KAMUI

Back in July I went to a chanbara show in Tokyo. It was put on by a group of five professionals who are without a doubt the premier action sword performers in the world. They take what I have been doing in KENGEKITAI and raise it to unimaginably extreme heights. They are called KAMUI (pronounced KAH-MOO-EE), and there leader is a man named Tetsuro Shimaguchi (picture shown). He was the master mind behind the sword action scenes in Kill Bill Vol.1, he also performed in it as Miki, one of the Crazy 88s. His magnum opus in the film was the final scene between Uma Thruman and Lucy Lui called Sword Fight in the Snowy Garden. KAMUI's live performance was amazing; and all of this introduction was unknown to me at the time. My friend Nakano san simply invited me to go see a professional chanbara show by a group of her close friends. I had no idea she was close friends with such people. After the show we met the members of KAMUI, who were all very humble after putting on such a display.

This past week Nakano san told me KAMUI invited me to practice with them, I naturally accepted and headed to Tokyo for a lesson in humility. I was like a small boy going to meet one of his favorite professional athletes only I am thirty one. I have been learning/performing chanbara for ten months now; I would not say I am any sort of expert, but I have definitely seen improvement. Friday night made me feel like I had picked up a toy sword and should not have. The studio of the greatest sword performance group in the world was tiny, it was amazing to think they were capable of such skill while practicing in such a small space. They practiced as if their lives depended on it. Their leader, one would never have expected such modesty, was practicing with a broken, taped wooden sword, and when that became unusable he switched to an old taiko drum stick. It goes to show that the attitude and skill level make so much more than the equipment.

It was humbling for me, but I learned so much about why these guys have dedicated their lives to this art. Tetsuro is a nationally certified Kubuki actor and Nanaougi-ryu dancer and uses his background to incorporate these touches into his choreography to make something totally unique. We had dinner together afterward with Tetsuro and one of the other members, Takashi Fukuda. It was an amazing time and the first time for me that I saw someone order a cup of hot milk for dinner. I hope to get another opportunity to practice with them, and I wish everyone could see them in action, it is truly out of this world.

http://www.k-kamui.com/e/