More glimpses of unfamiliar Japan

  Tameshigiri is the art of testing a new sword. In the good old days this would often be done using the body of an executed criminal, but s...

  In the remote Chugoku Mountains of Shimane is a museum featuring many Japanese swords, apparently quite a popular topic for many visitors ...

  Yamata no Orochi is a mythical serpent with 8 heads that appears in the Izumo cycle of ancient Japanese myths set in the time before the d...

Itohara Memorial Museum The Itohara were a family of high-ranking samurai in the service of the Matsue Domain during the Edo Period. Their b...

I am a huge fan of kagura, and have seen hundreds and hundreds of dances over the years, most, but not all, Iwami kagura from my local a...