Ryuseiken Battodo

Japanese swordfighting

Ryuseiken Battodo is a swordfighting martial arts style that teaches kata, sparring and culminates in test-cutting (tameshigiri) of targets with real swords.

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rawnshah added 3 videos
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Sylvia Kresock left a comment for Thomas Foss
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adam clark is now a member of Ryuseiken Battodo
Welcome Them!
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rawnshah commented on Alex Szwaykowski's video 'DSCF4028'
Nice cutting Alex. Pretty good for a sankyu
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rawnshah left a comment for Thomas Foss
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rawnshah added a blog post
For advanced cutters, such as those who have been shodan for a while in our class, I think a standing target is becoming too easy. Yes, there are certainly still many possible cuts that you and I can't do yet on a target that is in a fixed locatio...
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Thomas Foss updated their profile
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About Ryuseiken Battodo

Battodo is the Japanese art of the drawn sword, and focuses on principles of swordfighting in the battlefield. We practice a combination of katas (fighting forms), sparring with padded swords, and test-cutting real targets with swords.

Perhaps unlike other styles that focus on more complex katas or one-on-one fight situations, we focus on developing proficiency on simpler but rapidly effective techniques. Since this is for the field, the sword is usually already drawn out of the scabbard (unlike iai). The tameshigiri or target-cutting skills also emphasize full swings and attacks to get the feel of cutting completely through the target rather than slicing, hacking or bashing the target.

Blog Posts

rawnshah

Cutting a moving target

For advanced cutters, such as those who have been shodan for a while in our class, I think a standing target is becoming too easy. Yes, there are certainly still many possible cuts that you and I can't do yet on a target that is in a fixed location. But there is a whole domain of cutting that requires a different set of skills that we don't practice as often.

If you've been to our cutting sessions, you may notice at the end of class, we sometimes toss the last small cutable pieces at the studen… Continue

Posted by rawnshah on November 16, 2009 at 9:20am

rawnshah

11/8/09 Cutting: How it went

It seemed like a long day (9am-1pm+) for cutting so I may not have all the details. Everyone certainly did better today. I think most people did quite good if not phenomenal today. I did record high speed videos but I never seem to find the time to edit and post them.

The best I saw today was Alex who is a yonkyu but was able to do a full (and nice) kihon-toho on a half goza. That's usually a nikkyu level cut. Charlie injured his palms and wasn't able to cut before they started bleeding so we h… Continue

Posted by rawnshah on November 8, 2009 at 1:50pm — 2 Comments

rawnshah

Cutting last week

It might have just been an off-day for folks but from what I saw last weekend, all the candidates for the next black belt level, myself included, do not seem ready for their next test. As cutting criteria again, you need to be proficient in those cuts, which to me means you should be able to do it not just once or twice but pretty much on command 60-90% of the time.

You should not have to think through the cuts but you can certainly do it at a careful pace (slow in between cuts). The worst is w… Continue

Posted by rawnshah on October 28, 2009 at 8:58am

rawnshah

Sharpening

I purchased some sharpening stones from Nihonzashi to try out. They have a fairly large selection of stones from 100 to 8000 grit. This is based on the Japanese grit system, and all the stones are from Japan I believe. I only purchased a 1000/6000 combo stone, and a 3000 grit one, which are better for maintenance not hard core repair. The Japanese grit system is not the same as the US one (quite different actually). There is a conversion chart that I saw somewhere but you will need to be careful… Continue

Posted by rawnshah on October 14, 2009 at 9:20am

rawnshah

Next cutting day: Sat 10/24

I'm considering another cutting day on Sat the 24th starting around 9am at Himmel park. It usually goes on till noon. I need responses from people on who can attend and how much goza you need.

We have goza again. As before goza is $6 for a full piece/ $3 for half piece. I plan to cut about 9 goza myself and may have students from the high school class too, so I simply can't soak it all and bring it all in my car. (one plastic tub only fits about 16 before it breaks). For Andrew C and Andrew D,… Continue

Posted by rawnshah on October 5, 2009 at 4:44pm — 6 Comments

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Daniel

Hi I am new here :) 2 Replies

Started by Daniel. Last reply by Daniel Mar 2.

Andrew Cameron

Friday's 10/26 Practice 3 Replies

Started by Andrew Cameron. Last reply by shakeel Feb 27.

Christopher Arendt

Practice Bokuto with Saya! 3 Replies

Started by Christopher Arendt. Last reply by shakeel Feb 15.

 
 

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Web sites & Resources

Matsuri: A Festival of Japan (2008) - Phoenix, AZ, Feb 23-28, Heritage Square

Battodo Ryuseiken in Japan. Also a partial site in english.



The Kodenkan of Tucson



The UofA Ryuseiken Battodo on the ASUA site



Tameshigiri.com - where we get goza. The ordering and shipping process are given.



Hanwei/Paul Chen swords



The Knighthawk Armoury builds some interesting realistic looking goshinken. They're expensive but they claim to be pretty durable (not yet tested by us).



Folding a Hakama the proper way



Woodall's Custom Workshop makes nice cutting stands for tameshigiri.


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