CHANOYU · GATHERINGSA Tea Gathering for Yabusame
A private tea gathering at Ogasawara-ryū America brought together arrow motifs, riding equipment, and ceremonial dress for a guest’s special occasion.
READ NOTE →KEIKO
NOTES
Writing, when there is something worth sharing.
Short observations, field notes, photo essays, travel, historical research, objects, and practical guides. Browse by practice and then by topic.
CHANOYU · GATHERINGS
BUDŌ · FIELD NOTESThe Release That Cannot Be Forced
At a Vancouver kyūdō seminar, instructors watched the fraction of a second before hanare—and exposed how easily a release can become something the archer manufactures.
READ NOTE →
BUDŌ · FIELD NOTESBefore Taikai and Shinsa
Before the national taikai and shinsa, a Northern California seminar shifted attention away from the coming result and back toward the ordinary shooting that must survive it.
READ NOTE →
BUDŌ · FIELD NOTESA Good Performance Without a Medal
Engi-kyōgi and team shiai tested opposite sides of practice at the 2026 U.S. Naginata Championship—and neither test fit neatly on the result sheet.
READ NOTE →
CHANOYU · GATHERINGSKintsugi, Circles, and One Bowl of Tea
For guests arriving directly from a kintsugi workbench, a summer tea setting brought repaired objects, falling water, neighborhood irises, and a room full of circles into one afternoon.
READ NOTE →
BUDŌ · FIELD NOTESThe Ryūha After Hours
At a Tendō-ryū gasshuku, the kata occupied the day. After training, weapons, lineages, disputed memories, and the less orderly history of the ryūha took over the evening.
READ NOTE →BUDŌ · FIELD NOTESFIELD
NOTE
NOTE
When a Staircase Becomes Jōdō
At a Montréal seminar with Ōtake Toshiyuki-sensei, a spiral staircase recalled the path of a sword—and a simple strike opened onto a much harder question.
READ NOTE →
BUDŌ · FIELD NOTESYabusame in the Rain
At Kualoa Ranch, heavy rain turned the yabusame course into mud and made the work beneath the ceremony impossible to overlook.
READ NOTE →
BUDŌ · TRADITIONSA New Sword Primer for an Old Tradition
At Shinseikan, a newly organized sword primer showed how a classical curriculum can remain unchanged while the path into it is carefully redesigned.
READ NOTE →
BUDŌ · FIELD NOTESThe Advantage of the Cross-Shaped Spear
At my first Hōzōin-ryū gasshuku, the shorter cross-shaped spear revealed its advantage not through reach, but through its ability to control the longer weapon’s line.
READ NOTE →
BUDŌ · FIELD NOTESThe Contest Within Kata
Both practitioners know what comes next. The question is whether they can make the Tendō-ryū kata real without losing control.
READ NOTE →