The Etiquette of the Warrior

On March the 26th in Ukraine-Japan Center the 11th Forum named ‘The etiquette of the Warrior' was held. The representative of Nishio Budo office in Ukraine Mr. Takashi Kuroki, who is also a president of Kyiv Federation of Aikido and Budo, kindly agreed to conduct this Forum.
Mr. Kuroki possesses the 5th dan of Nishio Ryuu Iaido mastery, which is about delivering a swift attack from the position with the sword in sheath by turning the drawing motion into attacking one. Beside this, Mr. Kuroki possesses the 4th dan of Aikido. He cooperated with the Center many times demonstrating his skills during the events introducing the Japanese culture. At this Forum Mr. Kuroki performed as a lecturer; as far as the topic was ‘The etiquette of the Warrior' he told the participants about the code of courtesy and behavior that is common for all the Japanese martial arts, spoke about its essence and also performed a live demonstration of iaido. As Mr. Kuroki told, it is the emphasized etiquette and politeness regulations that make the Japanese martial arts so popular even abroad.
Mr. Kuroki started with the story of origin and history of the Japanese martial arts, told that when raising warriors in Japan the physical hardening was at the first place, but at the same time a great attention was given to the spiritual strengthening of the person, for it was important that the warrior could manage any situation without drawing a sword. Supported with various example episodes, the lecture about the warrior's etiquette was very substantial. Beside this, with the help of slides and video the participants were shown the types of the Japanese swords, their peculiarities and making process. Moreover, all of the participants were astounded by the real example showing what a mighty weapon the Japanese sword is. This example was actually a record which was once broadcast on the Japanese TV; it was about the following experiment - a shot was made right towards the Japanese sword's blade and the bullet got cloven into two equal parts, while the blade remained undamaged.
During iai mastery demonstration when Mr. Kuroki was swiftly drawing a sword in many beautiful ways, the blade cut air with a distinct ‘hyu!' sound; as Mr. Kuroki explained, such sound can only appear when the move is done with all body parts moving accurately.
Owing to the support by the live demonstration, plenty of video and other images as well as putting the complex concepts and ideas in a very comprehensible way the material of the lecture appeared to be very interesting for the participants. It was the first time they saw iai live, so when the Forum came to an end they circled Mr. Kuroki and showered him with questions about when and where they may take iaido training. Even for those who have had an interest for the Japanese martial arts for a long time iaido became a discovery, they were very pleased to see that iaido is not an ordinary sport. Thus, in a great success ended the 11th Forum that made a very strong impression on its 63 participants. We think the number of the Japanese martial arts fans will grow thanks to this Forum.