So I decided to compete in the 1st victorian iaido championship for the victorian kendo renmei. As it turned out there was 9 competitors. The format of the competition was knockout but with some second chance options. The arena was very hot and I was sweating heaps, just to set the scene :).

In this competition the following is performed within a time limit of 6 minutes:

• opening reiho
• kata 1
• kata 2
• kata 4
• kata 5
• kata 6
• closing reiho

(Unfortunately I don’t know the names of the kata).

It was a open kyu event so anyone from 6th kyu to 1st kyu could compete. So there I was down the bottom end being only recently graded versus people who have probably been practicing for quite a while.

First up I was against someone from another dojo. I was a lot more calm in this compared to the grading. I was trying to focus on maintaining a very calm breathing rate. In this I decided that I would focus on going all out for the kata. Trying to manifest maximum amount of intensity and spirit as I know that is what I generally lack.

Throughout the first round I felt that I performed fairly well. I know I mucked up kata 4, performing the thrust up to high on my chest and probably the first one to high aswell. My kata 5 cut angle was good and my intensity in kata 6 on the turns was great. But I don’t know if I got the sword directly over my head or not. At the end it was time for the 3 judges to make their decision. On the command I got 2 out of 3 flags. Hooray I won!

After a long wait while the losers played off for a second chance I was up again. I think this was my best performance. My closing reiho was brilliant, I did it without needing to look at the sword at all while picking it up and placing it down. Once again I won 2 out of 3 flags.

Another battle occurred between two of my sempai’s. One seemed just a bit technically superior but then the match just went against him and I was surprised. Obviously spirit is very important and sensei reiterated this later on saying that it is always a balance between technique and spirit that the judges have to way up.

Next I was to face the winner of my two sempai’s. Coming up to face him after seeing some technical flaws left me with a glimmer of a chance, however I know he is very big on spirit and intensity and that his Iai in general is pretty good. After all he is quite a few grades above me. Sitting in the chair waiting for our turn I was concentrating on keeping my breathing under control. I could hear his breathing and it seemed a little shallow. Then I turned my attention back to the task at hand.

During opening reiho I invented a new way to screw it up. Instead of reaching out with the right hand palm up to pick up the sword I did it palm down. Realising my error as I picked it up I somehow managed to maneuver my wrist around to the proper inserting position. The rest of the kata went along rather well. Then at the end of closing reiho I stood up right on my hakama getting the back of it stuck, which is really difficult to hide. no matter. I lost it 2 flags to 3. I was glad to lose to someone from my own dojo.

Then as I was walking off I was called up again to playoff for 3rd place. I mustn’t have had my sageo properly folded in my hand due to the quick recall and that was the beginning and end of my concerns. During opening reiho I must have grabbed the wrong 2 sections. Consequently I had a bit of trouble tying it up, it must have ended up in some sort of knot as I found out later when trying to undo it. I had to pull like 3 different sections to get it free, luckily it came out. I lost 2 to 3 flags again.

4th place to me, which I am more than happy with given my current level of experience and general fatigue levels for working 40+ hours at work.

Sensei came and had a chat to me later and it said it was very close until near the end where I looked like I was getting tired. Which is not surprising after doing just over 10 minutes of continuous kata. Looking back I do seem to recall losing a bit of focus between kata 5 and 6.

Either way it was a great day and everyone was really friendly and all smiling and all that. It’s nice to have the pressure put on you to really try and perform at your best. I was quite happy with the level of calmness I managed to retain all though it was still far from ideal. In the end it was just fun swinging a sword around pretending with 110% seriousness that is a real life and death situation.

After this mornings training seminar with Oda sensei we headed over to the central melbourne dojo for our grading (my first one).

After some brutal reassurance from Sensei (he is far too hilarious sometimes) I lined with 4 others to perform the first 4 kihon for Jodo. It was over in a flash, the first jodo grading is much easier than Iaido grading. Just the same I must have been nervous because my Kai’s were absolutely terrible (and apparently my posture needs some work too).

Following we went and got a new grading number for Iaido and lined up. Once again because we were going for the lowest grades we were up first (which is probably best, the wait would have killed us).

