1. Why did you decide to join the online lessons?

I have had a lifelong fascination with ninja and samurai culture, but I have lived in a smaller city with very few options to take up martial arts. I am finally in a place where I can afford to take lessons, so I began researching iaido and eventually found Shogo-san’s YouTube channel. This happened to be right around the same time he was starting his training with Seki Sensei and opening Asayama Ichiden up to the world and to people like me with no access to a dojo. When they announced that they would provide online lessons, I finally saw my chance to learn from a true sensei.

2. Why will you train here and not at any other online lessons?

I don’t have much of a reference for other ryuhas, I loved the style of Asayama Ichiden from the first kata I saw sensei perform. That has only grown the more I’ve learned. Seki sensei is very adept at demonstrating and critiquing. Tsukada sensei is an amazing uke. Kurosawa Sensei is excellent at coordinating the camera work and adjustments needed to capture sensei’s demonstrations for us effectively. Shogo-san provides great translations, which is most important for me as I know very little Japanese. Together, they have provided a very effective and enjoyable online program in which I am glad to participate.

3. What changed before and after you joined?

My interest in ninja, samurai, and ancient Japanese culture never translated into proper study on the subjects. It was mostly piqued by pop-culture romanticization in movies, tv shows, and certain animes. The connection I’ve felt for whatever reason sat dormant until I began training in the online lessons. Now I have an active connection to the culture and am learning a lot from our senseis and everyone in our online community.

4. What is the best part about joining?

Getting to learn unique and genuine techniques practiced by actual samurai directly from a Soke in Japan has been a great honor, as well as having an active connection to the Japanese culture and the growing community of fellow kobudo enthusiasts worldwide.

5. What future goals would you like to achieve through the training?

I would like to eventually specialize in dual wielding with the wakizashi and techniques using the kama. In the long term, I would love to reach 5th Dan and participate in the training camps in Japan at least every 2 years. Beyond that, my main goal is just to deepen my understanding of the way of the sword and the samurai spirit.