This post is part of the First Year of Budo series

Jodo

This week we first went through the grading format, which it seems now I only need to perform the first 4 techniques rather then the first 8 I originally expected. After this the 4 newer students (myself included) worked on kata 1 and 2. Which need a lot more work!

Iaido

First let me briefly talk about the line involved in gradings. At the start you stand up, walk forward and kneel down just behind the line. Then the sword must be placed down in front of the line. On finishing you must walk back behind the line and follow the same procedure. With walking back though it is at the end of a kata so you cannot look down, you have to feel it with your feet. Another reason to walk with your toes down.

During training I spent basically the whole session practicing kata 2 trying to not stand on my hakama, I did relatively well but it’s still going to be a risky affair. In the mock grading I didn’t stand on it so with everything I would have passed if that was it, finally. So hopefully everything works out on saturday.

Closing up I worked with a couple of new students (myself being one of the learners) on how to do the opening and closing ceremonies. There are still so many little intricacies that I don’t know.

This post is part of the First Year of Budo series

Jodo

This week we mainly focused on Sotei or paired forms of basic techniques. In particular we practiced Hickiotoshi and Mackiotohi. My Hickiotoshi doesn’t really feel right in the paired form (it doesn’t feel that great in individual either). I’m told I’m lowering the front hand too much (too early really). In particular my left side is worse. It’s funny how so much of the technique is learnt through feel. But then again, it’s funny how wrong your thoughts one day are when reconsidered a few days later.

I enjoy practicing Makiotoshi, I feel like I can really go all out with it. I hope I wasn’t being too hard on my partner. Having said that I doubt it, because when sensei did it with him he threw him far further around that I even approached. When doing the technique on me I still can’t perceive when he is going to attack. I just barely have enough time to sense that my sword has started to be thrown and I have to quickly move my foot in order to avoid being stabbed with it. Maybe I need to do less looking with my eyes and more sensing. A kendo friend of mine said that they are trained to look at the opponents eyes as that is where you will first see the attack. I’ll have to experiment more with that during sotei practice.

I’m going for 4th Kyu grading in a fortnight, oddly enough I’m not really concerned. I must be overconfident in my Jodo technique.

Iaido

Kata Kata Kata and reiho (opening/closing ceremonies). After warmups, Sensei went through the opening bows and all that, emphasising that it’s an important part of the practice and very important in grading. One of the big things is Sageo(the cord attached to the saya) control. It always has to be maneuvered in thirds. Sometimes you swap hands holding the sword and in the movement you need to transfer the sageo from one hand to the other. In closing you also need to magically hook your thumb between one of the thirds. So difficult for something that looks like something minor.

During the bow to the sword we place the hands out in a triangle in front of our body. The distance away from the body that this triangle should be formed is decided by the fact that your elbows should come in just next to your knees. Apparently one reason for the hands out is such that if someone where to slam your hand into the ground while you were bowing you have some protection but we are a bit iffy on it.

After this is was Kata practice. I just focused on kata 1 and 2 over and over and over again. Probably 45 minutes worth, 30 at least. I was sweating heaps by the end of it. This week I didn’t stand on my hakama as much but it was still definitely an issue.

Finishing up, a sensei (6th dan I think) from japan is going to be down for the gradings and will be giving a training session during the week. I’d really like to go but I have to make a short presentation at uni which I won’t be able to get out of and as such I don’t think I will make it in time. Nevertheless we will see what happens.

Also I got my black iai uniform today, yet to try it on.

This post is part of the First Year of Budo series

Sensei was back this week after training with some other sensei who were down in our state last week. Also he was using a Shinken today which we received ample warning about

Jodo

Sensei today was focusing on getting across to us the couple of changes that have occurred recently, which is great seems we have a grading in 3 weeks. The main changes are to Honte and Gyakute, where now the strike comes forward with the rear hand more so than the up forward down that was originally taught. I had to change the angle that I hold the jo at when I raise it before the strike. Basically in the interim position the jo crosses just above the eye, which quite a bit steeper angle than I originally had it. This helps so you don’t slide your hand down the jo instead of moving it.

Following this we learnt some Sotei which apparently is going to be focused more upon in the future. This is the paired form of the the basic techniques (kihon). This was interesting, it also gives you a good chance to practice your zanshin and seme with a real person.

Iaido

As I mentioned Sensei had his shinken along today, as such we were told we are allowed to laugh at him if he cuts himself which I thought is rather ironic as generally you wouldn’t want to laugh at someone holding a Shinken

During warmups we did a few slightly different exercises, one which kills the thighs. We go into seiza (kneeling with the bum just above your heels, must not be touching) and from there continually do a slightly modified version of kata 1 without rising (replace O-chiburi with Yoto-chiburi). We did this for some time between 5-10 minutes I guess and I was sweating pretty bad after it, it took a lot of effort to remain above my heels :).