Once I finished my opening torei(ceremony) after struggling to get the sword in my obi and tie up the sageo it was time to perform kata 1. On rising from seiza position I was taken back momentarily as I realised how quiet my mind was all of a sudden. Offcouse that didn’t last :D. After doing Chiburi I realised my metskae (gaze) was all wrong, which is ironic considering how long we had just spent on that during the seminar this morning.

After kata 1 it was time for kata 2. This is the most dreaded kata for, soo many times I have stood on my hakama during the turn and it makes it very difficult to do the rest of the kata. On kneeling into Seiza I began my 3 breaths and noticed that my breath was really shallow and almost quivering. I tried to calm and a bit and then burst into the kata. I nailed the spin and the rest is as it is.

Once we were done we got to watch everyone else go for their grading. It was interesting noting how different everyones technique is. By different I don’t mean they are doing different things rather that all the different parts in a technical are at a different level of skill. Some have a very good first cut but they don’t raise the sword high enough. It was interesting to see all the different things in other people that my sensei always picks me up on.

The other interesting thing was to hear the contrast between our grading and the horse races that were happening down the road. You could hear the commentator racing through names followed by the growing roar of the crowd. Then in our hall all is silent except for the sound of lone swords swooshing through the air and the sounds of birds and the roof crackling as the building heats up.

To end the story, we all passed our gradings. But more importantly I need to work on my imagination to help fix my metsuke.

Saturday morning and I was up early to get to the Kenshinkan dojo again. I got there on time but by the time I got changed into my nice new black Iaido uniform I was late. After jumping onto the floor I realised that I had put my Gi on incorrectly (right over left rather then left over right). So on the first break I quickly ducked out and got redressed. Apparently the way I had it is the way dead people are dressed in a funeral…

After this we were split into Kyu and Dan groups and our group spent the day going through kata 1 to 4. My Chiburi has improved heaps from thursday’s lesson. I find now that the blade out that is set up during Chiburi can now carry through right to the end rather than the trouble I was originally having. Still got to be mindful of keeping my elbow out.

The key thing to take away from today was about Metskae (direction that the eyes are facing). It sounds obvious but the eyes most follow the opponent. So when they have been cut you should be looking down from then on till you take your hand off the sword. I’m always looking a good 2 or 3 meters ahead of myself which is wrong, my gaze needs to be a lot closer to me where a body would fall. That being said, it has to the be the eyes that look, not soo much the head. Really it’s a matter of developing good imagination.

After tomorrows session they are making Curry, unfortunately I have heaps of uni work to do before the end of tomorrow and I’m working so I strongly doubt I will go to the session.

On thursday night we had an Iaido Seminar down at the Kenshikan. It was interesting to go to an actual training hall that is made to service the arts of Kendo, Iaido, Jodo and Naginata. The place is nicely ornamented with various japanese framed scrolls that I can’t read.

The center piece of the training session was Oda Sensei who has graced us with his presence from Japan. He did not speak any english to us but had other Japanese sensei(I assume) to translate his main speeches/instructions.

After warmups with one of our sensei, Oda took over. We began by doing various variations on kata 1, namely a standing variation and a seated variation. What was most interesting for me though was the first time I saw Oda perform the kata. Notably, I felt my jaw drop about an inch before I recovered it. He performed with such speed that I could not believe my eyes. Noto (putting away sword) was done with such an incredible pace yet it seemed like it was just a regular natural part of the kata without any extra effort on sensei’s behalf. In awe I looked on as I saw each of his vertical cuts come straight down the middle and each of his horizontal cuts finish with what could only appear to someone such as myself as perfect alignment of sword and body. With my current level I cannot see myself performing noto at his level within the next 50 years. It was very incredible watching him.

After the initial instruction we were split up into dan grades and Ikkyu (beginners if you would like).  The rest of our training was working on kata 1. One interesting thing that one of our Sensei said was in regards to the action of Jo-Ha-Kyu (speeding up) in that by performing jo-ha-kyu even while beginning to learn, once you start to become faster then the end of your actions will always be even faster as your muscles have been trained to work in such a fashion.

