Yuki Mimura - Commitment to Excellence

By

Teru Enomoto

Yuki Mimura, 4-time WUKO World Kata Champion and winner of numerous other international competions, is the embodiment of the best karate has to offer.

Born in April 1970, Mimura was born and raised in Asahi-mura, Nagano-ken. An active, energetic child, she began studying classical ballet in kindergarten. When she was 12, she accompanied her brother to a dojo. Their parents thought he should begin training, but it was Yuki who was enamored with this new world.

The first test of her commitment to karate was to get her parents' approval to train. Not an easy task when you consider her grandparents were against the idea as well. After two months of persuasion, she was finally allowed to begin karate. Her coach, Takeo Fujiwara, recognized Mimura's superior athletic talents shortly after she started. Although she was taking only one class a week, she quickly mastered the basics.

In 5th grade, she garnered first place in her grade level division at a national karate tournament. She continued ballet classes and found the arts complemented each other as they developed her strength, flexibility, body control and focus. Since she enjoyed both arts, neither was work, but fun. Her ability to concentrate and focus on the task at hand carried over to her studies. She did well in junior high school and, after taking the rigorous high school examinations, was accepted to the top high school in the area.

In high school, she experienced a setback when she placed third in an inter-scholastic competition. Mimura was used to winning. This experience was an eye-opening introduction to the next level of competition. Determined to be a champion again, she met the challenge head on. She and Coach Fujiwara began an aggressive training program to further develop her strength, stamina and technique. Her regimen included rising at 6:00 a.m. and running between 3 and 10 km of hills before school. After school, it was straight to the dojo for several more hours of training.

In March, 1988, she won first place at the JKA Shotokan World Championships. The next month, she became the youngest member of the Japan National Team. In September, she competed in the 9th WUKO World Championships in Cairo, Egypt and placed first in kata with Unsu. Her performance was marked by movements strong and powerful, yet fluid and well balanced. Unlike many competitors, she understood and knew how to use every part of her body to execute the kata's techniques.

In 1990, she represented Japan again at the 10th WUKO World Championships in Mexico City, Mexico. Since her Egypt experience, Mimura had graduated from high school and was attending Aoyama Gakuen University where she was studying educational psychology. During this time, she was also developing her interest in sports psychology and the effects of mental training techniques, like image or visualization practices used by Olympic athletes.

She incorporated this new aspect of training to her regimine and won a decisive victory in Mexico. Unsu was her final kata and by this time, she had set a standard for the execution of this difficult and challenging kata.

Her third world kata title came in 1992 at the 11th WUKO World Championships in Grenada, Spain. Everyone looked forward to her performance, and they were not disappointed. Her techniques were crisp, precise and had an unmistakable warrior spirit.

Mimura's goal for 1996 was to win her 4th WUKO World Championship. Unfortunately in October, she suffered a torn ligament in her left knee during training. This occured shortly before the 12th WUKO World Championships in Sun City, South Africa. While many urged her to retire, she would not give up her goal. The thought of surrendering her dream to injury was unbearable. An emergency operation was performed which acted as a temporary fix. If her knee twisted too much, the ligament would be severed. Mimura understood and accepted the risks. For her, there was only the present, commitment to her goal. The past and the future were superfluous--the present was all that mattered.

To keep her focus, she kept her injury secret and trained privately at odd hours. In Sun City, her spirit was unwavering. Though her knee was injured, she competed with a unity of body, mind and spirit that few will ever experience. This total integration of body, mind and spirit is one of the elusive experiences many martial artists hope to achieve.

When she took home her 4th, and final, WUKO Kata Championship title, she set an unprecedented record for women's kata, and a standard of karate excellence which will endure for many years.