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About Us
Japan’s traditional performing art
that creates realistic and dynamic fighting scenes
Kyo Kasumi
Founder / Fight Director
Kyo Kasumi is the first and only female stunt coordinator and fight director in America specializing in TATE: Japanese sword fighting and other Japanese combat styles. After training and working with master Masatsugu Takase in Japan for 15 years, she relocated to New York where she opened her own TATE and stunt training dojo in White Plains in 2014. The dojo has since become a training hub for a wide range of students from professional actors to beginners and children. As a mother of three, she is particularly skilled at choreographing action sequences involving women and children while ensuring their safety.
In addition to her on-set roles, Kyo is also a film producer. Her debut production, “First Samurai in New York” not only was selected into 14 film festivals around the world, including New York Shorts International Film Festival and HollyShorts Film Festival, but also won four awards including Best Fight Weapons at the Artemis Women in Action Film Festival and the Action on Film International Film Festival.
Kyo is also active in philanthropy, fostering international cultural exchange by organizing trips for American high school students to Japan, as well as establishing a fund at NYU Tisch School of the Arts to uplift BIPOC voices and stories to help combat systematic marginalization in the industry.
Japanese feature film “Gold Boy”, in which Kyo worked as a fight choreographer and stunt coordinator, is set for release in 2024, alongside another co-produced between France and Belgium.
What is TATE Action
Tate is one of Japan’s traditional performing arts and is not a match against another competitor. It is one of the performing methods that creates realistic and dynamic fighting scenes by working collaboratively with one’s partner.
Tate emphasizes not only the skills and precise movements of the sword, but also the spirit of Budo and a deep respect for one’s partner and the sword.
Tate originates in Kabuki from the Edo era and evolved into today’s realistic and speedy performance by incorporating needs of the age and the essence of Budo.
We offer (to teach) techniques and skills of dynamic yet safe sword fighting with inheritance of its beauty of mode and action.
Every move in tate encompasses wisdom of the ancestors and deep respect for others. Tate which is profound and graceful with efficient movements will provide many valuable lessons to live cheerfully and enterprisingly in today’s life. It will certainly provide opportunities to reinvent yourself.