Sitting down with a renaissance samurai

Sitting down with a renaissance samurai

From Unpacking Japan by Produced by ZenStudio

April 14, 2026 · 1h 42m

About this episode

William Reed, the renaissance samurai, shares his experiences of moving to Japan and his passion for martial arts and calligraphy.

Meet William Reed, also known as the renaissance samurai. He sits down to talk us about moving to Japan in the 1970s, his lifelong practice of martial arts and calligraphy, and his passion for teaching Namba, the samurai walk. 0:00 Intro0:44 Meet Will5:15 Discovering aikido9:06 Homestay in Japan13:17 Tokyo in 197217:38 Deciding to come back to Japan21:46 Returning in the 80s24:10 Practice of martial arts33:00 Key martial arts teachings44:33 Finding balance with Namba56:28 How Namba walking is different1:00:05 How this is relevant today1:09:56 Studying calligraphy1:17:49 What is good calligraphy?1:25:22 The importance of a signature1:34:11 Looking back--Follow William:https://www.samurai-walk.com/https://www.instagram.com/showmeshodo/https://x.com/william_reedhttps://www.facebook.com/will.reedhttps://www.youtube.com/user/taproot55Follow us:https://unpacking.jp/https://www.instagram.com/unpacking_japanhttps://www.tiktok.com/@unpackingjapanhttps://www.facebook.com/unpackingjapanhttps://www.youtube.com/@unpackingjapanshortshttps://www.x.com/unpacking_japanhttps://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/unpackingjapanSubscribe for more in-depth discussions about life in Japan! Interested in…

People in this episode

Guest: William Reed

Topics covered

  • martial arts
  • calligraphy
  • Japanese culture
  • Namba walking
  • personal journey

Keywords

  • samurai
  • martial arts
  • Japan
  • Namba
  • calligraphy
  • aikido
  • 1970s

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: ZenStudio

Products: Namba, aikido, calligraphy

Places: Japan, Tokyo

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