Those who follow Kendo Nagasaki know well that he has a particular interest in the city of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. This city was once the centre of power in Japan – rivalling even Kyoto – and because so much military power was centred there, it was a spectacular “samurai town”.

Kendo’s past life in Kamakura (at least, the one he’s told us about) was as a member of an illustrious samurai family who defended the city’s rulers, even down to their very last battle in 1333. Supreme levels of skill, discipline, loyalty, and honour are, for Kendo, synonymous with any thoughts of Kamakura, and these very qualities have inspired the Kamakura Garden at his Retreat, where he meditates regularly.

On the second Sunday of April, the Kamakura Festival begins. The city’s military past is most certainly celebrated, including displays of Yabusame (archery from horse-back), there are many portable shrines at which to worship, there is much music from the great many bands which perform throughout the city, and a powerful air of joy and celebration is everywhere.

The concentration of virtues as are symbolised by Kamakura is, of itself, inspiration enough for a powerful healing meditation, but there is another powerful force associated with the city – one that wouldn’t readily be associated with a “samurai-town”, and it is love.

During the Kamakura festival, on the main ritual dance stage at the city’s enormous Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu Shrine, a dance is performed which celebrates the love that Princess Shizuka had for warlord Minamoto-no-Yoshitsune. Shizuka had been kidnapped by a rival warlord and forced to dance for him, but it is said that her love for Yoshitsune shone through her dancing, and she became an inspirational heroine, even to this day, almost 900 years later. In Bushido terms, the love expressed in Shizuka’s exquisite dancing deeply honoured Yoshitsune and demonstrated unyielding loyalty to him – she, too, clearly had the heart of a warrior, expressing it with possibly even greater fluency and skill as a result of her own hardships.

Kendo’s healing message for April draws on all the qualities for which Kamakura stands – all the virtues of Bushido, of course, but also a reminder that even in the midst of hardship, we may be an inspiration to others, never knowing the extent to which through selfless aspiration, we may lift another’s spirit and help them cope with or even overcome their own troubles. Conducting our lives according to the highest aspiration may empower not only ourselves, but also others who are touched by witnessing its example, and that is something to celebrate.

Here’s to the Kamakura Festival!