After this we went onto kata practice in which somewhere along the way I must have stood on my hakama as from then on it was loose and too low so I proceeded to get it caught under my feet all the time which destroys your balance terribly. Then we a mock grading again, in which my opening/closing ceremonies were better than last week but my katas where terrible (due to the hakama issue). Going to have to re-double my efforts (ironically all my uni projects are due next week…).

I forgot to mention we also did a paired exercise where one person executes vertical cuts and the other would listen for where the sound was coming from. This was done in order to try and get our cuts correct. The sound should begin/occur somewhere out in front of the person and above their head height. It was a good exercise. At one stage a 1st Kyu student was helping me with my cuts and he corrected some stuff very nicely. I think I finally did a good cut. First he said I need to let go of the hammer grip (too strong and all fingers) and treat it more like throwing out a rod. Then also the I need to initiate and throw the cut mostly using the lower fingers on the hand (not the index/middle so much). Using this advice and really trying to throw it right out I got a good cut and a bit of a feel for it.

After class Sensei went about figuring out what length sword I should get for my Iaito by getting me to perform Noto with various swords. There was a bit of debate between a 2-4-5 or a 2-5-0. In the end we decided on a 2-4-5 as a 2-5-0 was just pushing it a little for my height. I could manage it but at the moment probably best off with a 2-4-5. As I’ve mentioned I’ve been struggling with Noto, during the measuring Sensei pushed my hands about a bit which taught me a little which I think will help a great deal. With noto the movement of the saya is more back and around a little as opposed to regular saya-biki where the saya goes right around. This was the main point that I think will help me stop pushing the sword out of my hand. Also moving the left hand a fair distance first before moving out the right hand and then moving the right hand out quickly. Moving it out quickly helps with the changing of the hand position providing you have a loose grip. So ironically part of me learning noto is going to be ‘fast is slow’. Ah, just practice practice practice. Shame an Iaito feels so different to the bokken I practice with at home.

This post is part of the First Year of Budo series

It was a smaller crowd today, so all the more pressure and scrutiny.

Jodo

Just 4 of us today and I was instructed to do the commands for the jodo warmup. Surprisingly I managed to remember them all. My Makiotoshi and Kuri-hanashe don’t feel right but everything else wasn’t too bad.

After warm-ups we worked on the application of hickiotoshi. The jo person was placed between two opponents with bokken. Each would take it in turns to place it out in front and have the jo strike it away. I have to make sure I keep the jo coming through vertical and finish further to the outside of my body rather than the middle.

We finished by working on paired katas. I went through kata 1 and 2 with one of (not all that new) students. I’m not confident with 3 yet so I decided to stay away from it for the time being. Considering I don’t need to perform any kata for my Jodo grading I’ll let them wait a bit.

Iaido

Here is where all my problems are.

First, my noto is terrible. I’m going to try relaxing my right hand more and see if getting my thumb a little more under the handle enables me to do better. But I’m really struggling to get it to work properly.

For the upcoming grading I need to perform opening and closing ceremony and katas 1 and 2. There are several hundred things that I need to touch up on in the katas (in particular noto). But my reiho really needs work. In particular I’m unsure of exactly where things go and I have very little full dress practice. It all has to be so perfect and correct it is painful. As the saying goes here, ‘It’s what you don’t do that will make you pass’. All extraneous movements need to be removed and the list goes on and on.

After warmups we broke into 2 groups, our group went through some scrutiny on our kata and then did a mock grading (which I knew I screwed up many times over). I’ll have to practice the ceremonies every day along with noto from now until the grading I think (Late October), otherwise I will be very lucky not to fail.

This post is part of the First Year of Budo series

I would have to say I had a bad morning today, maybe my body was just sore from part-time work the night before but my whole energy level was down so it was very hard to snap into the right mind frame. I didn’t realise the effort that is required in order to really focus. It is something that you have to be prepared for all the time, ready to manifest it on request. It was an interesting lesson to learn, offcourse it means more to me than I can express in writing.

So first up, I left my Obi at home. So luckily Sensei had some spares, I was quite upset with myself for forgetting it because I pride myself on doing things right everytime (Close to a perfectionist attitude but it’s more just for things that I think are important… Well you can look at everything in a negative or positive light). Next I enquired with Sensei about how I tied the bow on my Gi (top). Apparently it must be horizontal rather than vertical which is what I had it like last week and received a reprimand for. While asking him about this he pointed out that I had obviously done something seriously wrong in tying up my hakama. So we took it off and started from the beginning.

