The rebirth of Itten Dojo is much more than simply an evolution in the arts we practice. I’ve heard it said many times, in many different contexts, “When the student is ready the teacher will appear.” As circumstances forced us to take a hard look at what we were doing — and more importantly, why we were doing it — we realized that we had become even more strongly focused on making a positive impact on the lives of the members of the dojo than we had been already. We had entirely left behind any notion of producing students to “serve the ryu,” in favor of utilizing the ryu to serve the members. To be very clear: the heritage martial arts *must* be preserved, absolutely intact in their austere and rigorous demands, but the overarching justification for that preservation is its utility as a vehicle to help people improve their lives. I’ll never forget the five minutes at the conclusion of the weekend that was our formal start of iaido training with Nicklaus Suino Sensei, during which he
