Came across this quote today. It can apply to so many different things. Being a stand up person. Standing up for the right thing. From the kenjutsu standpoint this really hit home during a seminar i recently attended with Sensei Williams. If my posture was off or my feet not properly placed then I was far less successful doing kata. He said multiple times over the seminar we need to open our hearts. It was his way of explaining how to maintain our posture in a relaxed manner. If the samurai did not stand well in battle then surely they would not live. What are your thoughts? How does your posture effect your training and every day life?

In terms of practical application, I was wondering about how to apply principles when an attacker is able to grab both your collars or both arms from the front. Most of what I have seen deals with grabs of one arm by the opponents corresponding arm (i.e. right to right, left to left). I can imagine how this could unfold by changing the relationship of the attackers position to mine, but have not seen yet an example in video of classes (apologies if I missed it or have not come upon it as I work through the classes from Dec to May).

This might be a bit off-topic for our group, but Happy National Matcha Day (at least in the U.S.)! I remember the first time I had matcha in Japan. I was 14 years old and it was my first time in Japan. I went to a tea grower's farm in Shizuoka and they had an entire setup where they ground green tea leaves into matcha. The staff treated us to a tea ceremony and I was hooked. I've been a matcha lover ever since. If anyone in our group has experience in tea ceremony (or if you love or can't stand matcha) I'd love to hear about your first experience with it.

Welcome to Nami ryu Kenjutsu online. I'm excited to have you here, and to share your passion for learning Japanese swordsmanship. ⚔️ Please take a minute to introduce yourself and share what motivates you to learn kenjutsu. Maybe you're into Kurosawa movies, the samurai, or Japanese swords, or maybe you've wanted to learn Japanese swordsmanship but don't have a place to train or a community to support you. We'd like to know what brought you here!

Hi Sensei. I know this is probably more likely to happen against a woman. If I am face to face with an attacker and they grab my hair on top of my head my thought process is pin their hand to my head and quickly step back and slightly bend at the waist while I turn toward the arm that is grabbing me, breaking their grip, hopefully. If however I am grabbed by the hair from behind it would be much easier to pull me off balance as I get pulled back. Part of me thinks try to sit down so I don't get slammed to the ground. But not really sure going to the ground is a great option. When you have a chance would you be able to do a video with hair pull from front and behind? Also happy to hear thoughts from others. Than you.