Ryuseiken Battodo

Japanese swordfighting

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Shutting down Battodo.ning.com

Friends,

I am looking to shut down this old site that we once was quite active. It's been years since I have posted, and I don't see a need to continue. The last day will probably be this Friday, Dec 22nd, 2023.

-Rawn, sensei

Added by rawnshah on December 18, 2023 at 1:20pm — No Comments

Heheh...

Added by rawnshah on September 9, 2013 at 10:12am — No Comments

Spam signups

We're getting a lot of spam signups so I changed things a little.

Added by rawnshah on August 17, 2013 at 8:54pm — No Comments

The fencer who did the Darth Vader swordfights in Star Wars dies at 89

This is sad news that you probably never knew about before. Bob Andersen was the British Olympic contender in 1952 for fencing and either instructed or did the stunts in the first few Star Wars movies, and the Lord of the Rings. 

NPR article on Bob Andersen

Even if you didn't know…

Continue

Added by rawnshah on January 3, 2012 at 11:55am — No Comments

Learn more about the parts of the sword -- NCJSC site

I came across the Northern Carlifornia Japanese Sword club (token kai) formed by the renown author of The Samurai Sword -- A Handbook, Jon Yumoto. I noticed in particular how detailed their Visual Glossary is. This is a great resource if you want to know more about the different aspects of the sword, its, manufacture, the different types of design of both the blade and the mountings. 

 

I know…

Continue

Added by rawnshah on October 25, 2011 at 10:05am — No Comments

Apologies on being away

I've been awfully busy for quite some time, and I will try to keep adding content more regularly. Apologies to the folks who were interested in becoming members as well. I get so many spam members its hard to tell sometimes, which is why I put in the approval process.

 

-Rawn sensei

Added by rawnshah on October 21, 2011 at 6:34am — No Comments

The new goshinken

 

So far this new type of goshinken has held up pretty well. It's only been a month of use but so far nothing immediate.

 

We've tried it among the senseis and brown belts and it certainly held up. The entire class has used it (swapping it between people) for sparring and kata practice. They're getting used to others using it on them.

 

Wear and Tear

The grip is holding. Even with very hard smacks the is no paint chipping, cracks,…

Continue

Added by rawnshah on April 19, 2011 at 12:06pm — 1 Comment

Planning to try out a new goshinken

 

Now that I need a new goshinken, having run out of them, I'm going to order one of the 3rd generation type goshinkens. I'm trying them out to see how well they work, before anyone else spends their money on it.

 

Latex, Foam Sword - Samurai

These are the almost visually realistic looking foam swords created by the SCA types (the Renaissance renactment folk) and LARPers (Live Action Role Playing). There's quite an industry growing around these incidentally, judging by the…

Continue

Added by rawnshah on February 24, 2011 at 8:36am — 3 Comments

May need to transfer to Facebook / Ning is planning to start charging for our site

Ning is planning to start charging for this site. Till now it's been free but I'll have to consider it. The very basic one has too few features but enough to put our photos. The video space is limited.

On the other hand Facebook technically owns any picture you put on it which I don't like either.

Any ideas folks?

Added by rawnshah on May 9, 2010 at 12:04am — 4 Comments

Sorry for not getting that Spam earlier

A bunch of spambots /users joined and I deleted their "online prescription" stuff. Sorry about that.

-rawn

Added by rawnshah on February 18, 2010 at 2:22pm — No Comments

Taisabaki 3 & 4 : hmmm?

I came across a potential mismatch between theory and practice in Taisabaki 3 and 4 last weekend and took some photographs to figure it out.



The basic point is that Taisabaki #3 (hidari) is a shift to the left, so that you are offside to the opponent but still within the same range (maai). Taisabaki #4 (migi) is a shift to the right to achieve the same but may not put you within the same range.



Here is Taisabaki #3, with a drawing of foot positions before and… Continue

Added by rawnshah on December 3, 2009 at 12:59pm — 2 Comments

Kyu testing at CFHS

I tested 9 students yesterday for their Kyu ranks, most of them rokkyus, a few in the middle and two brown belts. The brown belts still have to demonstrate their cutting on Sunday the 13th to complete their test.



It took a good hour or so to do the testing but it seemed to go pretty quickly for me. It seems to take forever of waiting and then take a long time to do your own test, but in reality time passes pretty quickly. There's also the nervousness factor. It makes you forget what… Continue

Added by rawnshah on December 2, 2009 at 1:15pm — 2 Comments

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… Continue

Added by rawnshah on November 16, 2009 at 9:20am — No Comments

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… Continue

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

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… Continue

Added by rawnshah on October 28, 2009 at 8:58am — No Comments

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… Continue

Added by rawnshah on October 14, 2009 at 9:20am — No Comments

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… Continue

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

Peg/stake sharpener and new pegs

I have the new Peg sharpener in and have been making some pegs. Basically, it's cheaper in the long run than buying pre-made pegs for our cutting stand. I went out to Home Depot, got four 1" dowels and had them cut down to size, so now we have 16 possible pegs.





It works like a big pencil sharpener essentially. Blank peg goes in one end and you turn while it planes away the edge. It took me about 15 minutes to do one peg and made my… Continue

Added by rawnshah on October 4, 2009 at 9:04am — No Comments

Myth: That "Zing!" sound when you draw

Another myth from many movies: Swords should make "Zing!" sound when you draw them from the sheath.



Perhaps for other swords, but this is generally a bad idea for Japanese swords.



First, most, perhaps all, sayas are made from wood (or wood on the inside). Some have metal or horn fittings at the koiguchi (the opening entry point for the sword), but that is mostly or entirely on the outside. So there is not really any other metal on the inside to make that metallic… Continue

Added by rawnshah on September 26, 2009 at 8:30am — No Comments

Myth: sharpening stone inside the saya

I was asked about this the other day:



I do not have a definitive answer to this but I think it highly unlikely that people would line the inside of their saya (sheath) to let them sharpen the sword every time they draw it. It's one of those movie ideas: cool in theory, terrible in practice.



Sharpening a sword is not a something you can just run once quickly across the nagasa (length of the open blade) to get any significant benefit.



Here's… Continue

Added by rawnshah on September 24, 2009 at 8:08am — No Comments

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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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