For completeness sake (and so I don’t forget) I’ll go through tying up the hemo. First of all, the front of the hakama goes just above the obi (Which I just remembered, the obi should be pulled down a little at the front), almost a centimeter above. Then the front hemos go around to the back and cross over on top of the obi bow. It’s important that they cross from top to bottom over the bow, keeps it nice and tight. Then it comes back to the front of the body. Here it stays below the bottom of the obi. Tie it up a little (gotta be tight) and then bring it around behind again. Here you tie it up properly (below the obi), very tight again.

Now it’s time for the rear hemo’s which are the shorter ones. There is a tag connected to the rear of the hakama which goes down between your body and the obi. Then bring the hemo’s around to the front. Cross one over the top of the other and then bring that one up from below, underneath the previous hemo which has been tied up. Then tie a knot here with the rear hemo’s. For Jodo it is a reef knot, for Iaido it is this unusual bow sort of thing which is the same as on the obi. Finally for Jodo you will have some remaining hemo. These are tucked over the top and down over the high hemo. Then the ends are tucked into the sides of the hakama. Whether you fold them in the sides or tuck them under the obi doesn’t seem to matter. Mainly just keep them out of the way and out of sight. I tuck it under the obi because it doesn’t come out very easy I’ve found.

For Iaido, the katana is placed within the innermost loop of the obi (so it’s one layer of the obi before the body) in the middle. It is then maneuvered to go out through the left side hole in the hakama. One thing I didn’t know originally is that the sword scabbard (saya) is supposed to go over the top of one of the hemo at your side. This also helps to keep the sword more horizontal which is good. There is nothing much more embarrassing then having the saya slip down at your side and be vertical along your leg. It just looks terrible and is not right. In an art where perfection is so deliberately aimed for it is not on. Which is another reason to make sure you tie your obi really tight.

Jodo

Today was all kihon (basic technique) for me. We spent a lot of time on the first few techniques, which is fine for me as that’s what I’ll be graded on. I was very unhappy with most of my techniques today. Particularly my makiotoshi was bad, I couldn’t feel the movement flowing through my arms and body so it was stilted. It’s amazing how a good strong focus effects your movements, when it is lacking so is your action. Afterwards Sensei had me training 3 of the newer ones. He comes around here and there to inspect all of our techniques and correct us. I’m a little surprised at my confidence, the japanese commands just seem to role off of my tongue (not that the pronunciation is correct). It’s also funny how many of the things I say that are things that have been said to me to correct what I do. In particular ensuring that people don’t hold the jo directly in front of them such that they can’t draw it behind them without moving. My sensei proceeded to gently shove the Jo into my lower abdomen and explain that his Japanese Sensei is not so gentle. Not a lesson I would forget, I used something similar to illustrate to one of the other students, except I have a gentler nature so I didn’t make contact but explained that other Sensei would do as our Sensei did to me.

The wonderful thing about martial arts is that is an honest conversation.

One of the new girls is very shy and in particular is embarrassed about Kiaing. Sensei gives her a hard time making sure she atleast makes some sort of noise (he explains the reason, while he is demanding he is very considerate). Next week I’ll have to tell her how I used to be very shy about Kiaing and that Sensei made me go up and down one side of the hall by myself for most of the class. She has the advantage of working with other new students. Really kiaing is important and I think it adds a certain something to the art. I’m not sure what it is but I’m glad I’ve been made to do it.

Iaido

Well I don’t know if my kata suck or not, maybe they just suck somewhat… I know my cuts still aren’t feeling right. I’ve been watching Sensei very closely and I have some new ideas to try out. Also my noto needs some work, must remember to move the left hand back first. I have great difficulty getting my right hand to move out freely as I begin noto and I know it looks ugly. I must practice more!!!

The rest of class was on kata 1 and 2 for me. We did some group practice followed by myself and another student performing individualy while all the others were asked to pick faults in our technique. The senior student taking us was counting errors on his fingers. So while I was doing my kata I could see him out of the corner of my eye counting. It’s all part of the training, preparing us for gradings.

Among a large variety of things to correct, two notables were a greater sense of Jo-Ha-Kyu (speeding up) and cutting like I mean it. The senior student really killed me every time I cut. Which is fair enough, I can’t get any power into my draw cuts in particular.

Afterwards he came over and made the comment that I should be fine for the gradings, but you always want to pass as best as possible. This is the way of class, always someone drilling some tiny point into you until you can’t take it anymore. The more you repeat the error the harder it will be drilled into you. It is brutally disciplined but I think it is right.

So glad I’m doing something so hard and honest.