Return to the keyboard

Just to let everyone know that I didn't decapitate myself or anything like that. This is the first time in months where I have had something like a spare few minutes and something to write about. Work, BKA, sleep....that's kind of how it goes at the mo'.

I have been training regularly in the last few months, tending to do a bit more koryu than seitei as this is what I have found to be more enjoyable as a general way of training rather than hacking my seitei. I helped out with the teaching at Bideford which was an interesting training experience. It is always very educational to watch others practice (I don't mean that with any sense of irony) especially when it looks like they are having problems. To understand how people imagine forms should be enhanced can make one question one's own understanding and reasoning behind things like power emphasis, timing and balance. I saw many people who were trying to cut with the right hand just above and in front of the forehead. Naturally this puts all the work responsibility on the elbows and wrists which are not by any means the most powerful muscle groups in the body, nor is it conducive to generating large cuts and some degree of momentum. I'm not sure why people feel it necessary to cut this way. Pass someone an axe or a sledgehammer and I'm certain they will use it far more expediently than the sword. I'm not suggesting any infallibility in my own cutting technique only some genuine wonderment as to what image people are holding.

Getting back to the main topic of my 6th dan grading preparation, on Tuesday I started putting in place moves to try the grading again in Bologne in June and there is a part of me that is genuinely excited by the prospect of going to a different type of budo event for this. I know that quite a few of my friends and peers are also going so it will hopefully be an enjoyable time. Members of the Trust! Facebook group will know my feelings about the grading politics themselves, I will keep this blog free of them for now.

With this new fire in my tail I went back to my seitei training last night. I have a lot of things to work on in the next couple of months of prep time:

1. Control of the kissaki during ochiburi.
2. Keeping my shoulder down in nukitsuke.
3. Developing flexibility back into my toes and feet.
4. Losing 5kg of bodyweight.
5. Balance at the end of Ukenagashi.
6. Almost all of Kesagiri.
7. Sayabiki/Sayabanare in Morotezuki.
8. Furikaburi in Ganmenate.
9. Intensity of Sogiri.
10. Not cutting my arm off in Nukiuchi.
11. Shortening my hakama (!)

In addition I want to do some academic study and ensure I know all the grading points for all the katas in the seiteigata (who does know them all?). I have translated and represented them several times but it's sometimes difficult to keep them all in the head.

I had some thoughts earlier this week concerning Junto/Kaeshaku that I wanted to get onto the blog but it will have to wait for another time. Alas.

Ketchup!

Well, it's been a while again, sorry for not keeping my promise and keeping these posts regular. Work and BKA tripe has been stealing my spare time again. I have been training quite regularly though with some extra sessions at Hilary's dojo on Saturday's as well as some extra sessions afterwards and some iai after Jodo on Sunday's.

It came to my attention this evening that I haven't really done any seitei practice since the European champs last year. Only by Chris Sensei forcing everyone to run through the seitei did I do any this very evening. Thankfully it felt ok and I think that's quite a good testament that Koryu practice alone can spread it's effect over all of one's iai.

In terms of strength and stamina, tonight was a good night. I've had a few bad sessions recently, last Wednesday finding a general lack of energy (turned out I was about to be ill) and then Saturday hurting my shoulder (again) during the extra training).

So where am I with stuff? I am trying to retune my Shoden a bit to make it a bit sharper and less stretched out. This is generally only possible when I have the energy to do so but every time I do it's a repeat of the same old lesson - it's your feet and legs that makes your iai!

Chuden is taking a bit of a back seat and I am still having problems with Iwanami. The few pointers I have had from Sensei have made Toranoissoku more effective though.

I have been working a bit on standing Okuden and gave Somakuri a bit of a thrashing the last few weeks. It is absolutely one of those kata that keeps on developing (i.e. it is bloody hard). I think I have done quite well when I isolate one component cut from another. I believe that the challenge of this form is starting and finishing each cut and each step at exactly the same time. This is a bit different from Sogiri and gives Somakuri it's sharpness. I am gradually working on it but it takes a long time to make improvements.

Anyway on we go....

