For the first, long, part of my Japanese Martial Arts life and path, I practiced an old form of Jujitsu called Daito-ryu Aikibudo.
As the origin of Aikido it is mostly known for its hand-to-hand techniques. What very few know is that actually exists a unique set of Iaido kata in its curriculum. It's a very small group of techniques which has next to no connection to classical Iai but it is still very interesting: the main focus is a special tai-sabaki (body movement) used to simultaneously evade an attack and cut our opponent. The same body movement (which is almost identical to the movement used in Kendo's men-nuki-men) is often and very effectively used in the normal hand-to-hand practice of the art. The origins of this set are unknown, but my personal opinion is that some of them were created by Takeda Sokaku, with variations finalized by Takeda Tokimune. I desume this in particular by one kata, maybe the most articulated, in which you cut the legs of the opponent in front of you, then quickly stab the groin area of another coming from behind and that seems to be exactly the situation Takeda Sokaku found himself in on a narrow bridge during his youth - after a few cuts and stabs in front and behind he managed to escape by jumping in the river below. It is very interesting to study these kata, which are not properly or regularly trained by Daito-ryu students, from a Iaido perspective, keeping an attention to the sword's trajectory and making them "real" and "alive". They can also be practiced with bokken, or even with steel iaito, in a "batto" fashion, in couples, and I have seen them performed both ways. In my opinion they are more interesting performed in this way, in "couples" because of the simplicity of the katas themselves, which doesn't render easily in solo practice, save - maybe - for the "bridge" kata I described above. The educational and practical aspect is also higher, and helps focalizing the body distances during a correct tai-sabaki. All of this is further proof that practice of Iaido and understanding of the correct use of the sword where fundamental in most forms of Japanese Budo. We regularly organize Iaido courses in Singapore.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
The Blog and news of Shuhari Dojo, Iaido in SingaporeAuthorAll the latest info about our courses and events. For anything else, please contact us by email.
Archives
October 2022
Categories |