Swords and Shouts

Read Corey Kilgannon's story about the Samurais: "You're looking for the samurais?" said the girl sitting in the hallway. "They're up there."

She pointed up a staircase to a small gym on the top floor of Jan Hus Church on East 74th Street. Inside was a startlingly surreal scene, especially to someone stepping off the streets of the Upper East Side, where people were picking up dry cleaning and lounging at sidewalk cafes on a Saturday evening.

Upstairs, the old church gym resembled an ancient Japanese battleground. Some 50 people in Japanese warrior dress — dark robes, heavy chest armor and helmets with fearsome face-cages — hurled bloodcurdling screams as they beat one another over the head with poles.