This post is part of the First Year of Budo series

Jodo

We spent awhile working through various tandoku this week focusing on a few points in each technique. I think I’m at a stage where I just need to start practicing them over and over and over and over. I was a little surprised by my kiai’s when we started out. They were longer like we had talked about last week. Either I haven’t quite got the hang of it or I have a bit of a cold (which I suspect) as I now have some what of a sore throat.

Sensei again emphasised that most of the techniques involve the grip being mostly from the three fingers closest to the pinky. Most people wouldn’t consider a strong grip to be with that part of the hand but there is probably some reason to it.

After this we went onto kata which thankfully my memory was holding together a bit better. I’m starting to really enjoy the kiaing on all the strikes during kata. It just feels a certain way, not sure if it’s strength, purpose or exertion but something feels good.

Iaido

After the warmups which focused particularly on getting good position with the sword and in particular some notes on keeping a very light grip especially on turns we moved on to working on kata 3.

This one was clarified recently, now we are focusing on making the glancing parry come more so from the movement of the body rather than the arm. We try to keep the arm over the right shoulder during the parry and set up for the retaliating cut.

I find this kata really hard, it doesn’t feel smooth at all to me (probably because it’s not smooth for me) :).

Afterwards we had some free practice in which I focused on trying to ingrain kata 9(I think) into my system.

Free practice seems to be a rather common practice of our Iaido sessions. I wonder if there is any reason for it being so.

This post is part of the First Year of Budo series

Jodo

I’ve found an interesting little warmup exercise I like to do in the morning for jodo. Basically I crouch low so I’m just on my toes. From here I go through the techniques that don’t require any real twisting of the body. Techniques kaeshi zuki and tai hazuchi uchi are somewhat difficult to maintain your balance so it requires you to be careful with your technique. It stops me from throwing my arms into any of the engarde positions. From example, the horizontal position in kaeshi zuki I have a habit of putting too much into the downward motion and so I have less control. Doing it in the crouching position means that if I do this I’ll fall over. With all this though you still need to practice the standing moving forms otherwise you’ll forget the appropriate footwork feeling. Another benefit of the practice is that it helps you focus on the low center of body.

We did a lot of Sotei (paired form practice) today. It’s very interesting judging how far a weapon is from you when you are only watching the partner. Should help for visualising distance to an opponent in Iaido.

After this we were onto kata practice for the rest of the session. I was surprised when I couldn’t remember the sword side footwork/timing. Atleast I was moving too early and not too late ;D.

We had to focus on kiaing today, it’s good practice for me as I generally have a rather quiet voice. Came in handy at work the other day too when I had to kick some kids out of the store.

Iaido

We spent a lot of time on the basic techniques today which I certainly have no issue with. I think my overhead cuts have improved a lot in the last few weeks even though they still have a long way to go. We were trying to take out the pause above the head before the strike.

We also spent awhile on opening and closing reiho in which I clarified a few points in my mind. After which we did free training where I focused on kata 3 and 5. I have trouble with 3, but I think it will feel awesome when I get the hang of it. I particularly enjoy the noto as it feels so free and smooth.

It’s amazing how important it is to try and get in the zone of the kata pretending it is a real situation. It makes soo much of a difference to how the kata feels and I get a lot more out of it this way.

This post is part of the First Year of Budo series

Jodo

I was doing tandoku commands today. Luckily I can still remember them even though I haven’t practiced them for awhile. After this we did sotei for kaeshi zuki and gyakute zuki which was interesting. Strangely enough I feel a lot more comfortable with a jo than a sword, don’t know why. We finished with kata practice. My main issue seems to be bringing forth my spirit and making myself look more intimidating, which I really can’t figure out how to achieve.

Iaido

After warmups we went onto kata one (Mae). Today my noto seemed to click somewhat allowing me to more quickly sheath the sword but still appear smooth. I have to be careful not to get sloppy and just insert the sword. I will have to practice it really slow to make sure I retain the jo-ha-kyu element. Then it was free training time so I worked through the katas 1,2,4,5,6 which I would be doing for the victorian championship later in the afternoon. I have trouble getting into tatehiza, it stills feels rather clumsy.

Then it was home to eat and drink before the championship.