One of the areas we spent a lot of time on was O-chiburi. During this Oda sensei was walking around and a one stage came over to correct me. Essentially what he explained in physical movements and repositioning of me was that my elbow should be out parallel with my shoulders which are perpendicular to the front. The second point which surprised was how close to the head the tsuba should be before performing chiburi. The tsuba is right next to the head such that the end of the handle is in front of the right eye. This was a lot closer than expected but upon performing chiburi from this position I noticed that the angle that it puts the sword at enables a much more free-flowing motion of the sword. Looking back at it now it makes sense as the angle of the sword stays the same.

I’m looking forward to training again on saturday, after which I have a grading. Hopefully my body is not too worn out before the grading

One could say I have had quite the martial arts day today. Iaido and and Jodo throughout the morning, then out with the same group for lunch. Home for an hour and then off to watch some of the Australian Kendo Championships which happen to be close by this year.

So for details sake I believe it was the 32nd Annual Kendo Championship and I was there for a little over an hour for the later stages of open kyu competition. I went to get a first-hand spectators view of what goes on in kendo competitions.

In conclusion I still don’t know what to say about it. I guess basically I don’t like it.

It is a sport requiring certainly a degree of strength and quick reflexes(which are aided by good technique). I really couldn’t figure out how the scoring worked. I was of the opinion that it was basically unobstructed strikes to the face, throat, chest or wrists got you a point (maybe 2 maybe 1/2 but a point nevertheless). There are 3 judges and it seemed that you got the point if two of them put up your flag. But generally it was hard to tell the difference between something that scored a point and something that didn’t. Sometimes there were things like a good block from an overhead strike turned into a slash across the opponents stomach that went unrewarded.

The other thing a don’t really like is the locking up of opponents together pushing close to each other with swords against each other. It just doesn’t seem like real swords.

On that note, bamboo swords certainly do flex a lot. I’d always wondered how flexible they really are, at one stage one kendoka stabbed and pushed forward and there was a huge flex. Apart from circumstances like this you don’t usually see much flex.

Something I didn’t expect to see was the use of two swords by a combatant. The regular long shinai and a smaller one (a wakizashi although it looked a little short to me).

Kendo looks like Taekwondo for swords to me :). It has a very different attitude compared to Iaido. While a lot of the strikes have similar foundation the execution is very different. Most kendo blows looked like they hit someone, not slice through them. Essentially they have little choice in this due to the armour and shinai but needless to say I like Iaido techniques more.

In case there are any hardcore kendo fans reading, their is nothing inherently wrong with Kendo. I personally just don’t like the look of it.

This post is part of the First Year of Budo series

Jodo

Small class today which is always good. Along with various comments in regards to our week-long seminar (2008 Australian Iaido and Jodo Seminar and Championships) we received a fair grilling on our tandoku. I was glad that I seem to have adapted 2 of the major things I was doing wrong last week but there’s always more to improve on. On dobari-uchi my strikes were far too wide which means I’m not visualising what’s actually happening. tsk tsk.

After that we went through kata. Sometimes I screwed up pretty bad but there was one time where my partner and I seemed to gel really well together and that was cool.

Iaido

After warmups in which I was told I’m still pushing up when I go to cut (I really can’t feel it most of the time and when I watch myself in the mirror I can’t see it) we went through all 12 kata. Luckily I had spent some time the day before trying to learn kata 8 and 10 although it didn’t appear to pay off in day :). For 10 after the tsuki I didn’t step through with my left foot which meant that I would naturally cut to the left next (and another visualisation thing I guess). So I cut opponents in a different order which left me finishing facing the opposite direction to everyone else. Rather comical.

Today I head off for the week for the 2008 seminar. There is going to be about 6 sensei down from japan including the australian technical advisor who is a 8th dan hanshi (and quite awesome I might add) along with a whole bunch of 7th dan and high ranking sensei. Should be quite a full on set of training sessions. Expect some reports when I get back.

This post is part of the First Year of Budo series

Jodo

We spent quite a bit of time focusing on stance and posture in tandoku today. In particular I have to be more side on in all my stances. Not to be confused with being ’side-on’ I just need to be more side on. I tend to use basically the same stance in jodo as I do in iaido. Which basically means my feet are basically always straight and hips are square on. Now for the majority of jodo (and some areas of Iaido I’m finding) it is not this way. So I have to focus on turning my feet a little.

