Samurai Sword Lesson in Asakusa: Hakama, Armour and Two Hours of Instruction in Tokyo

This is the longer, hands-on version of a visit to the samurai and ninja collection in Asakusa. The museum tour is part of it, but the substance is the sword lesson, and it takes up most of the two hours.

You change into hakama — the pleated trousers worn for kenjutsu and still worn in kendo — before anything else, because moving correctly is difficult in ordinary clothes and the garment is part of the technique. What follows is real instruction rather than a photo opportunity with a prop: how to stand, how to hold the weapon with both hands doing different jobs, how a cut is actually delivered, and why almost every screen depiction is wrong about all three. The forms you learn are the basic ones a beginner would be taught in a dojo, and they are harder than they look.

You also wear a set of samurai armour, which is worth doing for the weight alone. Full o-yoroi ran to around thirty kilograms, and the moment you have it on, a great deal about how samurai actually fought — and why cavalry and archery mattered more than duelling — becomes obvious. Themed photographs are taken while you are in it.

The guided tour of the collection wraps around the session, covering the armour, blades and equipment on display and separating the documented history from the mythology that grew up around it later.

Groups cap at ten and instruction is in English. It is wheelchair accessible. If you want the shorter version, we also list the one-hour museum entry with the ninja star throwing, which is a different and cheaper experience.