Martial arts exhibition a big kick for enthusiasts

Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Edi Purwadi, 35, has been practicing jujitsu for 21 years. He explained that by practicing the Japanese martial art regularly, it helps him maintain his health and have confidence in his ability to control things.

"I have reached the master I level in jujitsu. It really helps me not only in terms of health, but also in terms of my ability to help others who are being hurt by criminals," he said.

Edi was one of around 1,400 visitors to the Senayan Trade Center in Central Jakarta on Sunday to witness a one-day festival exhibiting various Japanese martial arts.

The event was organized by the Embassy of Japan in an effort to strengthen friendship between the two countries.

The embassy's Ayuko Shimizu explained that the motivation behind the festival was to help improve ties between Indonesia and Japan.

"This is the second time this kind of activity has been held. We held the first one in February this year, and the event was packed with Indonesia's martial arts fans," she said.

Seeing how enthusiastic the people of Indonesia were about Japanese martial arts, the embassy decided to hold a second demonstration.

The first event, she said, was attended by around 500 people. The second one was attended by around 1,400 people, including some 500 participants.

The increasing number of local martial arts enthusiasts, she said, was mostly due to the fact that each discipline taught something very positive.

"Japanese martial arts teach people to strengthen their mental ability before mastering their physical ability. The arts teach them how to be disciplined, and that's what makes them different from other sports," claimed Shimizu.

Nine variations were on display, including Indonesia's pencak silat, along with Japan's kenjitsu-taijitsu, aikido, karate, jujitsu, kendo, iai, shorinji kempo and judo.

The participants were mainly from Indonesia, with four representatives from Japan performing the country's oldest martial art, kenjitsu-taijitsu -- believed to have originated over 500 years ago.

Andrian, 16, a visitor, was impressed enough that he proclaimed his interest in enrolling himself in karate classes because he liked the movement and the teaching.

"It helps us to control the movement of our mind and body altogether without losing balance," he said.