Samurai swordplay session: stance, breathing, and one real cut

Film has convinced people that Japanese swordsmanship is a series of elegant cuts. In an actual dojo, nobody touches a sword for the first twenty minutes — you stand, and you breathe. The reason is entirely practical: with your feet in the wrong place the force of the cut travels into your wrist instead of the blade, and the wrist is what gives out first.

After stance and breathing comes the draw. This is the movement that makes most beginners drop the scabbard, because the instinct is to pull the sword out with the right hand while the left hand is supposed to push the scabbard the other way. Then three basic cuts, practised in air until the instructor nods. Only at the end comes the part you came for: one real cut into a water-soaked rolled tatami mat — the standard test material, softer than bone and harder than people expect.

Hakama and a practice sword are provided; bring nothing. Your cut is filmed for you to take away. English interpretation throughout, eight people maximum — small enough that the instructor corrects each person's stance rather than calling time for a row.