Simon Higgins has tried a lot of jobs, having worked as a disc jockey, laboratory assistant, marketing manager and even monster in a side-show ghost train -which he still calls ‘the zenith of his employment history.’ He also spent a decade in law enforcement. As a police officer in the South Australian Police Department, Simon served in several different postings over almost nine years, including two and a half years spent as a prosecutor. During his career he rose to the rank of Senior Constable and earned two commendations, one for initiative in the field, one for quality of prosecution service. Leaving the police force, he became a licensed private investigator, with cases ranging from murders to alleged UFO incidents. Later in life, Simon returned to his first love -writing- and found that his earlier occupations provided inspiration. He spent much of his youth in various martial arts clubs in South Australia, studying initially Ju-Jitsu, then later Shotokan Karate and Kodakan Judo as well as Kendo and Iaido (both traditional sword arts) under Japanese instruction. Perhaps as a result of his long-term interest in traditional combat arts, Simon has developed an abiding respect for Asian cultures and has visited Japan, China and the Philippines as well as Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia. He believes that the legitimate Asian martial arts, as taught by those who created them, are not intended to exemplify aggression -the way Hollywood action movies often do- but rather they are meant to be a process of skill building and self development…a physical form of meditation in which the only real competition is against one’s self. Simon lives in the mountains of northern New South Wales and is proudly a student of Eishin-Ryu Iaido, taught on the Gold Coast in Queensland by Sensei Yasu Watanabe. Eishin Ryu is a 470 year old style of swordsmanship which prizes not only traditional techniques, but also medieval samurai etiquette and courtesy. Its members periodically compete in Iaido’s world titles in Kyoto, Japan, before His Imperial Highness, Prince Munenori Kaya. In 2007 Simon returned to Japan to train under ‘Kancho’ Glenn Stockwell, Seishinkan Iaido Dojo’s highest ranking instructor, who resides in Japan, and to participate in his first Kyoto ‘Taikai’ (contest). The event is held annually on a mountain top overlooking Kyoto, in a 1200 year old shrine surrounded by a forest of giant bamboo. At the age of 48, competing in the Dangai (beginners) class after less than a year’s training in Seishinkan Iaido Dojo, Simon placed in the top ten, a result he attributes to having ‘brilliant, patient teachers’. On returning home he also competed in the National Taikai held during the annual Australian Iaido Seminar in Queensland, as the most ‘junior’ member of a three-man Gold Coast team coached by Watanabe Sensei. Judging this contest were three important dignitaries from Japan: 10th Dan Hanshi (Master) Ashosai Fukushima Sensei, 9th Dan Hanshi and Souke (Headmaster and Style Guardian) of Eishin-Ryu Iaido, Ayosai Seimiya Sensei, and 8th Dan Iaido Federation CAO, Kenichiro Ikeda Sensei. In the presence of Stockwell Kancho and these high-ranking Japanese visitors, Simon was both honoured and delighted when the Gold Coast team, led by Nathan Nilsen, won the coveted Team Event gold medals. In 2008 Simon again competed in the Iaido world titles in Japan, this time placing 5th. At an Iaido grading held in 2009 he was awarded the rank of Shodan (Black Belt, First Degree) by masters representing the All Japan Iaido Federation. Experiencing the Tea Ceremony for the first time in Momoyama Castle, Fushimi, Japan, in 1982. The gentlemen to Simon’s left was from New York, the man to his right from Paris. On the far left, wearing the winged mantle of a high retainer, sits Okada-Sensei, a performance swordsman who also hosted the event. He’s shown briefing the trio of foreigners on the ritual. Oppo