Long ago in a distant land, a Japanese emperor who was also a mighty warrior saw his land overtaken by a shapeshifting demon known as Aku. To defeat Aku’s evil, the emperor turned to the ancient gods ...

It’s a chilly evening in Emeryville, where half-a-dozen martial arts students at a community center are practicing with katana. They kneel, jump and slash, then slowly mimic wiping blood off their ...

It can take more than a year to make a single razor-sharp katana. In Japan, business is booming for the few remaining smiths who know how to do it. At Nippon Genshosha, a sword workshop on Japan’s ...

The city of Kumamoto is steeped in the spirit of its samurai past, which many of its citizens point to as a major influence ...