The 2010 anime Katanagatari follows the adventures of the military strategist Togame and her companion Yasuri Shichika, the last surviving member of a warrior clan whose bodies are so highly trained that they are swords in and of themselves. The two travel across medieval Japan looking for twelve legendary swords and discover what it means to belong to both a wider historic legacy and to each other. Also: how to impale fools with your bare hands. Lupe Fiasco has been embarking on a similar quest lately, posing in full samurai gear and showing off his swordsmanship on Instagram. None of this should be extremely surprising for long time fans of the rapper. He's studied martial arts for years and is partial towards the realms of the arcanely nerdy as the multiple video game and anime references in his lyrics show.We know Lupe takes this seriously, and we do too, so we rang up Raab Rashi, the owner of Sword Class NYC and a real-life sword master, to find out how far Lupe is on his journey to master the blade. Much like the protagonists of Katanagatari or any other good story with swords, we ended up learning more than we ever expected.Continue reading on Noisey.
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