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But when the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee
decided last year that the Games would be postponed, and then
last month that they would be held without overseas spectators,
he was forced to scrap his plans.
Minamoto, who has studied martial arts for 35 years, is known
for his invention of Bugaku, or "warrior dance", a unique type
of performance art that combines the styles of samurai sword
play with the song and dance of classical Japanese drama.
He has been teaching Bugaku to foreign tourists for the past 10
years, also introducing students to aspects of samurai
lifestyle, such as the armour they used to wear.
Minamoto had hoped his business would thrive during the Tokyo
Olympics. He spent around $45,000 (5 million yen) on equipment
and renovations of his school in 2019, preparing for the flood
of foreigners.
Although his hopes of hosting overseas visitors have faded,
however, Minamoto has found a new way to reach his students
globally - online classes.
Holding a samurai sword "katana" in his right hand and an iPad
in the left, Minamoto is now showing students the arts of the
samurai on Zoom calls.
Minamoto charges $85 (9,450 yen) per student for in-person
classes and $18 (2,000 yen) for the online version. Most of his
online students are from Europe and the United States.
But the experience is not quite the same.
"If I were teaching in-person classes, I can directly correct
the body posture or teach them more poses and techniques, but I
think it's hard to do so through an online class," Minamoto
said.
(Reporting by Irene Wang; editing by Ed Osmond)
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