The Finnish Iaido Seminar 2025 Review

By Paul 'Batman' O'Brien
B.A., N.C.E.H.S., Dip. Acu., Adv. Dip. OBB, Cert Clin. Med. Pn1, PN-SSR, PN-NCA, M.AFPA, M.ETCMA, M.C.Th.A.

The Finnish Iaido Seminar, Espoo,  18-20th July 2025

I am a lucky man. Through Budo, the Japanese martial arts I practice, I have travelled all over the world and most extensively to Europe. Thanks to these many warrior pilgrimages, I have made many friends, with some of my dearest being from Finland. It was then, long overdue, that I should visit them in their home country. With Oshita Sensei visiting Finland for the first time, for a seminar organised by Joonas Pihlaja Sensei, President of the Finnish Kendo Association and Tuula Kiviluoto Sensei, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. So I packed my bags for the first time in a long time and journeyed to Helsinki this July for the Finnish Iaido Seminar.

I arrived on the 17th July, with my deeply patient and supportive student Emmanuel Clarke late on Thursday evening, and by that I mean close to midnight. Yet the sun was still in the sky, only now contemplating its own retirement. My brother in Budo, the Tony Stark to my Bruce Wayne, Richard Raurala, met us at the airport and then took us on a nighttime driving tour of Helsinki. We saw the spectacular cost line of the city light up, the stalwart engineering marvels that are the Ice Breakers, the expansive, wide-open streets, and stunning churches and government buildings. Most importantly, Richard and his partner Niina pointed out the best coffee, wine and food of Helsinki…all noted for future reference!

Close to 1 am, I checked into the most unusual and luxurious walk-in closet I have ever seen. The hangers hung directly off pegs on the wall, as did a chair, a bag table, and, oddly enough, a serving tray. I didn’t quite get that at the time and have only figured it out just now as I write. A little further into the closet/room, there was a twin set of the most comfortable beds I’ve lain upon in years. And infinite hot chocolate. That was the most important part. 

After a little rest, the next morning, my long-time (and long-suffering) training partner, John Kennedy (having arrived on an earlier flight), joined me and Emmanuel to be greeted by the always upbeat, friendly and stupidly talented swordsman, Paulus Artimo Sensei, who had volunteered to drive us to the hall for training. 

The First Fight of the Finnish Iaido Seminar - The Finnish Summer

At this point, Emmanuel and I realised Google’s Generative AI Gemini had greatly misled us. The algorithm had assured us of a pleasant temperature of 18 - 19 degrees. Instead, we were being confronted with 29-32 degree heat, in a hall packed with other warm bodies. No warm-up or sauna needed with the Finnish Iaido Seminar!

Of course, despite the heat and breaking into a sweat simply standing in the room, I did indeed follow the full warm-up I teach in Dublin Kendo. This is a longer version of the one I was privileged to teach by request of Nakano Sensei to the Mudan and Shodan groups at the 2016 European Iaido Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

It starts with dynamic stretching from neck to toes - bringing the joint lightly through its full range of motion, as opposed to static stretching. Static stretching of cold muscles promotes injury. Don't do it.

There is a 4 fold purpose to this drill:

1. Preparation of Joints and Muscles
2. Cardiovascular exercises
3. Stretching
4. Conflict, Attack, and Defence Preparation

A specific 7-movement dynamic stretch sequence followed this, repeated 3 times at a rapid clip, to account for the tightness and imbalances created by modern life.

Finally, I finished off the warm-up with a dynamic 10-minute yoga sequence developed for my spine, hips and shoulders. Most importantly, I was using it to regulate my balance and coordination in rotational movements. You can find complete instructions on these in my various training guides.

Once I was through this, I was soaked in sweat and as well-prepared as I could be for the arduous and exciting training to begin.

Round 2: Uhthoff's Phenomenon

Now, with this heat training was going to be tough for everyone at the Finnish Iaido Seminar, but it presented a unique challenge to me. I have Multiple Sclerosis, and while I do a great deal of work to be asymptomatic for the most part, heat is a massive trigger for my symptoms. This is known as Uhthoff's phenomenon. 

