The 2009 US Embukai was another great success with participants coming from Belgium, France, and Canada as well as the US. Next year will be the tenth anniversary and we look forward to being a part of that event.
The next event on our horizon occurs on New Year’s Day. Hatsu-Nuki is the term for first draw of the year and is usually performed in Japan on Jan. 1 at dawn at a Shinto shrine. We don’t have ready access to a shrine, but endeavor to do it with the same spirit of solemnity. In Japan, the ritual is followed by a breakfast and hot sake toast to the new year. Here in Houston we do it outside at dawn, so our participants tend to wear as much under their iaido clothes as necessary. [The photo above is from the 2004 hatsunuki.]
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