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Introduction Letter

Hello,

Toyama Ryu is like many things in life - You get out of it what you put into it.  For most it is a brief exposure to Swordsmanship that satisfies their curiosity.  For a few it becomes a life long pursuit.  Most students move on within a few months. There is no fire in their eyes and no immediate reward to keep them motivated. They will soon be off pursuing the next thing that catches their interest.  Only a few rare students remain to carry on the tradition.  Are you one of them?

Years ago I watched a Toyama Ryu seminar and I thought to myself "I can do that". There was no fancy gymnastics.  It did not appear to require any special athleticism.  Everything seemed quite simple and straightforward.  My first class was an eye opening experience.  Some things only look simple when they have been practiced for years.  I have seen many sword demonstrations filled with gymnastics and performed to music.  They may be more entertaining, but they lack the simple solid effectiveness of what I saw in that first seminar.  If you want to learn some flashy moves to impress your friends, this is not the dojo or sword style for you.

There is a strange mix of peaceful moving meditation and efficient bloody harsh reality in Toyama Ryu.  Japanese Swordsmanship is an art of life and death.  Its origins are 300 years of bloody Japanese battlefields in an era of constant war.  It was refined in the 300 years of rigid social hierarchy that followed.  Some modern Japanese hope to keep their traditions alive by expanding outside the boundaries of their country and bloodlines.  Hataya Mitsuo Sensei lives in Machida Japan and operates a dojo at the Tenman Gu shrine.  He is head of the Zen Nihon Toyama-ryu Iaido Renmei and has spent years fostering Japanese Swordsmanship here in the US.  The format and content of our classes are the same as those in Japan.

I hope you will experience Toyama Ryu at the St Petersburg dojo.  You may be one of the many who sample this unique martial art, but I hope you are one of the few who are captured by the spirit of the sword and follow me down this path.

Mike Femal
Toyama Ryu Instructor