Essentially, in someone like me with MS, warmer temperatures can slow down or block nerve signal conduction in my already damaged nerves. Even a very small rise in body temperature (even 0.5 to 1°F or 0.3 to 0.6°C) can make it harder for my brain to send signals to the rest of my body.

This means within minutes of being in that hall, I was experiencing increased fatigue, blurred vision and dizziness, numbness and tingling in my hands, feet and left leg, a weakness in both legs, compromised balance and coordination and a lot of difficulty concentrating. Memory was also an issue.

Later in the seminar, I would find I had completely forgotten the work I had been doing with my Sensei, Peter West. Thankfully, I am lucky to have a deeply patient teacher who spent an inordinate amount of time going through all of it with me again. I’m also very lucky to be surrounded by a team of Finnish friends who were constantly checking in on me, making sure I had a plentiful supply of cool fluids, electrolytes and salt/mineral drinks, etc. 

The seminar proper began with Oshita Sensei leading us all through a selection of variations and noteworthy points from the recent 2025 Central ZNKR Iaido Seminar. These points were excellently highlighted through simultaneous demonstrations by John Burn Sensei and Stuart Shirreff Sensei. We then performed several rounds of ZNKR practice. 

Aside from providing the much-needed clarity on recent changes to the ZNKR Kata, Oshita Sensei was kind enough to also clearly state what we should be teaching our students here in Ireland, and we will be doing that going forward without any ambiguity. This has been a concern of mine for some months now, and this has taken an enormous weight off my shoulders and that of my fellow instructors. 

Imps, Pixies and Leprechauns

Following a short break, Oshita Sensei focused on smooth movement in a variety of turning patterns. It is a very hard thing to describe Oshita Sensei turning. There is no visible mechanism by which it occurs. The smoothness of the rotation produces no visible muscular engagement; it is like there is a disk beneath him, being moved by tiny pixies. When West Sensei does it, I assume they are Cornish pixies. If I am ever able to replicate this, it will no doubt be due to the aid of the wee people. 

A really interesting drill Oshita Sensei had us perform was a hand-assisted rotation of the standing knee - this immediately allowed us to feel the body as a single unit and understand the rotational access. Unfortunately for me, starting detailed practice with turning mechanics was on my nightmare bingo card. I was already woozy and light-headed, and the turning, though controlled, tipped me a little over the edge. As the song goes, “I’m so dizzy, my head is spinning. Like a whirlpool, it never ends”. I fell over a few times, but all things considered, I was more stable than expected; however, one of the keen-eyed 6th Dan noticed my instability, and this would come back a little later. 

Thankfully, it was now time for lunch, and I had the opportunity to cool off and recenter myself. And that lunch was EXCELLENT. I have never before had chef catering at a seminar, but Jonnas and Tea Pihlaja Sensei pulled it off. They arranged to have Chef Sakari Mattila (complete with a wicked awesome tattoo of Heath Ledger’s Joker) of Tapahtuma Catering prepare our food fresh at the event. This first day we were served an exceptional Valencian paella with chicken and shrimp, aioli, lemon and a baguette. It was absolutely spectacular. So I had seconds. There is an unsubstantiated rumour I had thirds :-)

Overcoming Instability at the Finnish Iaido Seminar

Now, back to the work at the Finnish Iaido Seminar. Before we restarted, West Sensei spent a great deal of time working with me and John, cutting mechanics - the subtle fingerwork of Te-no-uchi. This would prove to be very useful as it would become a key point that Oshita Sensei came back to again and again - there is too much power in the cuts, leading to overextension and instability in the body’s weight management. Using the Te-no-uchi method West Sensei taught us, John and I were largely able to eliminate this.

What followed then was some free practice to fully realise and implement the modifications, corrections and new understandings of the ZNKR syllabus as the 6th and 7th Dan’s floated around offering insight, support and correction. Some of the best advice came from Jolanda Myers Sensei, who helped me address my instability through using some visual balance exercises and some slight adjustments to my stance.

