Fight Club

Every few weeks or so, a group of friends and I descend on a small park in Shitennoji for an interesting form of exercise...Sword fighting with Shinai (bamboo swords). Our audience is made up of a few curious homeless guys staring at the stupid gaijin whacking each other senseless for fun.

I began my training a few sessions ago and I'm looking forward to my first unsupervised session.If all goes well, I'm seriously thinking about taking this up as a full-time hobby

A few months back, I bought a bokken, a solid wooden sword used in Aikido, and have named it Frankie after a notorious Scottish gangster (he had a reputation for making fun of the cops).

And remember people, don't try this unless you are only a 5 minute walk from one of the most famous Japanese sword makers in all of Japan. I know that doesn't make any sense, but there's a famous store in Shitennoji where you can buy this stuff! So cool....