古武術 天心流兵法 TENSHINRYU HYOHO

中村天心、鍬海政雲両師家、士林の会 狩野会長の三名にて、柳生の里へ里帰りを行いました。
伝書には遠祖と記載されていた柳生宗厳（石舟斎）師、そして天心流の基盤となる二百数十の独自の技法を考案し、これを流祖に伝え高祖といえます柳生宗矩公、また柳生三厳（十兵衞）師、柳生宗冬公（心計斎）師にも縁の深い天心流であり、一説では時沢師も柳生庄の出身とも言われております。

Ogawa Ryu - Iaijutsu Fuiwotsudome - Mae

This is art? Impact

4 Ana Borralho e João Galante Criativa-mente from -mente on Vimeo.

Japanese craftsmanship

looking for ninjas

Japan is Having a Shortage of Ninjas Despite Offering $85,000 Salary

Iga, located in Mie Prefecture, Japan, is reportedly having a lesser-known crisis compared to the demographic one that the country is currently facing – huge shortage of ninjas despite offering candidates a pretty hefty annual salary of $85,000 as maximum.

The small city, which believes to be the birthplace of the popular ninjas, receives about 30,000 tourists to see and experience the annual ninja festival held in Iga. But while this may be good news to some, the city is actually suffering from depopulation and young people are now moving away from rural countryside, Business Insider reported.

Last year, Mie Prefecture only attracted 43 new young residents as a whole while Iga lost about 1,000 residents.

To help bring back the local economy’s boom, Iga’s mayor, Sakae Okamoto, plans to use its ninja heritage to attract both local and international tourists during its annual celebration. However, with the problems listed, pulling this off may post some difficulties.

Japan saw a large influx of tourists last year at almost 29 million, which is almost 20% from the numbers in 2016. While this, in its entirety, is good news, rural areas like Iga and other else, are being left out.

To attract more tourists and make them stay longer than a day, Okamoto made the ultimate decision to relocate the city hall and build a second ninja museum in its place. They are also receiving funding from central government – though the amount they are getting was not disclosed.

Iga also needs to employ people to work as ninjas. But to make it clear, these ninjas are actually performers, not the real covert assassins from feudal Japan. But since the country has an extremely low unemployment rate, the local government finds it hard to fill in the free spots for ninja performers – and to make it even more difficult, the position requires the right physique.

More info and photos at: https://nextshark.com/japan-shortage-ninjas-despite-offering-85000-salary/

Hishigami wrapping practice

Iaijutsu

隱居寺廟10年，她成為日本國寶大師

Japanese national Ikebana master 珠寶花士 didn’t have a job until she was 30. After the 1998 Kobe earthquake, she met her mentor 岡田幸三. Since then, her lifestyle changed radically. She has been wearing only plain clothes, almost isolating herself from the outside world. For ten years, she worked in Ginkaku-ji. Every day she arranged flowers and presented them to Buddha, living her life as a hermit.