Home
Search
Hataya Sensei DVD
My Katana Stories
  Wind & Thunder - Arthur Fain
  Tori XL - Mike Femal
  Submit Yours!
Dojo Stories
  Shinpan in Japan
  Parkinson's vs. Toyama Ryu
  Gekken (truth and Deception)
  Practical Swordsmanship
  Juu Senbon Giri (10,000 cuts)
  Starting Swordsmanship
Trips and Demos
  Natsumatsuri Demo
  Wrong Side of Fujiyama
  Nikko Revisited
  Maderia Beach Library Demo
  Blade Show 2008
  Trip to Japan
  Machida Dojo
  Metrocon Pictures
  Trip to Morikami Museum
General Info
  Katana Construction
  Katana Like Objects
  Japanese Swordsmanship
Links

Formal Dojo Pages

Home
Bushido
Japanese Sword Dictionary
Martial Arts Dictionary
Your Name in Japanese
How to Guides
    Bow In Ceremony
    Warm Up Exercises
    Bow Out Ceremony
    Wearing Uniform
    Formal Uniform
    Wearing Daisho
    Uniform Folding/Care
    Kihon (Fundamentals)
    Seitei Kata
    Toyama Ryu Kata
    Toyama Ryu Kumitachi
    Standard Cuts (Kihongiri)
    Tameshigiri
      Target Prep & Spiking
      Cutting Patterns
      Cutting Videos
      Target Comparison
    Taikai Rules
    Judging Guide
Selecting a Shinken Katana
Selecting an Iaito Katana
Katana Maintenance

Welcome to the I Love Katana website. If you find yourself here - you probably have the same fascination with the Japanese sword as I do. I hope you will enjoy this site, but also hope you will have a new understanding of Japanese Swordsmanship.  This is the informal site of the Konjaku Kioi Toyama Ryu Dojo.  You can go to our formal pages by following the links on the left.

1994 was the year I started down this path. It all started when my friend Pyro showed me a real katana. Before that I thought a “real” katana could be bought at the mall cutlery shop. This was not as pretty or shinny as the ones in the mall, but holding it, I knew I was holding part of history. It was a sword made in the 1920’s and carried by a Japanese officer in WWII. I remember soon after that Pyro and I made a road trip to the shop where he had gotten that sword. I was hooked when I held a sword over 400 years old that had been commissioned for a samurai. The maker had inscribed the commission on the tang along with the fact that it had cut through the bodies of two convicted criminals as proof of its quality. Then the shop owner told us about this Japanese guy named Hataya Mitsuo who was coming over from Japan and teaching swordsmanship, something called Toyama Ryu.

I was fascinated by a seminar taught by Hataya Sensei. I started because I thought it was cool. We got to dress up like Kuno Tatewaki and learned some Japanese. It has been a few years since then. I’ve come along way down the path but you never reach the end. Some journeys you take for their own sake. It has been a good journey so far. Perhaps you are one of the few who are captured by the spirit of the sword and wish to join us down this path.

- Mike Femal