Iaido 6th Dan Training Session 15 and 16

Thankfully due to the now, more focussed, approach to my training I can remember what I have done for the last couple of weeks.

During last week's practice everybody wanted to go through both okuden sets so we started with suwariwaza and then finished with tachiwaza. The sheer number of kaewaza reminded me of a friend's interpretation of what Oshita Sensei had recently told his students - "focus on the hon-waza; when you have got that right then do the kae-waza". I wanted to share this with our dojo members but at the same time make them aware of the various kaewaza (not that I know them all, far from it). It is tempting to indulge in kaewaza practice but it sometimes reminds me of people who run off and do various styles in order to deepen or broaden their iaido experience while not realising that they are just thinning it. While these two activities are separate, they are not so far apart. Kaewaza exist as representatives of regional differences which are grown from local senior sensei spreading their interpretation amoung their dojo members and possibly visitors from other dojo. I have seen such variations not just in the execution of technique but in the order, naming and assignment of technique as well. Influences from Jikiden and Jushin also sometimes prevail.

Bringing the focus into last night's session, with the return of my sensei from Japan, I decided to work through each koryu form, once each only, in order to a) refocus on honwaza and b) improve individual aspects through varying kata. I decided to not give myself second chances, I would do each kata only once and if I didn't do it to my satisfaction then tough - move on.



I actually found myself making more progress than normal. I think the "one kata only" introduces a certain urgency to technical detail rather than throcking technique. Legs are feeling a bit odd today having done only suwari waza last night (and quite a lot of seiza/listening practice) but it was good to focus only on my own training for a change.



I am still set on trying to lift all my koryu up to some semblence of 6th-dan'ness although will eventually give more priority to my chosen few koryu for presentation.

I also considered my upcoming schedule today, I am going to Villingen, Eindhoven and Brighton so about 3 weeks of intense practice (and some scrutiny I hope).

The last couple of weeks

Well, here I am, the other side of the BKA Iaido and Jodo Referees Seminar. I have since my last blog actually been to the dojo to do iaido 3 times but the last seminar took something out of me and I haven't had the time or inclination to write.

I think possibly some of this has been caused by the rather grounding effect that Ishido Sensei has on people. I spent nearly one and a half weeks with him, training at different dojo and of course absorbing nearly everything that he has said to nearly everyone during this time. If nothing else, my Japanese has improved.

I have found that the majority of his advice to me has been about getting the basics right (surprise) and it has, as I have said, been quite a grounding experience.

I have for the last couple of weeks found myself standing in the dojo unsure what to actually practice. This hasn't been overall a difficult period; it has caused me to view what others are doing and try and appraise my own iaido through comparison with others. I sincerely think this is a good thing. It has caused a bit of a hiatus in the physical side of my training and last night's practice made me realise how quickly leg muscle tone can say bye-bye.

Just after my last blog I also spent a weekend in Poland teaching koryu. I found this to be quite an enlightening experience as well - there's nothing like forcing yourself to do things correctly when showing them to other people.

Anyway, down to the technical side of things, I will try to summarise all the things that Ishido Sensei has instructed me in the last couple of weeks, some of which are "new"ish, some I knew but just had started to fail to do them properly, some I was doing okay with them....

1. Preparation in mae and shohatto is much more critical than it seems. The gathering of the grip, the realignment of the tsukagashira, the closing of the knees...these all need to be deeply embedded before the sword is drawn and much before the hips are raised.
2. The correct level of the sword and the arm in nukitsuke is far lower than is normally presented. One should clearly be able to see the upper flat of the sword.
3. Sayabiki needs to not only clear the sword out but also add to the cut in nukitsuke.
4. 99% of people don't do the prescribed furikaburi in mae and ushiro.
5. The build up to the cut in kirioroshi must be sharp - not hard, or fast but sharp.
6. Kirioroshi is generated by a gripping action of the hands.
7. The front foot must take position first both in nukitsuke and kiritsuke - this closing but not overlapping of the gap has been a major challenge for years for me.
8. The right hand position after ochiburi is of course the same for yokochiburi and the forward sword angle is about the same as well - no need for the kissaki to aim inside so much.
9. Noto needs to project the sword out to 45 degrees - no more, no less (this makes it considerably easier).
10. One shouldn't load the weight onto the bending knee when lowering the body during noto.
11. Ukenagashi - don't get me started!
12. Okay then, the deflection must occur as part of the body rising (hane-ageru).
13. People's sword position is often correct, it is the body position which is often wrong. It should be the same as kesagiri but about 15 degrees to the left of the centreline.
14. Tsukaate opponents are REALLY close and the rear thrust can allow the right hand to go past the left elbow.
15. Morotezuki - hikinuki is performed with only a slight pulling caused by the turning of the hips - after that the lifting of the sword is more or less the same as ukenashi ni kaburu.
16. This kaburi is meant to represent the most efficient way of moving the sword and should keep the sword as close to the centreline as possible.
17. At the end of each cut in Sogiri, there must be a feeling of seme rather than just setting up a rhythm.
18. The cuts need to have a sense of urgency.
19. Ukigumo needs the same intensity of practice to get right as Ukenagashi (10 of these to every other kata).

Jodo had lots of learning points as well but I think that is the kind of information that requires people to buy me boxes of chocolates or boxes of money for me to reveal....

Anyway, I think that's enough for now. I will try to get back into the habit of doing this blog but other duties are always calling....

Iaido 6th Dan Training Session 14

This evening marked the last iai practice with our sensei for a while as he sods off to Japan to try for his 8th dan Iaido. This means hopefully that I will now be able to spend a bit of time just working by myself and getting some shaku in.

This evening I set myself a plan of combining my four chosen koryu with three seitei into 7-form circuits thus gradually making my way through the seitei but getting the koryu practice stuck in as well. I did the 28 forms (woo hoo - 28!) and then my arm started hurting. It was a bit achey before the practice and I think that most dreaded ailment - gardening - might be responsible.

Perversely I am finding the koryu easier to perform well at the moment, seitei is becoming a bit of a drag.

Ah well, this is it for now, not much to report really. Next Wednesday I will be sensei wrangling to maybe no blog for a little bit.