Hello everyone. Thank you for reading this article. I’m Shogo, the manager of this website and the interpreter/instructor at Yushikan Kyoto’s Samurai Training Activity. In katana martial arts training, there is a training method called Tameshigiri/Shizan, which means mat cutting. You can experience this at our samurai training activity, but many people ask us what mats we are cutting in the first place.
In Japanese, these mats are rolled up Tatami mat surfaces, called Maki-wara (or Wara for short).
Tatami is a traditional Japanese flooring made from woven grass that has been used since ancient times. Even today, Japanese people like these floorings; most houses have at least one Tatami-style room. The mats we cut for katana training are the surfaces of these floorings rolled up so that we can stand them on the cutting stands. In the past, people used rolled-up straw mats for the training, but they were too easy to cut and made a mess. Tatami are easy to get in Japan, and they are the perfect density and do not make a mess as much as the straw mats.
In katana martial arts, we cut them with simple single cuts and eventually do more difficult cuts like cutting them multiple times in a row or cutting mats that are still in mid-air. We have made videos of us performing such advanced techniques, too. However, the basics are the most important. At our training activity, we focus on the first and most basic cut that every trainee starts with. If you want to participate in any of our activities, please book through our Airbnb or TripAdvisor pages. We look forward to meeting you all.
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