunny September Sunday morning in a lush forest in Uvaly just east of the capital Prague, about 20 extreme golfers are testing their skills on a rough 10-hole course crossed by a yawning ditch. Most have come equipped with clubs made of walnut, sour cherry or other harder types of wood, a tennis ball or two and snacks, sometimes including a bottle of hard liquor. "You can bring the club with you or make one on the spot," laughs Rehor, sporting four clubs and joking that a new club or a set of tennis balls make a perfect birthday gift for him. The club must pass through a testing tube that is 10 centimetres wide, according to the forest golf rule book on the golfers' meticulously maintained website, which includes a link to their Facebook page. Instead of regular tees, forest golfers use spruce cones broken in halves, while tennis balls replace regular golf balls, which are too tiny for the terrain. "It also hurts like hell when you get hit by a golf ball," says Rehor, as a few balls ricochet off trees at the height of the players' heads. As a rule, players wear hats or caps, and men sport colourful, often outlandish, ties. "We also had to wear sandals but that rule was abandoned after the first tournament on snow," says devoted forest golfer Daniel Suk. Leona, a woman who has come with her husband and two children, tees off from a hill towards a hole hidden behind a tree about 40 metres away. To her dismay, her daughter hits a tiny pine, while a family friend whacks the ball against a tall spruce; it rebounds onto a cushion of light-green moss. "You're on the green," Leona chuckles, before scoring an impressive -9 on the par-15 hole – the usual limit for forest golfers. The players help each other by bending short trees that are in the way. The rules allow that trees can be bent, but not broken. Forest golfers held their first tournament in 1999. "We've been playing full seasons and had fixed rules since 2000," says Rehor. There's no age limit. Sunday players at Uvaly range from young children, their parents to players over 60 and all play by the motto "fun that we're dead serious about". "I've been playing for seven years and I've won four seasons," 63-year-old Vaclav Hajek chimes with pride as he skillfully sinks a tennis ball in a hole just an inch wider than the ball itself, hidden between the roots of a tall spruce. "I used to practise at work, in an asphalt yard, aiming at a gutter pipe. "I've won 32 out of 43 tournaments. I'd be ticked off to see the young ones beat an old dog like me," he said, laughing. Like most forest golfers, Hajek has never tried regular golf, but Rehor says he'd love to try a real course once. "But that's really expensive. Here in the forest I take a walk for free, shell out 20-50 koruna (roughly RM3-4) for the chocolate medals and diplomas, and that's it," he says. As there are no swish club houses on this golf course, players head off to a humble pub for the awards ceremony, washed down by a beer or two. While regular golf has made it to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Czech forest golfers would rather not see an Olympic future for their discipline. "I'm happy playing with 50 people, the forest is much more quiet like this," says Rehor, a two-time tournament winner this season. "Although it's pleasant to go home with the medal hanging down your neck," he laughs. — AFP-Relaxnews |
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