When you were a child... haven't you ever had these feelings, dreams of becoming this brave, mighty... but kind and loving... "Samurai"? The swordsman that protects the loved ones with all their pride, with the great skills and movements with the Samurai swords... Did you not dream how cool it would be to do the same when you were a child?
Not only boys, but I remember girls too... thinking the same.
Have you ever done anything like this? Picking up a stick...
“Hey hey! Look at my sword!... Yah! Yah! My sword’s stronger than your’s! hehehe!!!”
People who remember doing something like this, it’s been a long time hasn’t it? Since when have we forgotten these innocent times we had?
“I’m trying I’m trying… I just need to finish this and hand it in by today”
“This person has so many connections in the industry… I should use this chance”
“I don’t have the skills to do this job…”
“It’s the society that’s wrong… not me”
As we get older, gradually, but surely, we stack all these weights of responsibility on our shoulders... and lose the understanding of what's wrong and right... who's the villain, and who's the hero. So how could we pick up a stick, and start fighting?
If there's such a thing as a Time Machine, and if I can go back in time, would I be able to tell the young "me" that "I'm you in the future", while being proud of myself?
The same days, repeating over and over.
The stress, the tiredness, the feeling of being incompetent... without rest.
Easily frustrated... then bringing on more and more trouble...
And what has the beer done to my body!?
This body... the only place where this body can become a hero or a Samurai is in the cartoon show where everybody is yellow, and all joked up... Nothing close to being cool.
Man... but...
I still want to try swinging those Samurai Swords...
Like the way we did by picking up sticks, and acting as if they were swords.
Ah... the exhilarating feeling of going through the crowds of villains with one single sword...
Man... I really look cool... If I can think this way, maybe something in my life can change
Maybe I can become stronger
Maybe I can become more kind, and honest... loving
My name is Nao, from the secretariat of the Samurai Exercise 剣 -TSURUGI-. When I was a child, I used to play with my friends with stick fights acting as if we were heroes too, like any other kid would do. And of cause, I would always be the Samurai hero!... Is what I would like to say, but because I was small and weak when I was a child, I would always have to be the people who'll get killed... I remember telling myself that I have to become a hero some day, and be able to beat everyone else.
But now, I am enjoying the time acting as a hero.
The Samurais that every child had wanted to be.
Are you interested in becoming this... Samurai Hero?
Martial arts looks like it's going to hurt a lot, and ordinary exercises or working out don't seem to be exiting at all... they don't even look cool anyway...
Aren't you wondering like this, not being able to choose the right type of exercise for you?
Our new and unique type of exercise that we offer, the 剣 -TSURUGI- , has its origin and base from the stunts and action scenes of sword fighting in Samurai movies, which In the movie industry, are called the 殺陣 -TATE- .
This has all started off by investigating on how to move in a beautiful manner, and how to make the sword fighting scenes look as astonishing as possible. This exercise comes from this view of "how to look cool", and the TSURUGI is not only Japan's first, but the world's first exercise that has this view.
After every lesson, there will be time set to try out an actual action scene, just like the movies, so that you can actually feel what it's like to be a hero that you have always dreamed of.
But unfortunately... this is not a martial art, or an actual lesson on how to fight with swords.
So, for the entire real swordsman out there, we would like to apologize.
From the eyes of the real swordsman, there may be parts that seem wrong, but we wish for some forgiveness.
Yes, these sword lessons that we give, may not be useful in real fights.
But what we aim, and desire to gain, is not power and strength... it is the beauty.
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through meditation and learning the manners of the Samurai, you will gain great confidence in yourself and learn the true 'BUSHIDO' 武士道 |
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with the skills of 殺陣 -TATE-, you will gain the skill to react to sudden movements and read the next move, which will allow you to increase your concentration. |
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through the exercise, you will move around, allowing your body to gain health, but above that, you will notice how your posture straightens up. From straight, correct postures come better blood flow, better sleep, and a body that does not tire out easily. |
So there is no sparing, or fighting involved.
We do not teach how to defeat opponents.
Nor do we teach how to hurt others, though we do teach how to act the fighting scenes.
But that does not mean that there are no risks involved.
So during the lessons, one must always pay attention, and high degree of concentration is needed.
Then in actual combat scenes, there is a need for, not just words, but trust and understanding towards the people acting together.
What is needed when rough realistic actions are involved in the scenes, is the heart of trust and the bonding between you and your teammates, just like how dance groups are.
Our goal is to combine martial arts together with how dance lessons are done so that it becomes more enjoying and easier to understand for people in any age and gender. This way, enable the Japanese Samurai spirit, the feeling of respecting others from deep down the heart to revive into the modern Japanese society, and spread further throughout the world.
The famous Inazo Nitobe once was asked by a scientist from outside of Japan, "Are there no moral educations in Japan?" and as an answer, he published the book, 'BUSHIDO' 武士道 which became one of the best sellers of that era.
This 'BUSHIDO' 武士道 explained that Japan has what is called Bushido instead of any religion that other countries may have as a base of moral. He introduced this concept to the world and showed the unique way of living Japanese people had and the world saw this culture as a beauty.
