How Japan Travelers Can Be a Samurai For A Day

While movies similar The Last Samurai and Shogun bring viewers backmost successful clip to a distinctly important play successful Japanese history, visitors to Kanazawa tin instrumentality it a 100 steps further and afloat immerse themselves successful what it genuinely meant to beryllium an elite warrior.  Even if it’s conscionable for a fewer hours.

One of Japan’s astir alluring aspects is the quality it delivers for travelers to spell beneath the modern aboveground and observe a vibrant array of practice homes and neighborhoods from the Edo Period (1603-1867) on with martial arts and Kanazawa is the eventual destination for those wanting to observe what remains of the Samurai lifestyle.

Nagamachi is the vicinity 1 wants to research afloat beyond the castle- a picturesque country made of earthen walls, wherever mini-canals upwind their mode done it against cobblestone streets that are lined with accepted Samurai homes that tin beryllium explored, galore inactive good intact and dressed up with accepted artifacts, handiwork and décor with lush manicured gardens beneath verandas that are replete with carp-filled ponds.

Once the ambiance is soaked up, it’s clip for enactment which often begins with becoming a Bushido devotee for a time astatine Shijimaya Honpo, conscionable 15 minutes from Kanazawa station.  Here, successful a centuries-old woody location surrounded by a beauteous plot is the workplace of Mr. Masahisa Shijimaya, a 16th-generation samurai descendant, and a third-dan maestro of iaido which is simply a martial creation centered astir swordsmanship.  He proudly shows disconnected his postulation of blades and explains the intricate patterns and inscriptions that tally on them.

 All images courtesy of Visit Kanazawa

And finally, it’s clip to sorb kendo and cogwheel up for “battle.”  To afloat clasp the Samurai spirit, it is said that 1 indispensable go a warrior and kendo is simply a Japanese martial creation that required Samurai to utilize bamboo swords to sphere their skills during times of peace.  Saishikan is simply a kendo schoolhouse led by caput maestro Toshihiro Enoki who’s been practicing kendo for 50 years.  The time includes lessons connected the basics of kendo etiquette specified arsenic bowing, learning the indispensable stances and however to decently clasp and wield the bamboo sword, photograph ops included portion donned successful accepted formal and a distinctive facemask.

For travelers seeking a heavy dive into Japan's Samurai past, Kanazawa offers a genuinely immersive experience. As exemplified by the stunning imagery connected some the Visit Kanazawa Facebook and Instagram pages and its official tourism site, this portion provides a uncommon accidental to measurement into the shoes of a Samurai, adjacent if conscionable for a day.