West Sensei then worked through some of the subtle points of nukitsuke with me, which, after nearly 20 years, I think I am finally beginning to understand. This was inordinately helpful and also tied in seamlessly with another exercise Oshita Sensei had us perform with an emphasis on the left hand in nukitsuke, giving us another excellent exercise, which I am eager to take back to the dojo in Ireland.

The Sensei and The Detective

Another short break was called, but during this, West Sensei took John, Emmanuel and me aside for a special intensive on O-Chiburi and Noto. As is always the case with West Sensei, this set off a whole new series of lightbulbs for me, and issues I have been working on for some months all finally began to coalesce. I’ll need more time to fully embed it and level up my technique, but I was delighted with this new streamlined efficiency in my movement. To paraphrase the great detective, “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth”. I am eliminating as many of my unnecessary and impossibly foolish movements, in the hopes that I will arrive at the truth of the technique. 

This same lesson would continue into the next session, as West Sensei worked on creating the right feeling and timing of Jodan no kamae and flowing into Chiburi. This was a remarkably different feeling, and the palpable sense of pressure created by this was fascinating to experience. 

We then finished with a metuske and face-to-face training drill, which I really enjoyed. So ended the first fully packed day of the Finnish Iaido Seminar, whereupon I practically collapsed into the hotel and crawled into the cooling rainfall shower. I sat on the stone floor of the shower, lowering my body temperature as I meditated and performed some Autogenic Therapy on myself, restoring the fan to my overheated CPU of a brain. Rejuvenated, I joined the gang at a local restaurant and spent the evening chatting away with my friends. Once I got back to the hotel, I did a needling session focused mainly on strengthening my legs and balance and prepared for an intense and long day. 

“Bushido dignified, it’s the last stand of the samurai”

The second day of the Finnish Iaido Seminar was thankfully a little cooler, and I was better prepared for an intense 8 hours of training. In no small part to the pump brought as Paulus Sensei introduced us to the incredible sound of Battle Beast with a spine-tingling warrior anthem, “Bastards Son of Odin”, and “Shiroyama” by Sabaton. It is the most Johnny Lawrence Cobra-Kai 80’s Power Rock. I love every beat of this. It helped amp us up for a hard day of training.

And boy was I looking forward to today, as after an initial few rounds of ZNKR Iaido before lunch, Oshita Sensei took us for koryu Mūso Jikiden Eishin Ryū, while West Sensei led the ZNKR group and Momiyama Sensei, now joining us, led the Mūso Shinden Ryū group.

This was PHENOMENAL. I always get a great deal out of koryu practice with Oshita Sensei. It is always a great opportunity when you get to watch in real time the structure of how he builds his technique and creates this incredible smoothness, and the use of Ki in his technique. And Oshita is always deeply generous in providing his kuden and riai, allowing us to understand the inherent logic of what and why we are doing what we do, bringing life and meaning to the waza.

I also got inordinately excited when Sensei shared several variations of different waza and even quickly showed us some of the OG “lost” methods of some of the forms, some of which I hadn’t seen before, which is somewhat surprising, as I've seen an extraordinary amount. He laughed and his eyes twinkled as I shot him a very enthusiastic double thumbs up after one particular demonstration of a kata variation. He knows I utterly love this stuff.

I have MANY, many notes on this, but they are safely locked away in the kuden vault.

Oshita Sensei worked the group through the Shoden (初伝) Omori ryū Seiza no bu (正座之部), Chūden (中伝) Eishin ryū Tatehiza no bu (立膝之部) and Okuden (奥伝) Okuiai Tachi waza no Bu (奥居合立業之部).

Throughout, Sensei highlighted many of the very subtle body mechanics, provided details on the riai and bunkai of the forms and even graced us with multiple kaewaza and variations contained in the “older” teachings pre-Oe Masaji Sensei. All in all, it was thrilling though hard training.

Once the session was completed, Paulus Sensei whisked us away once more back to the hotel ahead of the sayonara party held at the Fat Lizard. At this stage, I was having a little trouble walking, and our Finnish host Joonas arranged transport to the restaurant, for which I was most grateful. When we arrived, we tactically chose the table closest to the serving area of GIANT, delicious pizza.

