As of today, the situation in Baltimore vis à vis the CoVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is holding steady and while many people are hastening to prepare themselves and their homes and workplaces we have not yet seen the cases in Maryland overwhelm our hospitals and health care system here. That all could change quickly though as the virus is known to spread ahead of symptoms, and in my opinion the socially responsible thing to do is to take measures to mitigate the risks and to follow recommended guidelines to lessen the chances of spreading.
Within the Jinenkan we have lots of material from the ryuha (our lineages) that doesn’t require personal contact or to even be close to one another. Also our dojo space in Baltimore is large enough (and we as instructors and students are few enough) that we can gather there and still keep a proper distance from one another (i.e., we can maintain the recommended 6′ separation during dojo time and training). The space also has proper facilities for hand washing before and after training, etc.
So after communicating to our students about new dojo hygiene protocols, we began to train in a different section of our ongoing bikenjutsu work and changed our focus to iaijutsu (sword drawing techniques and cutting practices). Stay tuned for more training notes on iaijutsu.