YAKI-IRE : the heat treatment done to harden the cutting edge in Japanese sword making.

First of all, we hope that all of you are doing as well as can be expected this week. It has been an extremely challenging time for everyone, and unfortunately there is no clear end in sight. Once again, our lines of communication are always open and we very much appreciate hearing from all of you. We are still waiting to hear from some of you; if you have a moment, please reach out. We’d like to know that all of our members are all right.

Now for the updates:

By order of the State of Illinois, we must remain closed until Tuesday, April 7th. We will keep you aware of any changes.
We humbly ask, if possible, to submit your membership dues for April when the time arrives. They will be accepted at any time during the month and late notices will not be sent. Simply put, your continued support is necessary for the survival of the dojo. If this situation extends longer than that, new arrangements will be announced for May.
Hannah will be leading a live streamed yoga class at our usual time (Saturday, 12:45pm) that you are all welcome to join. Login details will be sent out shortly.

To be frank, the impact on our collective public health and the damage done to our social fabric looks like it may be severe. The outlook, in many ways, does not look good. But we must continue to support and push each other forward if we are to endure this moment of crisis. After all, steel is toughened and hardened in extreme heat and fire.

We are making plans on how to move forward in the event of a protracted social disruption, such as holding outdoor weapons classes when the weather permits or resuming classes in the dojo with a strict attendance cap. We may also be asking pairs of volunteers to come in and help with keeping the dojo clean. And we are continuing to develop video content for you to use while still at home.

As challenging as this road has been thus far, it looks like the mud is going to get a bit thicker in the days to come. Let’s redouble our efforts to support each other—we can do it!

With extreme gratitude,

Enmei & Chris