Iaido Training Session 57

Oops, I let this one go by a bit too long, 5 days is a long time to remember what one did in a few hours.

Chris Sensei got there at normal time and got everyone to do continuous five-form embu. I started by going through seitei 1-5 and then only progressed the other kata if I was generally satisfied with the katas in the set. If not then I would include them in the next set. It took quite a long time to reach even no.10. I included Mae and Ukenagashi each time these being probably the most useful and most difficult respectively.

Sensei worked on my footwork on Ukenagashi quite a lot, this has become a bit of an institution and I wonder how long it will last. I am referring to the need to plant the left foot somewhere along the shin of the right let rather than at the right knee. To me it seems a little academic that one should try to rise almost completely vertical. I realise the need to not get thrown out to the right but seriously, if someone is coming in like a fighter jet I don't really think they are going to have time to be impressed with your ability to stand like a pole dancer.

Still I carried on working on it and it did reveal some interesting points about feet preparation.

I have also been working on noto especially regarding kojiri control as mine tends to flick in random directions at the point of saya-iri. I find if I concentrate on all the positions and vectors of the left hand then it tends to improve as well as slowing it down enough.



Been really working on using the right parts of the foot on Sanpogiri and it is improving it nicely. The final turn and step especially work better when the ball of the foot is engaged.

Sogiri was a bit of a pain tonight and I revealed to myself that I really don't like the first kizeme bit. Sensei told me to execute it as I would in Somakuri and that seemed to "real" it up a bit.

I had to leave a bit early so not much more done than that.

Iaido Training Session 56

Well not such a useful session last night. Did quite a comprehensive warm up and stretch and then went through Seitei. The balance of high grades to low grades is quite skewed down at the moment so we spend a lot of time going over very basic points, not much to even stimulate me into thinking about stuff (ya know, stuff).

Did a bit of work on Project Delta which is good although one side of it sometimes is a bit resistant to change. The other side of it responds quite well although this is largely down to most of the input being new. Still the effects of the more resistant side are showing when they do change.

Can't say much more than that really, I spent most of the evening teaching the lower grades how to walk without falling over or digging trenches into the floor.

This is all a bit of a reminder that I need to set up some separate training sessions as it is nigh on impossible at the moment with out limited space to devote time to my own practice.

Squad Training May 2011

I decided to use this opportunity to skip Jodo for a change and just focus on Iai. As Greg and Jock were there I was allowed to be left alone most of the time to practice with everyone else and got the one or two bits of feedback which were really useful.

Northampton is also a nice big dojo with a smooth floor although it does have the propensity to rip the feet up a bit. We worked gradually through Seitei and concentrated on:

1. My footwork.
2. Body balance.
3. Relaxing Ochiburi so that it didn't kill my right arm

To be honest it's been a long time since I trained so hard as even at the summer seminars I tend to end up translating and sometimes doing a bit of teaching. Jock gave me some useful feedback especially about my noto and how high my right hand was going. In discussion with him I resolved to make my objective direction closer to 45 degrees to the side rather than focussing at the front (which a lot of people actually do). It's simply impossible with my length of sword to maintain that forward seme without having my right hand come up to shoulder height. That or my arms are shrinking.

I am also discovering something of a hidden beauty in Ushiro. Where previously we "stood" the feet up and turned, the instant turn which is now required creates its own Jo-Ha-Kyu. It is impossible to start that turn quickly without getting into a twist. In the previous method one could spin around on the knee once the feet were standing and I often thought that this detracted from the kata somewhat especially when considering the importance of a gradual build up of speed on the first 5 kata of Shoden Omori Ryu.

I was warned not to push the sword down on Kesagiri (naughty me although I can trace the source of that error). I also consciously affirmed that a slightly stronger angle away from vertical on the first draw of Morotezuki did wonders for the stability of that cut although I now have to be careful about footwork on the thrust preparation. I was told to just focus on squaring the body up and this would be enough foot movement to do the tsuki prep.

The rear thrust on Ganmenate was coming up too high and I am going to have to work on that as I have been doing it that way forever!

As I reached Shihogiri both my arms were starting to hurt and I was allowed to give it a rest and help the others. It was really good turn out for iai as there were a lot of new people all of them showing some good promise.

While I'm on here, I was asked by Peter West to translate the individual terms for Kan-Kyu-Kyo-Jaku and I have pasted them below:

• Kan (yuru, yurumeru etc) means to go slow, to slacken and to loosen. It has a feeling of slackness or leisure.
• Kyu (isogu) means to rush, hurry up. It has a feeling of urgency or haste.
• Kyo (tsuyoi) means strong, mighty powerful and robust.
• Jaku (yowai) means weak, feeble, fragile and faint.

At the end of the day we did some Koryu and I was given the beginners group to look after. Suddenly I had a mix of Shinden, Jikiden and someone who couldn't do seiza. And there began my tri-mix delivery of koryu teaching. It was quite funny as I had to show both versions and then do some standing Oku and I began to feel like a walking internet terminal. We got everyone up to Ryuto/Ukenagashi so I am now waiting for the shrapnel as Jikiden teachers throughout the UK ask these students "who the hell taught you to do it that way?"

Anyway, I'm glad now that I have done all those seminars with Oshita Sensei, I hope it was useful to them.

Iaido training tonight so another entry later or tomorrow.