Also sensei pointed out that my back hand in makiotoshi is not properly holding the jo. It tends to be a little open at the front. I know why my body did this as it makes the twisting action of the easy to perform as it just rolls in your hand. Thinking about it I agree that it’s going to be stronger to not have this loose grip.

For the rest of class we worked on kata. Yesterday I was examining the starts of kata 1 and 2 in regards to how far off the line you need to get. Looking at it when I was practicing, given the turn of the body(note, the body has to stay relatively square on, it’s more the pull back of the left hand I’m talking about) in kata 2 you do not need to move off the line much at all. I was reading in a book where it described the ideal judgment of distance is when your hakama is cut by the cut but you are not.

When it came to practice kata 2 with a partner I noticed that my mindset had totally changed and I was barely concerned with the sword at all. This enabled me to be wholly concerned with getting into the opponent which seems far more aggressive and committed. So I’m quite happy with that :). I’m gonna have to watch out I don’t revert to turning side on though which would weaken my strike.

I have a lot of problems with the various kamae, in that I mean I have trouble making them look threatening. I don’t know how I’m gonna change that, I’ve spent my whole life trying to be a peacemaker I can’t even remember the last time that I actually got angry. Nevertheless I don’t think the stances require me to be angry but their must be something I’m missing. Lucky I’m doing jodo with kiai’s. Otherwise I think I’d have no idea how to be ‘active’ intense (I think I know how ‘passive’ intense works ;)).

To finish sensei and sempai taught me kata 5. As you progress along the katas get longer and longer being more and more involved. I remember learning I think it was 11 which has quite a lot in it. Something has to be said about long katas where not an inch of room can be given as it would result in death. Having to be perfect and intense for periods of time breeds a sort of undying spirit. Quite interesting.

Anyway, kata 5. Basically consists of a tsuki hazuchi uchi in response to a do cut, followed up with a critical moment before adopting hikiotoshi to strike away another stance. This kata is very similar to the tandoku practice.

While practicing the end of the katas in the mirror focusing on the need to relax I noticed how long my arms really are lol.

Iaido

I’ve been reading a few iaido books recently that I have acquired over the previous year. Yesterday I was reading about how the sword works for a cut. It’s very much a case of the sword hits maximum velocity as the hands/arms reach full extension which in the case of attacking an opponent is probably just above the head. Then the sword essentially ‘falls’ down and this allows the blade to ’slice’ through the target. Must be very sharp.

Trying to create this sort of action feels very different, a lot freer and relaxed. It also (to me) looks a lot more like my sensei’s cuts. I think my cuts have improved a lot recently. Both from focusing on really throwing both hands forward (left just before right takes lead) as well as relaxing and letting the sword go after the first movement.

The only initial problems was that because I had improved the technique (by relaxing) my sword was cutting to below horizontal. So now I have to focus on proper grip and tightening it as the sword approaches horizontal.

As far as practice today was on kamae positions and a mock grading (with some reiho practice). I’m not going to mention all the things I have to work on, rather I’ll mention one event that occurred when I was moving a chair into the grading position. As I put the chair down the sword slipped out. Instinctively I reached out and grabbed it, first with my right and then with my left. My right hand neatly grabbed the handle so that was fine but then after almost 3/4 of a second later my left hand reached out and grabbed the blade half way between what was out. Very bad!!!!! I’ve read books where they say if the sword starts to come out let it go, don’t try and catch it.

Given this experience I can understand it. While I will definitely pay more attention to where my sword is while doing things I’m reluctant to stop myself from catching a falling iaito. I understand that it is training so you don’t instinctively grab for the sword when you are using a shinken. Hmm…

Just pay attention, attention…

This post is part of the First Year of Budo series

Jodo

We spent a lot of time on Sotei today. Which is good. I find it a very useful practice tool. Especially for distancing. This was followed by rounds of kata. I’m starting to get the feel of kata 4 and after being shown again I believe I now know the sword side of kata 3 much better. In particular the footwork for receiving the tsuki. Also a note on receiving kuritsuke. Rather than just pivoting with the motion of the sword. Also take a small shuffle step backwards. This gets the sword in the right position relative to the body and also helps you to maintain a pressure forward. When I used to do it I’d be leaning forward as if putting pressure but the sword would be a long way behind me.

