Miho Shiraki Albright teaches the samurai sword and the Japanese martial art of Aikido in Castle Rock.

However, she wasn't always in Colorado. Born and raised in Kitakyushu, a town in the Southern Japan Prefecture of Fukuoka, Miho is a descendant of a long line of samurai warriors of feudal Japan.

Samurai were a class of Japanese military nobility who served a feudal lord and/or the Japanese Emperor. The word samurai derives from the Japanese verb "samorau," which means "to serve."

Samurai came into power as a warrior class in the early 12th century and were subsequently disbanned, virtually becoming extinct, in the late 1880s with the fall of the feudal system of Japan and the rise of industry and westernization.

This dramatic shift in culture was beautifully depicted in the 2003 film, The Last Samurai, starring Tom Cruise.

Growing up, Miho had heard stories about her family's ancestors being pacifist, Shinto priests. What she didn't really know until recently was why did those ancestors become Shinto priests in the first place?

Miho was somewhat surprised to discover that her ancestors hadn't always been priests, but, in fact, were from a long line of samurai warriors of feudal Japan. Miho's mother told her about samurai of the Shiraki family who had left the samurai class and became pacifists to atone for their violent past.

Miho's family name of Shiraki has an interesting story itself. In Japan, carrying on a family name is of the utmost importance. Being a first-born son and head of a family unit is a very coveted position in Japanese culture.

Being a first-born son is so coveted that second or later born sons will often marry women from families who have no sons and take the surname of the wife's family.

Through marriage, the husband then becomes the prestigious, first-born son of the wife's family (albeit the first-born son- in-law). Miho's ancestors went through a similar experience.

Sometime between 1100 and 1800 lived this samurai-turned-Shinto priest family named Shiraki. This particular family had no children, yet it was still very important to them to carry on the name of Shiraki.

So they did something somewhat unorthodox, at the time. Since they had no children, they arranged for a marriage between a second family with only a daughter and a third family with a second-born son.

In return for arranging this marriage, the families of the young couple agreed to take on and perpetuate the priests' family name of Shiraki.

This was a mutually beneficial arrangement for the two families since the Shiraki priests were the keepers of a highly respected Shinto shrine in Southern Japan, Munakata Taisha shrine of Kyushu. The newly married couple (Miho's ancestors) inherited responsibility for this shrine.

Much like her samurai/shinto priest ancestors, Miho, too, did something very unorthodox. In 1996, she married a "gaijin", or foreigner - an American, no less.

Dr. Jeff Albright, DC (who practices Japanese Acupuncture in Castle Rock) and Miho Shiraki were married in Japan over ten years ago and, congruent with both American and Japanese culture, Miho took the surname of Jeff (a first-born son himself).

In Japan, there are no hyphenated last names, nor any middle names. So Miho somewhat reluctantly gave up her Shiraki family name. However, while living in the United States, Miho has chosen to honor her ancestors by making Shiraki her middle name.

Miho's family also has a very unique family crest. Japanese family crests are almost always circular and named after the male's family. However, Miho's family crest is a three-pronged white tree surrounded by a hexagon.

The hexagon shape emphasizes the female elements in Japanese crest symbology. Use of the hexagon, instead of the traditional circle for the family crest appears to have been part of the agreement made between the three families at the time of the unorthodox marriage.

This was meant to honor the Shiraki family name and the unique family arrangement made by these three families to carry on the name of Shiraki. The family crest has remained unchanged in Miho's family since this unique joining of families.

Today, Miho & Jeff continue to use the Shiraki symbol as their personal family crest as well as the logo for the Aikido martial arts school they teach at in Castle Rock.

Miho, and her husband Jeff, teach a samurai sword class on Sunday afternoons and Aikido throughout the week. In class, students use traditional, wooden Japanese practice-swords, called bokken.

You can learn more about Miho and Jeff's martial art programs by visiting www.CRaikido.com or by calling Castle Rock Aikido, LLC at 720-221-3665.