Japan: June 10-19, 2018. Samaurai

Prior to our departure, we looked for an activity to connect us to Japan and to allow us to have an experience that brought us closer to Japanese culture or history or art or something.

The guide that we hired in Kyoto suggested a Samaurai lesson.  I signed us up for a demonstration, a costume fitting, and a lesson in the use of the Samaurai sword.

Samaurai is a martial art, we learned, with a history of service.

The professionals delivered a show, illustrating movements, foot stamping, fan use, sword swings, and fights. 

For our lesson, we were dressed in the costume/uniform/outfit of the Samaurai.  We learned how very involved the pantaloons, belts, shirts, neck wrap .... etc was.  We also learned how difficult the moves were. 

After we were shown how sharp the knife was (yipes) and how to slide it in its case, we were taught several routines. The last step to each routine was to "clean" the blade, that is, with a jerking movement theoretically remove the blood and guts that still might be attached prior to sliding the blade in its sheath.