It was an excellent evening, filled with laughter. I may have told too many stories celebrating my fellow Irish instructors, but they are legends, and it is my proud duty as Ireland’s Top Storyteller to tell the tales of their glory so they may be recognised in Valhalla.

However, the night was not without its sombre moments, as we remembered our friends who have passed beyond the vale and are no doubt drinking in the halls of warriors.

This year, we have lost two of the greats of Finnish Iaido. José Martinez-Abarca Sensei, who is credited with bringing Iaido and Jodo to our dear friends in Finland, and our good friend Pasi Rupponen. Both men were inspirational swordsmen and were taken far too soon by cancer. Paulus Sensei led a bittersweet toast to their memory, and their absence was felt.

The final day of training would be a little shorter. I was lucky enough to be included in a small group with Oshita Sensei for those preparing for their next grading. Mine won’t be until next year, still, it was an unmissable opportunity to focus and sharpen my technique. Oshita Sensei focused on a number of smaller yet key details that raised everyone’s level. We finished off with another face-off drill, which helped focus my technique further and provided me with an excellent example of timing and metsuke in Jolanda Myers Sensei.

And with that, the Finnish Iaido Seminar was over, but this was not the end.

Walk to the White Church with the Lady Constantine

My good friend Gina Konstantopoulos, swordswoman, demonologist, and professor of Assyriology, the Lady Johanna Constantine to my Bruce Wayne, took us on a delightful tour of Helsinki. We walked the epically wide streets and saw the stunning White Church of Helsinki Cathedral, the magnificent Uspenski Cathedral, Johannes Church, the Helsinki Central Railway Station (a delightful mix of the Superfriends Justice League Headquarters and Burton’s Gotham architecture), Ice cream and sorbet in Esplanadi Park, and refreshing drinks and beautiful scenery at Katajanokka, and so much more.

We then travelled to get one of the nicest mint hot chocolates I’ve ever had in Cafe Regatta on Kahvila Helsingin Taka-Töölössä. Overlooking the beautiful lakes, the smell of cinnamon rolls, the gentle breeze and great company was a wonderful interlude. We then set off on a hike through parks and the city to meet the Sensei and senior Finnish Iaidoka for one final delicious meal.

Amid much laughter and stories of the terrible (but fun!) things we get up to in the Irish dojo’s, I had the opportunity to have the most wonderful conversation of the philosophy of Budo, why we do it, all that we get out of it and the different traditions and understanding of Iai and Jo with Joonas, Tea and some of their students. It was an excellent end to a wonderful weekend.

We made our final goodbyes to Sensei and returned for a brief rest before Richard met us at 5 am and drove us, tired and happy, to the airport, not before he gave me the most generous and thoughtful of gifts, some of the earliest issues of Batman published in Finnish. I left the Finnish Iaido seminar filled with renewed determination, a great depth and understanding of Iai, and most importantly, having enjoyed the great gift of friendship that Budo has brought me.

My deepest thanks go to Joonas Pihlaja Sensei and Tea Pihlaja Sensei for organising such a splendid seminar, looking after me and making sure I could participate fully. A special thanks also to my dear friend Richard, for collecting us for the airport runs at such awful hours and his continued kindness and support. Many thanks to Paulus Sensei for driving us around each day and introducing John and me to the legendary Battle Beast and Sabaton, and to Markus dropping me back from the sayonara party.

Of course, my greatest thanks go to Oshita Sensei, who must have been exhausted from back-to-back seminars, and yet taught with such energy, passion and generosity, and to my teacher Peter West Sensei, who spent such an inordinate amount of time coaching me. Thanks also to Takao Momiyama Sensei, Stuart Shirreff Sensei, John Burn Sensei, Jolanda Myers Sensei, and of course to Gina Konstantopoulos for her assistance in translating, supporting Sensei and showing us the sites.

You've been reading about the Finnish Iaido Seminar. Check out my first impression of Iaido here!

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