HOMEWARD 23^ 



food. Twenty-six people attired in gay kimonos, each with one 

 of these well-provisioned trays and a bowl of fruit, sat cross-legged 

 on the soft tatami matting, a satisfying sight. But soft as the mat- 

 ting floor of a Japanese house is, it soon becomes painful for 

 Europeans to sit cross-legged, and after about three hours sitting 

 thus the party from the ship could bear it no longer, cramped legs 

 were stretched to the good-hearted amusement of their fellow 

 guests. Then the singing and dancing began and limbs could 

 really be relaxed. At ii p.m. Challengers had their last glass 

 of sake, said farewell and left to find their boat. Forty-eight 

 hours later someone from the ship met Hamaya, who said that 

 some of his friends were still keeping the party up and drinking 

 sake. 



Night after night, when work was over for the day, those of the 

 crew who were studying judo landed and made their way through 

 the snow-covered streets to the house of their instructor. At last 

 came the great day when the Anglo-Japanese Amity Judo Meeting 

 was held in the Assembly Hall. The Mayor was there, also the 

 President of the Shimoseki Judo Association, and certainly the 

 whole of the junior population of the town. 



Dressed in judo kit — loose jacket and trousers — the members 

 of the ship's company looked strange and unfamiliar as they formed 

 up with their Japanese opponents on the grass judo mats. 

 Speeches were made by all the personalities present, an oath of 

 sportsmanship was taken and the bouts were on. The first item 

 was a match between two Japanese, one a very small man, the 

 other very large. Time and time again the small man hurled his 

 opponent to the floor with a resounding crash, but each time 

 the giant picked himself up and came slowly back for more, 

 searching for the hold he never got. 



Then followed the serious business of the evening, bouts be- 

 tween Challengers and the locals in which the sailors held their 

 own, winning as many contests as they lost. Lastly one of the 

 Japanese, a veritable champion, took on five Challengers one after 

 the other, casting each in turn to the floor, all except the last 

 man, Kirsopp, the officers' cook. He and one of the electricians 

 were classed as '4-kyu', a high distinction for Europeans, and they 

 received beautifully-illuminated certificates to prove it to those 

 who were capable of reading Japanese, 



17 



