The Samurai experience tour in Tokyo.
Japanese martial arts is one of the most
distinctive types of combat styles. But the
most popular one of them all must be
the “Kenjutsu”.
It is predominantly shown through anime,
drama, and documentaries. Since you’re
reading this I’m sure you’ve swung sticks around thinking you can cut through everything at some point of your life.
As someone who loved Japanese traditions, learning about the martial arts of wielding katanas and “The Way of the Samurai” was always at the top of my bucket list. So during my visit in December of 2022, I looked up many places that would let people from abroad experience. I was about to give up until I found the website BUSHIDO.JAPAN. I am writing this to share my wonderful experiences that I had with this BUSHIDO.JAPAN
The instructor whom I contacted was Shoji sensei. He has won multiple national championships and possesses the 6 dan which is similar to belts in martial arts.
Once you arrive at the place, they will lend you a katana and dougi or martial arts wear similar to kimonos. Once you put it on, they will demonstrate all the mannerisms from 1 to 10, everything from how to show respect to the katana to your fellow swordsmen. It was truly a struggle for me to sit on my knees haha. After you’re done with that, you’ll be shown some techniques to how you cut the tatami mats. There are ten forms but they had me do the first three. It went pretty well.
Overall, it was very intriguing and I was very satisfied with my experiences. Shoji sensei was polite and very detailed. I would definitely try this again the next time I visit Japan.