Iaido

We had a rather interesting warm-up session today. A few more motion drills, so doing cuts and kata 1 while walking forward. We also had a drill where we stayed low, crossed the left foot in front and then moved the right out and cut. I really liked that one as it was a new sensation to come across. Adjusting to cut while in a new position is always interesting.

After all the drills it was free training time. I spent some time working on kata 1 to begin with trying to integrate some of the other comments that sensei and sempai had been making. One thing that was pointed out (among many) was that once the sword is brought out for noto it should come into the saya along the same line, with no extra movement. It’s amazing how much better it feels when you find that right angle and your sayabiki falls inline then having the sword go straight in without anything else, feels cool :).

All week I’ve been focusing on trying to take the pause out between bringing my left hand up to the sword and the cut, particular in kata 3 and 5 where there is the big twist which feels so nice. Also I’ve been really trying hard to get the initial left hand motion followed by the right hand coming through. I think this is starting to get me the right shape provide I relax the shoulders. I still have to consciously think about it in every cut though.

This post is part of the First Year of Budo series

Jodo

We started off with Tandoku as usual today, my Kia’s are still changing. Today I was focusing on doing more prolonged kiai’s to bring them a little closer to sensei’s. Still need to develop much more power in them though.

After this we paired off to do Sotei (paired forms). We worked on Tai atari first up. Doing this in paired form after watching Sensei I really got a feel for how it is really a strong ‘flick’ up to above a persons head which throws them off balance. If you try to do it slow with the flick it doesn’t work all that well and it’s harder.

Next we worked on to Tai hazuchi uchi. The striking of the sword in this is where I learnt the most, or maybe better said remembered the most. In hikiotoshi I remember being told to imagine striking at your opponent but just follow through and this will strike the sword. So don’t think of hitting the sword. Applying this to Tai hazuchi uchi helped tremendously.

Iaido

After warmups we had a few minutes cutting practice where I listened in to what sensei was instructing one of the senior students. He was indicating more of a throwing out of the left hand first followed quickly by the right hand coming through over the top. This gets the cut happening up high. It works much better thinking about it like this I feel. But it’s hard to remember to always try to have that feeling. Just gotta retrain my body again.

The rest of the day was kata but apparently I have a tendency to crouch a lot more than I should. I enjoy the low position because it feels like I have a lot of strength to move out of that position. I’ll have to try being taller as suggested by sempai. Just another thing to try :D.

This post is part of the First Year of Budo series

Jodo

Going through the kihon at the beginning of practice I was quite surprised at the sound of my Kiai’s which were (to me) much different to usual. Much stronger/clearer and closer to replicating the sounds of my teacher (albeit a very long way off that). Must be a progression on from last week.

We moved through kihon quite rapidly, I think maybe I just need to practice more on my own so I’ll be comfortable at that pace. After this we did the sotei of Hikiotoshi. It’s amazing how little I am aware of my technique. Consistently I was not side on enough and I had no idea. Which reminds of another point in kihon in which I was dropping my body weight too much in dobarai and hikiotoshi.

We spent some time working through katas 1-3 rotating partners and each training a little with sensei. We were enlightened a bit with the footwork on the sword side of kata 2. Also some movements were corrected in regards to having the body more square on.

To finish with one of the senior students taught me kata 4. An interesting one which has a unusual movement to kaeshi zuki and a neat method of putting away the jo.

Iaido

Today was a little christmas special where we were taught Tamiya Ryu’s first kata. It is similar to Seitei’s first kata except it is rising and the opponent is off to the right a bit. There are probably a thousand other differences but there is no point me going into it. It did kind of re-emphasis the need to focus on the basics though. Sensei pointed out the my cuts are still a bit weird with me now raising the sword up just before cutting which is throwing everything out. It’s scary how hard it is for me to perceive the feeling of this motion. It must be something that I have developed when I took out the too tight grip I had. Now my arms are still used to that grip and hence forcing everything up as I begin.

Practice practice practice. Enough said.