Disclaimer and Stuff

Firstly I would like to say that all of the material contained within this blog is of my own opinion and any inaccuracies in technical content or other's personal quotations are completely my own.

Secondly I would like to thank everyone in advance where I have used photos of you or photos you have taken. I have quite a library of digital photos and virtually no record of who took them so I hope you will take this general thanks as adequate gratitude. If there are any photos of you or taken by you that you would like removed please let me know.

Thirdly, some articles have been published on my dojo website if you would like to read them in an easier format
https://www.ryoshinkan.org/more-detail/shugyo-blog-highlights


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Thursday 1 May 2014

Parts of the sword


Please note that I have updated this post with an addition of the term "tsubamoto" meaning the area of the sword closest to the tsuba. Initially I didn't include this as it was my impression that the tsubamoto wouldn't have included the entire lower third of the sword but after discussing this with a budo friend I decided to include it.

Just recently it has been raised to my notice that a particular aspect of iaido has been mentioned at seminars but there isn't anything I can find on the interwebs about it. It concerns the three main areas of the blade of the katana.



Some years ago in Eindhoven, Kishimoto Sensei taught us that the blade area can be divided up into three main zones.

The closest zone to the tsuba is, what most people would expect it to be, the area for defending oneself (it is the zone which is used in the initial contact of the seiteigata Ukenagashi). This zone is called the "Bō" (no relation to the Japanese staff) and is referred to also as the "tsubamoto" (origin or zone of the tsuba).

The middle zone is called "Sei" meaning control i.e. this is the region that controls the enemy's sword during a deflection or similar movement. It is also referred to as the "nakahodo" (meaning approximate centre).

The zone closest to the end is called "Satsu" (or "Setsu") meaning the killing region. This region is also known as the monouchi.

That said, I sense a sudden increase in site traffic from people about to answer their iaido gakka...