This post is part of the First Year of Budo series

Jodo

We had quite a few here this week and training proceeded with kihon followed by katas. I think I’ve finally got the sword side footwork right for kata 3. Now I can stop being concerned with that and fix up my head/posture so I can project more zanshin. Also in kata 2 on the jo side, I need to refine the right feeling for getting out of the way of the cut and then striking. I need to be slightly lowered and more centered.

Iaido

I spent a bit of time at the start trying to improve my cuts. Trying to make sure I cut out forwards as much as I can before letting the sword come down. I need to focus on pushing the right hand forward as one of the first movements, otherwise I’ll end up raising the sword which is not what I want.

Afterwards we did kata 4 and 7. Kata 4 is in tatehiza which I still find really painful. I’m going to have to practice sitting in that position at home at some stage. Kata 7 is rather neat but it’s a little confusing with the direction changes, going to take a bit to get used to the footwork. I was surprised that when turning to cut the 2nd opponent their is no step towards them. I’ll have to ask why that is in a week or two.

In all my katas I have to work on getting the flow going and not having either of my hands resting unnecessarily. In particular I tend to bring my right hand up over my head fully before my left hand starts moving towards it. The tendency when trying to speed it up is to start cutting before grabbing the sword which looks terrible. So I’ll have to retrain my body slow on that stuff.

Also I got a zekken with my name neatly in katakana. We have a pilot victorian championship next week so that will be interesting to see. I think there is going to be a naginata demonstration too which I expect I will enjoy.

This post is part of the First Year of Budo series

Jodo

Sotei (paired technique) was interesting. It is good for distancing practice to be on the receiving end of the strikes and for attacking you get a gauge as to how well you are doing. When receiving you also get a really good look at the other persons technique so you can pick up when something looks a little odd.

The only serious issue I had today was my bowing was all out of whack, maybe I’m too sore from long work hours yesterday, I was quite out of alignment.

Iaido

Here I was really focusing on getting some Jo-Ha-Kyu in and I was actually quite happy with how it felt. Unfortunately I noticed that I’m not quite ready for the pace that feels correct. The necessary muscles are not developed enough so the strikes are losing their shape and becoming unwieldy. Which means I am going to have to go back a step to big movements and take all of the strength component out (except for in strength training). While doing this I have to work on keeping my grip really loose and with just the lower fingers. My grip hasn’t been very good up till now.

This post is part of the First Year of Budo series

Bigger crowd today, had around 9 for Jodo.

Jodo

After kihon practice (warmups in this case), we moved onto Sotei (paired forms of kihon) in which we worked on Makiotoshi and Kurihanashi. It was quite interesting practicing makiotoshi with some pressure on the Jo, I noticed all sorts of weird things creep into my technique which I had to keep throwing out. At one stage my rear wrist started to bend, straightening this out improved the technique heaps and then I noticed my front hand trying to apply opposing pressure to counter the weight that was no longer being placed on the back wrist. After constantly fixing little things it still felt a bit off. The main thing is that sometimes the sword felt like it would kind of catch on the jo which doesn’t feel right. I think it might have something to do with not having the sword cut come far enough in which wrecks one of the angles.

On kurihanashi I was a bit happier (although I like makiotoshi better) as one of the aspects I’d been practicing proved to be useful in paired practice. One of the common mistakes is that as you go to throw the sword, the first movement releases pressure on the swordsman and you die. So I’ve been ensuring I focus on moving my body forward with my arms remaining in their firm position relative to my body and then pushing my arms out. This seemed to work relatively well but I notice that the amount of pressure you need to apply varies depending on the relative height of the opponent. Still a bit iffy on that theory though. The main bonus of what I was focusing on is that all the movement was originating from my lower body around my center, which is good. I still need to look at how I combine the body and arm movement but I think I have an idea.

We finished with kata practice.

Iaido

After warmups and some detail work on kata 1 we looked at kata 3 and how the block/parry has changed slightly. For me now it feels a lot more like a parry done almost through the use of the body rotating the sword position. I like it better than the old way, need to practice it more though. When sensei was demonstrating kata 1 I was watching very closely where the sword leaves the saya on the draw. It never stops amazing me how close everything is, the fact that you need to move the saya out (sayabiki) in order to get the sword out cleanly which is a move that brings the cutting edge even closer to you… quite amazing to watch.

