Sabaki Challenge
Since 1989 Enshin Karate has sponsored the Sabaki Challenge (officially called the Sabaki Challenge, World Open Tournament and often unofficially called the World Sabaki Challenge) in Denver. The Sabaki Challenge is a full-contact, knockdown karate rules, single elimination tournament intended to fulfill Kancho Ninomiya's vision of a showcase of a "true," stand-up martial arts skills competition. The tournament is open to advanced male and female competitors of any style. The tournament competitors are usually divided up into (male) lightweight, middleweight, heavyweight, and female divisions.
The rules of the Sabaki Challenge favor and promote use of the sabaki method. Therefore, in addition to kicks, punches, and other strikes, grabs, sweeps, and throws are generally allowed. Points are awarded for putting one's opponent on the ground in a controlled manner. Hand and elbow strikes to the head and neck aren't permitted, but kicks are. Grabs are permitted to one side of the opponent's body for three seconds at a time. Since it is a full-contact tournament, knock-outs do sometimes occur.
In addition to the annual Sabaki Challenge in Denver, many satellite Enshin dojo sponsor local, sabaki-style tournaments. These tournaments follow the same rules as the main Sabaki Challenge and are open to competitors from other styles. They usually include the word "sabaki" in the tournament title. An example would be the Northeast (USA) Sabaki Regional sponsored by Enshin's New Jersey dojo.
Two Ashihara Karate organizations also sponsor tournaments that they title as sabaki challenges and follow rules similar to Enshin's sabaki tournaments. Ashihara Karate International sponsors an annual sabaki challenge in South Africa that, like Enshin's sabaki challenge, is open to competitors from other styles. The original Ashihara organization (New International Karate Organization (NIKO)- Ashihara Karate Kaikan) sponsors an annual tournament in Denmark called Sabaki Challenge Spirit. However, this tournament is only open to members of NIKO.
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