Samurai for a day
This is a friend of mine... She graduated from law school this spring. She's not exactly the type of person you'd expect to see wielding a katana in the middle of Tokyo, but that's exactly what she's doing. She started taking lessons in
Iaido a while ago and she wanted to show me her sword (!) so we met in Shinjuku one day, searched for a less crowded place and found this temple yard (where a bunch of buddhist monks dressed in orange were posing for cameras). She took out the sword from the case, took off her coat, tied a belt around her waist and fastened the sheath. Normally, she said, one wears traditional clothes and starts from a sitting position, but since we were outdoors and she was wearing high heels, she did the whole thing standing up. I was really impressed when she drew the sword, swung it in the air and then resheathed it. She invited me to come see her practice some day. Believe me, I will!