Hatsunuki: Ryuto, Yokogumo and Iwanami

Well I'm covering a couple of sessions now and still keeping on a koryu theme. I am finding lots of things interesting to work on the more time I spend delving into the various koryu kata but I have been keeping myself busy with Shoden and Chuden recently.

I focused on Ryuto recently, trying to do it by a factor of 10 against other forms as I realise it really is a form that requires some kata mileage in order to be good at it. Like most other forms it's performance is related to leg power as the entire speed is dependant on getting up quickly. The bits I am trying to focus on in particular are:

• Ensuring that the draw is done with a relaxed attitude so that the sword glides out smoothly instead of it being snatched. Snatching the sword tends to cause the action to stop at it's conclusion which then halts the form. By drawing smoothly the draw leads nicely into the block without pause.
• Getting the weight accurately balanced on the knees at the end of the draw so that the left foot can quickly be brought into position and action.
• Trying not to spend too much time posing once the stand has taken place and the blocking sword brought out of the way. At the same time I don't want this to be a rushed moment.
• Ensuring the body is turned to face the opponent before stepping in to cut.
• Being careful not to reach for the sword as the cut takes place but to rather let the left hand catch the sword at the end of the moment.

I have tried to emulate Ishido Sensei's timing of "tatum-tum" but it is very difficult. It might be better for me to do the form less sharply and more gracefully given my size but I still want to be able to do it quickly. I think I have written this all before in a previous post.

I want to jump forwards to Iwanami now. I train in guilt that I always tend to skip this kata a little bit, not doing it more than once or twice compared to the grating I have been giving the other Chuden katas. I'm not sure why I had this reluctance but it's probably to do with the difficulty I have in controlling my weight distribution and being able to slide back cleanly and rapidly. Still, I decided last week to give this one a bit more attention and set to work on it. The first thing I was steered to do (in fact this bit of advice came a long way back) was to try to get the body moving back without the whole body coming up first. After that it is a case of nice timing as there is a propensity to do this form quickly but without much in the way of meaning. It's difficult to write about the mental block I have around doing the sweeping cut but it's probably hesitance about doing something quite strenuous like this cut while both feet spend a bit of time off the floor. Perhaps I don't understand that bit properly...

Jumping back now to Yokogumo. I like this kata and I think it probably has a longer history than Shohatto and would thus be a primal seed of all the seated kata. Chuden, being shorter in distance and timing than Shoden, tends to move quite quickly and I have been aware that Yokogumo may well lend itself to speed training in iaido. To this end, and on the basis that generally my iaido is a bit sluggish due to my size, I have decided to make this form "one of my own". By this I mean, I am putting a little bit of me into the version of this that I want to do. In my opinion (only), the rapidity of the form is created thus:

• The sword is drawn approximately half way out before the hips rise (although they are tensed while the sword is moving to lend themselves to a quick movement forwards).
• The last half of the draw and the nukitsuke is performed at the same time as the hips rising and moving forwards into quite a quick draw.
• At the end of nukitsuke, the feeling in the feet and lower body is to be pushing the body forwards into the kirioroshi. This doesn't have anything more than a very subtle effect on the posture, most of the contrast is felt internally.
• The furikaburi footwork is similar to Seitei mae and should be done simultaneously with the sword-work of furikaburi and the following kirioroshi. It should really be done quickly.

These last two points are the ones I was working on last night in particular. The diagram below sort of shows what I mean in terms of the tension and position after nukitsuke:

In Shohatto, even if nukitsuke is created with a forward feeling of the body into the draw, the final position should be quite well centred and upright. The rear foot is gently pushing back, the knee is gently balanced into the floor and the front foot is gently pushing forwards.

In contrast to this, I feel, the feeling in the body is slightly more forwards. This is more so in the lower body where the rear foot is quite strongly pushing back, the body weight positioned so that the rear knee inclines some force down and back and the front foot being pushed strongly forwards.

At this point in Yokogumo, to create a fast furikaburi-kirioshi action, the tension is released in the lower limbs and hips and the body quickly moves forwards and under the sword as it is raised and quickly brought down. I spend quite a few goes just practicing this intermediate sequence and it can become very fast after a while.

I think this is something I am going to go onto practice a bit more in the next few weeks as it has the propensity to become either something quite nice or at least be good for my development of lower body strength.