Economically, we would have to say that India and China would be the answer.
But in the world of art and culture, the country attracting the most interests is the small country called Japan.
The creators of unique industries, the people in the frontier already know the fact that this small country Japan, will lead the world in the not so far future.
So what if you come to Japan some day, with the knowledge of 'Bushido', and a piece of Japanese culture? That would enable you to have a better competition the others, and even if you don't come to Japan, knowing a different culture will allow you to have this mentality that is unique to Japan, that can be used in any occasion.
There is a reason why Japanese people are seen as calm and cool in the Samurai movies.
The creator of this Samurai Exercise is our teacher, Hiroaki Iiyama; a
master of Samurai Swords while being a famous actor. Hiroaki Iiyama has spent 30 years of his life on stages around the world including NY Broadway, and many movies and TV shows, searching for the real beauty of swords actions.
This is a creation made from a man,
Who spent his lifetime acting the beauty that of what he believe
The beauty in this Dance of Swords, is truly real
殺陣 -TATE- is a group work... It can't be done by one person. We work things out together, searching for the perfect timing to strike, and when we succeed in acting a great performance, is when a joy, or a feeling that can't be explained, comes into me, and that really makes my day.
My teacher always said, "Perfect Communication!!"
- Tatsuya Wakabayashi
How Samurais lived in a life of always seeing death close by, being able to feel that, is one of the attractiveness that 殺陣 -TATE- has. One must have a strong heart and an unshakeable determination in order to swing the sword through the person in front of you. These people who have the unshakeable heart, I think are very attractive, as a person, and as a man.
- Maiko Kanai
I can now notice days that I don't have enough concentration by looking at how I stand in the mirror with my lesson uniform. I can even notice what kind of feeling I have with me. I can now understand how "stance", the proper posture of how people should be, is very hard to maintain. I have learned through殺陣 -TATE-, that to live with a proper posture is a very important thing to do in life.
- Hitoshi Nishina
What is attractive about Mr. Iiyama's 殺陣 -TATE- is the beauty of the swords, the fine and calm movements, and most importantly, the serious trust between people. I have experienced being assaulted before which created a trauma inside of me, but 殺陣 -TATE- saved me. I have learned the true meaning of "slashing" and swinging the sword though 剣 -TSURUGI-, understanding that 殺陣 -TATE- can only be done when true trust through practices are made.
- 40 year old Female
*The lessons are based on continuous movements that are explained in detail, so new starters can join without any stress
*By moving along with the music and the beat, it is easier to memorize the movements and more over, it's fun!
*By repeatedly doing the Japanese traditional movement, the movement of keeping the body weight in the low position and twisting parts of the body around, the core muscle of your body gets trained, creating a body that gets hard to gain fat.
*The vocal skill called "気合 -Kiai-" the spontaneous shout when swinging a sword is very effective towards stress and is also effective in burning unwanted fat.
*Because we will use wooden swords that weigh the same weight as real Japanese 刀 -Katanas-, concentration will be needed at all times, which will train your mind to focus.
*At the end of the lesson, there is time for meditation, which will allow you to look into yourself, and understand yourself better.
*After acting the action scenes in the last half of the lesson, you will see yourself as doing something really cool!
*You can be respected by people from Japan, and even people from any country!
This is not just an exercise.
Our dream is to teach people around the globe what the potential of Japanese culture has towards the way of living. Our exercise may be viewed as silly or something that is disrespectful, but we desire that people of any gender, age, background, to touch our Japanese Bushido while having fun.
*As our 1st video clip download, we plan to send out サムライエクササイズ 剣～TSURUGI 基礎編 其の壱 out to the world.
*The video clip will include: the correct grip, foot works, basic stance, and basics on how to swing the sword.
*In addition, it includes reflections of movements on the mirror for an easy-to-follow demonstration.
*Also includes a slow motion clip for the people who desire to view the movements in more detail.
*This video clip is shot and edited by Kazuhiro Takeuchi, who also is a big fan of sword fighting, so the scenes and clips are edited in a way that fans would want to see it.
*With scenes and movements that cannot be explained just by the video, there are photo shots and additional subtitles to make things clear.
with the price of 14.99 US$ per video clip.
We, in a way, will act out how to killing each other, but we do not want to fight at all.
What we desire, is the heart and understanding of the "peace" that comes from understanding each other.
For this "peace" that we believe in, we will donate 5%
of all sales on this DVD to groups that work to resolve
wars around the world.
剣 -TSURUGI-
We have a dream... That people throughout the world, no matter the background, can find Japanese culture and arts as interesting, and wish that each and every one of these people can find their own different Bushido in their lives.
And did you know... that the kanji character used for Japan, "和-wa-", is used in words such as harmony, relaxing, calm... and peace? This is what we also wish would spread around the globe as well.... The world of peace through 和-wa-
We wish that you can become a part of our dream some day, and we will be waiting for your reply. Thank you very much, and I hope you will enjoy our
SAMURAI Exercise
[剣-TSURUGI]