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