Stephan Naji is from Paris, France, and has been training for over 17 years with extended stints in the US while teaching at New York University.

Stephan holds the rank of Iaido 5-Dan and Jodo 4-Dan and has earned several tournament honours including a series of Golds and Silvers in 2005 and 6 at the European Iaido Championships, the French Nationals, and the BKA International Taikai. He also achieved 3-Dan Bronze at the Ishido Cup in 2018 for Jodo.

In this wide-ranging conversation we talk about how he lucked upon an Iaido dojo, about different styles of teaching and leading a dojo, about the various ways in which the social aspect, the community, and the feeling of family can impact your life, not just the practice.

As a professor and researcher, Stephan’s eye of detail and spoken delivery of ideas and insight was such a delight. The clarity and conciseness of the different topics we discussed was so refreshing, and I’m looking forward to a round 2 to our conversation.

This episode is also available at the following podcast platforms

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Anchor: https://anchor.fm/tokushikai-canada

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/tokushikai-inside-look/id1523336799

Google Podcasts: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8yMzk0OWVhNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0Mf1mrLTfVT3Sbu8XM032m

Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1523336799/tokushikai-inside-look

Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/tokushikai-inside-look

Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/i9qbnxx7

Radio Public: https://radiopublic.com/tokushikai-inside-look-We0ozJ

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