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Hoshinoya Tokyo, a luxury urban ryokan near Tokyo Station, offers early-morning rooftop kenjutsu classes on a 24th-floor helipad with sweeping views of the Japanese capital.
Hoshinoya Tokyo, a luxury urban ryokan near Tokyo Station, offers guests early-morning rooftop kenjutsu class es on a 24th-floor helipad with sweeping views across the Japanese capital.
Sky-High Morning Kenjutsu Practice
The Sky-High Morning Kenjutsu Practice costs ¥4546, or about $44, per person. Rooms at the hotel start from $1560 twin share, including onsen access, while other activities and meals are extra. Kenjutsu is the Japanese art of swordsmanship, with many practical applications, though it offers just as much benefit for the mind. The practice involves controlling your movements, following a strict pattern of poses, and focusing on the task while omitting all outside influences.
In other words, it is the perfect way to begin your day. Mindfulness, but with swords. The teacher for the session is Nana Owada, a staff member at Hoshinoya. Participants meet her in the hotel lobby, pick up wooden katanas, and attach them to their wrists with little drawstrings.
Ascent To The 24th Floor Helipad
From there, they make their way onto the street and into an office block a short walk away. A security guard escorts them into a service elevator, and they ascend to the 24th floor. They then walk through quiet corridors to a door leading outside, where the wind blows and steel stairs ascend to the helipad above. One foot after another, step, step, until finally you emerge and are greeted by one incredible view.
There are plenty of tall buildings in Tokyo, but how often have you stood out in the open at the top of one? Participants take up positions in the middle of the helipad, which is huge, so there is little chance of vertigo, and begin the lesson. The city is laid out in crystal clear detail everywhere you look. There is Shinjuku, with its cluster of tall buildings.
There is Ikebukuro, another sky-scraping hub amid an otherwise low-rise city. There is Asakusa and the golden poop, a large gold flame perched atop the Asahi Beer Hall. And there, soaring above them all, is the Tokyo Skytree, the tallest tower in the world. It is breathtaking.
Exercise Mind And Body With Swords
Or maybe you are just puffed from all those stairs. The reason for being up there is to get some exercise, though it is as much exercise of the mind as the body. It is worth considering what else participants could be doing right now. Hoshinoya has a rooftop onsen, with warm waters plumbed from deep below.
There are Japanese tea ceremonies, incense-making classes, massage treatments, and ryokan-style Japanese breakfasts. Guests can go on to eat one of those breakfasts and dine at Sushi Otemon, the omakase-style sushi restaurant recently opened at the hotel. For now though, it is time to stand on a roof and swing a sword. You forget to look around sometimes, to appreciate the views as you concentrate on the kenjutsu.
Learning To Grip Katana And Cut
The session warms up with a few simple exercises, before learning to grip the katana, and then to cut. There are three simple motions to learn, though each requires concentration and patience. Raise the sword and slice through the air. Bring your hands back to the ready position.
Repeat. Focus. Breathe. Take in the incredible view, watch as clouds drift by and Tokyo wakes to a beautiful morning, and pretend, maybe just a little bit, that you are Tom Cruise.
The Japanese capital is ripe with possibility for the bizarre and the unexpected, and after 20 years of visits you can begin to think you might have exhausted all opportunities. But then, you do not know Tokyo very well. Ben Groundwater is a Sydney-based travel writer, columnist, broadcaster, author and occasional tour guide with more than 25 years of experience in media, and a lifetime of experience traversing the globe.
He specialises in food and wine, writing about it as well as consuming it, and at any given moment in time Ben is probably thinking about either ramen in Tokyo, pintxos in San Sebastian, or carbonara in Rome. Follow him on Instagram @bengroundwater.
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brisbanetimes:I’ve done wild things in Tokyo, but charading as Tom Cruise is a first 
theage:I’ve done wild things in Tokyo, but charading as Tom Cruise is a firstThis story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
Kenjutsu Class Tokyo Helipad Urban Ryokan Ben Groundwater Kenjutsu Classes Rooftop Helipad Tokyo Travel Luxury Ryokan
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