Italian soldiers are facing the embarrassment of being beaten up daily by a 77-year-old Japanese grandmother.

This article is compliments of www.telegraph.co.uk I had to share it!



Martial arts expert Keiko Wakabayshi, nicknamed the "Samurai Granny", has been hired by the country's military to train recruits in hand-to-hand combat.

Miss Wakabayshi, who stands exactly 5ft tall, looks tiny compared to her charges who are mostly over 6ft.

But the pensioner is a trained master in an array of martial arts disciplines including jujitsu, jojitso, kenjitso, judo, kendo and karate.



She wipes the floor with soldiers of the Folgore brigade at their barracks in Livorno on a daily basis.

Miss Wakabayshi was born in Japan but now lives in Northern Italy.

She tells her students to look at her and believe that nothing is impossible.

After flooring an opponent she tells them: "Don't think it's unbelievable. The physique doesn't matter."

Sparring is regarded as the most effective method of teaching martial arts and senior Italian military officers hope the experience of being humiliated by Miss Wakabayshi will toughen up their soldiers.

Miss Wakabayshi trained for many years to achieve her level of expertise and believes she can carry on defeating brawny soldiers for years to come.

The term martial arts is synonymous with the Far East, but actually derives from Mars, the Roman god of war and literally means the "arts of war".

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Testing times in Noosa at Karate Budokan!

Day 1.

Saturday of the Karate Budokan International, Noosa Winter Black belt grading has come to an end with all of the candidates exhausted and also relieved to have completed 60% of the test.
The 1st day consisted of 90 minutes of Kihon (Basics) and Ido (combinations), this was followed by 60 minutes of Kata performance.
This grading we have 7 candidates for Shodan (1st Dan) and 2 candidates for Nidan (2nd Dan).

Some of the emotions on display were nervous anticipation, excitement, fear, confidence and of course focussed energy.

A lot of the friends and family in for support were displaying more nerves than the candidates!
Also completing the 1st day of the grading was Students testing themselves in anticipation of being invited to the Summer Black belt grading in December.

All of the Noosa members of the Queensland team trained as part of their preparation for the National titles in Perth.
The energy on the tatami was great and contagious.

3 candidates are testing for their junior Black Belt, these three young boys have come all the way through the KBI Little Legend program and are now on the last stage of achieving their long awaited Junior Shodan, this is a great achievement for these young Karateka to display the focus & determination required to reach this goal.


Day 2.



Sunday was an amazing climax to this fantastic test of endurance, skill & determination that is the Black belt. The day started with our candidates demonstrating their proficient self defence, covering defences against strikes, grabs, chokes, head locks, kicks & knives!

This was finished with a display of self defence against two attackers, very entertaining & inspiring. The self defence was followed by the kumite drills which is a very demanding effort displaying endurance & perserverance.

Then the test finishes with the required 5 one minute rounds of Jyu Kumite (Free sparing), awesome effort, courage, versatility & skill was on display. Some of our candidates had to contend with the best fighters KBI has, these are National & Australian open champions!

They came through with class, extremely exhausted, emotions were running high, as was sore bodies & fatique. However the smiles from the knowledge that they had made it was fantastic an memorable.
A Black belt is definitely something that you earn but more importantly it is something that you become, it's far more than just a cloth around your Dogi.

So as the weekend came to a close we had seven extremely tired deserving new Shodans and two new Nidans, with a Dojo full of family, friends and fellow Karateka cheering them on. It was also wonderful to see the look of satisfaction and pride on the faces of the Senseis that had helped our candidates achieve their Karate dream.

We would like to wish Jake Lowe, Patrick Gelling, Grant De Chastel, Lara Pogson-Manning, John Studdock, Aprile Nuske & Sophie Wrigley a warm welcome to our KBI Black belt family. Mitch Lollback & Luke Walker now as you are a Nidan the journey gets bigger & better. Well done everyone!


Until next time.

Yours in Karate,

Shihan

NOOSA'S KARATE STARS TO WEAR THE GREEN & GOLD!

Noosa Heads, Queensland Australia has cemented its position as a dominant force in the sport of karate by having six members chosen for the Australian National karate team at the Australian Open held at Caloundra on the 11th to the 13th of April.
The national team will be competing in the Oceania championships in New Zealand in September.

First time Australian team members Ashleigh Jones, Luke Walker, Matthew Shelley, Cheyenne Jarvis & Ruby Drew are thrilled at their selection. Zakaria Khalid & Harrison Fox have been named by selectors as reserves. 2008 is a big year on the international calendar with the Oceania championships to be held in NZ in September & the senior world championship to be held in Tokyo in November.

Karate Budokan chief instructor Wayne MacDonald was very impressed with the teams results at the selection event in Caloundra. Wayne said it was their hard efforts leading up to the event that secured their place in the team. Noosa has an amazing depth of talent in sport karate and this pool is breeding success. At the last Oceania championships in 2006 we had 3 members in the squad.

To make the Australian team is every athlete's dream, now these guys are ready to take the next step and turn that into an Oceania title.
As sport karate is a non-funded endeavour it is now up to our athletes to secure sponsorship and raise money for the cost of representing Australia, this includes travel, clothing, and entry & training fees.

KBI had 20 members contest the championships, 19 from Noosa & Scott Fletcher from Richmond. Scott was unlucky to miss out on National team selection after narrowly losing his fight off in extra time!

Congratulations to all of our athletes Zakaria Khalid (Bronze), Blake Walker (Bronze), Luke O'Meara, Jack Drew, Shelby Slade, Madeleine Blackman, Harrison Fox, Luke Walker (Bronze), Yohei Suzuki, Tyson McEwen, Aimee Avery, Ruby Drew (2 x Bronze), Matthew Shelley (Gold & Silver), Mitchell Barber (Silver), Scott Fletcher (Silver & Bronze), Charlotte Degiorgio (Bronze), Cheyenne Jarvis (Silver), Mitchell Lollback, Ashleigh Jones (Gold & 2 x Bronze) & Jessica Reid (2 x Bronze).

Ashleigh Jones & Matthew Shelley took individual gold medals and our 12 to 15 years girls kumite team took bronze and our 15 to 17 years boys kumite team came home with the silver.
Karate Budokan will be conducting a variety of fundraising events leading up to the championships. If you are interested in sponsoring our stars please call Karate Budokan on 54555222 or email sensei@karatebudokan.com, every little bit helps. Visit http://www.karateworld.com.au for all your latest Karate stories.

Shihans Training Tip to improve your kicks!