Then there was a bit of free practice in which I had my kata 4,5,6 checked out. I really find tatehiza uncomfortable, need to practice it more at home. A tip for kata 6 is to draw higher than usual in order to give you the extra room in order to make a proper cut.

It looks like there might be a little mini Victorian championship at the start of December, should be fun.

This post is part of the First Year of Budo series

Jodo

There was just 4 of us this morning for Jodo, myself, a shodan (1st dan), nidan (2nd dan) and a 3rd or 4th dan (Sandan/Yondan). With me just being a 6th kyu it was always going to be a beneficial class. In the warmups I was focusing on really trying to see an opponent cutting at me with a sword, I think this really helped my timing for Tsuki Hazuchi Uchi.

After this we were lucky enough to be taught kata 11. This is a very cool kata, with heaps of moves (5 if you just count strikes). There are two moves in particular which are very interesting. The first is an unexpected strike from the jo at the same instance that the swordsman strikes. The idea is that the jo ends up so close to the opponents eyes (with a certain velocity) that their reaction is to pull back which puts their cut wide. The main thing about this move is the timing with the swordspersron, the strikes end simultaneously and the flow of it is quite neat. The second interesting move follows this, with your hands initially extended in front pointing the jo at the opponent, left hand lowest. Then you flip the jo up into a ‘hasso like’ position by raising the right arm and grabbing the other end of the jo with the left hand. Once you’re in position and have stepped slightly back with the left foot you strike down the sword. It is done rather quick as you have to do it before the swordsperson has enough time to bring their momentum forward and cut you after you remove the initial pressure.

We worked on this kata for about an hour, good fun, and I haven’t tried learning the sword side yet. After this we had kind of free training were the pair of us went through kata 1-3 continuously. Which was nice as I get to experiment with my kias in action. Sometimes they seem to come out a lot more offensively/aggressively/powerfully just out of nowhere. It’s just like it originates in my abdomen but as I’m putting all of my body through the motion of the attack it crescendos and comes out wonderfully melding at the end point of the strike. All with no extra effort.

Before Iaido we were talking to one of our students who just graded to shodan in both Iaido and Jodo, referring to him as sho-shodan reverently. We figured if he hadn’t turned up to the grading he would have been a no-sho-dan. That was our lame joke for the day, classic.

Iaido

After our warmups we went into working on some kata 1 like techniques, essentially the standing on the spot techniques that we were doing at the seminars with Oda sensei. This is what I’ve spent all week practicing as I can do it indoors no worries and it’s been raining all week. I was rather happy to notice that doing noto was a whole lot easier this week. My fingers are finally gaining the strength necessary to support the sword(you hold it with just your last joints of the fingers with the arm outstretched). This has meant that I can get an extra 2-3 inches room. Which is excellent as I can bring my arm much closer to straight out in front of me, which looks a lot nicer.

After this we moved on to one of the other points from the seminar which is breathing. A kata should be performed in a single breath, but that is really hard starting out, so we were trying to do it all with two breaths. This is still to tough for me in the last section to not run out of breath. Something we moved onto after that was to emphasize how the breathing relates to jo-ha-kyu of the cuts in the kata. So sensei first had us kiaing on the cuts. Then he had us doing continuous prolonged kiais through the first and second cuts. It was interesting and certainly emphasised the feeling that should be present when going through that section of the kata so I’ll keep it in mind.

Finally we had free training and I focused on kata 5, which is the nice upside down draw-cut followed by a cut in the opposite direction in the same line. My first cut has always been a little ‘clunky’ but it’s still one of my favourite katas. Today though one of the senior students came across and worked me through some of the finer points of the draw. In particular I needed my angles to be a lot sharper (closer to vertical) but the more interesting points were with how far to have the sword out of the saya as the feet pass each other on the final step. Originally I would have the sword halfway out at this point. Then as I would cut I could feel that as the sword reached horizontal it wanted to go forwards which jerks the arm forwards a little with the momentum. What I was told to do was to have the sword almost out of the saya(1-2 inches left) at the point of passing feet. When I tried this I was amazed at how much smoother the entire motion following it was. The sensation of the sword wanting to go forward away from me was practically gone and it just felt like it was going up with my arm in unison before rotating into my other hand and finishing the cut. A rather wonderful feeling :).

That is where I will leave it for today

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 Hikiotoshi and Makiotohi. My Hikiotoshi 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 Yoko-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.