All Japan Student final at 2009, team, Gosho - University 16

Last two articles, I introduced senpo (1/7) and jiho (2/7) matches. This is a gosho match. Red player from Kanoya was Katsumi. He is a younger brother of Katsumi who is a regular member of Japan team in world kendo championship. White player was Ago, he graduated from Taisya high school at Shimane prefecture.

The following youtube is a Gosho match.

White player first Men was excellent gut. He definitely felt he had to get one score back toward even because white team was behind and later the match, more disadvantage it would be if the score was same.

1:53 red player Tsuki to Men was a good combination. But white player also reacted well not to allow red ippon. It would be ippon if the timing of either of Men delayed a moment.

2:45 red player Kote Men was nice wit and combination. It is generally difficult to react and add Men in such a short moment.

5:11 red player afterhit-Men was good point, but it might be a bit off the mark point of Men. Timing was perfect but sound was like slapping metal and not ideal for ippon.

White player was good at preventing ippon of opponent in this match. It was only a slight difference between ippon and non-ippon but it was also an important technique to avoid critical hit.

Technical variation of red player was more than white player, especially combination hits were excellent, but each stroke was more powerful than red player’s.

This match ended up in draw, but it highlighted characters of each player’s good point. From the stand point of white side, they wanted at least one win for a team, but it seemed difficult to defeat this technical and nimble player of red team.

Gosho tied, team score red to white, 2(3) – 0(0) by Gosho.