Procházka went to Japan accompanied by karate artist Jan Soukup. They spent the first week of the planned three in Okinawa, where karate originated. The Czech expedition therefore focused on traditional styles shorin-ryu a goju-ryu.
After that, the gentlemen moved to the island of Kyushu, where Soukup once lived and trained in the style kyokushin (in our country usually transcribed as kyokushin). It is often referred to as the hardest school of karate, because it focuses a lot on hardening the spirit and body and fighting (kumite) are full-contact, with the goal being to knock out the opponent. It was in this extremely demanding discipline that Jan became vice-champion of the world in the open category (without weight difference) in 2007. Later, he also participated in fights in the ring of the cult Japanese organization K-1.
While Procházka had a yellow belt (8th kyu) in the photos from Okinawa, he wore a white belt during training in Kyushu (kyokushin has different belt colors than traditional schools). But that is already a thing of the past, because before leaving for Tokyo he passed his black belt exams (1st dan). Although such a jump is not at all common, taking into account how long Jiří has been practicing martial arts, it makes sense. And it was certainly not a present for the birthday that the Czech warrior celebrated yesterday.
“He didn’t get anything for free and he had to do all the things that go with it,” assured Soukup. “These are basic techniques, physical tests, kata (Seienchin) and the traditional way of 10 people kumite, taking turns on it after a minute. Since in Kyokushin Karate great emphasis is placed on full-contact fighting, Jirka coped with it like a proper samurai and fought until the end. I tried to make sure he really enjoyed sparring.”
You can see how such kumite takes place and that Jiří must have really earned his black belt in the Instagram post below:
