Katana Activities Are Now Illegal?

We frequently receive inquiries like, “I’ve heard that due to the recent strengthening of gun and sword laws in Japan, tameshigiri (mat cutting) experiences are no longer available. Are you still offering this experience?”

Since we were completely unaware of this, we researched and discovered that another tameshigiri experience facility in Kyoto had an incident where a customer was injured with a katana. As a result, the Kyoto police issued strict warnings, and the facility had to shut down its tameshigiri experience.

Their website states the following:

Important Update: A recent Japanese swords and firearms law strictly bans lending a real sword and facilitating activities for travelers that involve using a real sword, aka tameshigiri. During this activity you will only be using replica swords.

https://mai-ko.com/tour/samurai_sword_cutting_tameshigiri_experience_tokyo_samurai_museum/

It has come to our attention that customers who saw this page were confused and contacted us. We would like to clarify the following three points:

1. No such strengthening of laws has occurred, and this information is completely false. 

If such a legal change had occurred, all dojos handling Japanese swords nationwide would have been informed. However, the facility in question, having been regulated, may be spreading this misinformation to argue that other facilities should also be banned. We do not know the exact intentions either.

2. We are not merely a facility offering experiences

We are a legitimate dojo that trains official students Even if “experience facilities” were to be regulated, our services are official training experiences in our dojo.

3. Our safety protocols and training ensure a secure participant environment. 

Although the incident at the other facility was unfortunate, it does not reflect the standards and practices we uphold. Rest assured, our training activity continues to be conducted safely and professionally.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. To participate in our activities, please book through our Airbnb page. Our online lessons are available through our Patreon page. We look forward to meeting you all.