I went to breakfast with the western food which for me was a good choice. There were eggs, hash browns, chocolate croissants, and fruit. You definitely realize how large you are in comparison to the Japanese and not just because you almost have to duck in the bathroom to see yourself in the mirror. The beverage glasses are super small. I drank three glasses of water which seemed like the equivalent of just one glass of water back home. Like I am perpetually sitting at the kids' table.
After breakfast, Melissa and I walked through Kyoto station to find the ever present Starbucks. Then we meandered through the station a little more as we headed back to our hotel, so we could get ready for our Samurai experience.
We caught a taxi at the hotel which took us to where we needed to go. I was a little nervous at the beginning as the driver didn't seem to know where we were going, but he got us there. The experience was in this tiny shop. We walked down a set of steps and was greeted by the instructor Hishyo. Our shoes came off and we filled out paperwork before being able to choose our outfits for the day. We were the first to arrive but were soon followed by a couple from Africa and a family. Entering the classroom, we were given socks to put on. I deemed them mittens for feet. They are more comfortable than toe socks but still a little strange.
We watched a short video on the history of the Samurai before taking the floor. We were given belts to tie around our waist that would later be used to hold the Katana in place, but we didn't know that at the time. The belt's center is placed at your center at the waist. You pull it behind you and cross both ends then you pull hard. Similar to a corset. Pulling the ends back to the front you tie it to the original center twice to make sure it stayed. Thankfully, they are used to larger bodies and found a belt that fit. Two times the charm.
We all had to wash our hands with some kind of spray Hishyo put in our hands before he handed us each a katana. He went over the basics of the Katana: grip, guard, edge, back edge, and scabbard. Melissa was amazed we were given a Katana straight off the bat. I was amazed the eight of us were all wielding swords in such a small space on no one was injured.
This first move is unsheathing the sword. Normally, as the Katana is in your belt you have to hold the guard with your thumb so in case you bow to someone, your sword doesn't fall out. Once you are ready to pull it out, you turn the sword in your belt to the left, take your right hand all the way down the grip, and pull it out to the side.
The next moves were strikes and cuts. You know, the important ones. You hold the sword above your head with two hands, take a step forward, and bring it down in front of you trying to get a swooshing noise. I heard a faint one a few times. And of course, you are suppose to be fierce and yell when you come down. Striking fear in your enemy. In this case, the mirror. We learned to turn and strike and jump and strike.
The next important move comes after all the striking and cutting. Basically, after you have killed all your enemies, your sword is now covered in blood and you need that off before you can put it back. You hold the sword in one hand and slash to the right, again wanting to hear the swooshing noise. Now you are ready to put your Katana back in the scabbard. Holding the scabbard with your left hand, you bring the sword up back side edge facing you and pinch it between your thumb and forefinger of your left hand. You slide down the end of the sword until you are able to put it back in the scabbard.
After learning all these moves, we were dressed in traditional clothes and were shown and performed the first minute of a Kembu sword dance. The last thing we were shown was some fan work. Mainly how to open and close a fan with one or two hands. Overall, the experience was amazing and I'm really glad I got to go.
Because I don't like to have downtime, I headed back to the hotel with barely enough time to eat a few pieces of a salad I had bought earlier before heading with the group to the Nishimi Market. We took the subway which was kind of crazy but not as crazy as Indian trains.
The market itself is around 400 meters. There's a canopy making it a little less hot. Most of the stores were for food and included a wide variety of seafood, beans, spices, vegetables, and tea. They had baby octopus on a stick! There was also a snoopy store. It was a fun little market, but my feet had had enough and it was a little too hot to really enjoy. Plus there were soooo many people. Mary, Alisha, and I ended up walking around the department store that had AC and was the meeting spot. It was filled with tons of high end shops. I finally had to just sit on the stairs to rest.
Back at the hotel, we had about an hour to cool down before venturing out once more for our welcome back dinner. My dietary needs included no meat or fish including fish sauce, so I got a huge tray of vegetables and fruit. They had a small pot that they put a fire under to cook the vegetables or in some cases the beef in which was something I had seen on Iron Chef before. I couldn't eat most of my food, but the corn sushi was really good. And I tried some of Mary's tempura shrimp which was good. I even tried a little bit of sake which went down smoothly.
I basically collapsed when I got back to the hotel. I tried to do some work, but sleep won out.
On the docket for today, a full day of classes! I feel like I've been here forever and yet we're just getting started.
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