Japanese swordfighting
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 had to call it off.
Sempais Andrew and Steve also did fairly well and I think are ready for their next test. They did try some harder cuts than necessary for the test, for which I advise, try what you know you can do at that test level, rather than try something difficult.
Jamie did well for kesa and kiriage, and adjusted his suihei a little more. Its looking much flatter now.
Sylvia tried a whole goza for the first time and got nice kesa and kiriage on the target. The suihei needs work simply in the area of not pulling out into zanshin too soon. It's a common error that doesn't become apparent until you actually cut.
I tried two goza, then three goza twice today. The two were spaced like three and wasn't too hard. Both my three goza attempts were good, but didn't quite make it. On the first try, I cut through only 80% of the last goza piece before I ran out of sword. On the second try, I cut the kiriage too low and when I came back for the suihei, simply ran out of target to cut (so I cut suihei on two out of three goza).
We tried a few new things with the scraps at the end of class. Katate cuts with left hand. I tried Andrew Sempais heavy sword out--3.5lbs doesn't seem much but it's about 20-30% heavier than mine I think and the tsuka is much longer which made a big difference for me. I'm just too used to my own sword.
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 had to call it off.
Sempais Andrew and Steve also did fairly well and I think are ready for their next test. They did try some harder cuts than necessary for the test, for which I advise, try what you know you can do at that test level, rather than try something difficult.
Jamie did well for kesa and kiriage, and adjusted his suihei a little more. Its looking much flatter now.
Sylvia tried a whole goza for the first time and got nice kesa and kiriage on the target. The suihei needs work simply in the area of not pulling out into zanshin too soon. It's a common error that doesn't become apparent until you actually cut.
I tried two goza, then three goza twice today. The two were spaced like three and wasn't too hard. Both my three goza attempts were good, but didn't quite make it. On the first try, I cut through only 80% of the last goza piece before I ran out of sword. On the second try, I cut the kiriage too low and when I came back for the suihei, simply ran out of target to cut (so I cut suihei on two out of three goza).
We tried a few new things with the scraps at the end of class. Katate cuts with left hand. I tried Andrew Sempais heavy sword out--3.5lbs doesn't seem much but it's about 20-30% heavier than mine I think and the tsuka is much longer which made a big difference for me. I'm just too used to my own sword.
Views: 32
Comment
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Comment by rawnshah on November 11, 2009 at 9:45am
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I stand corrected; kihon toho on half goza is still ikkyu level cut, if you can also cut kesa + kiriage on 1 whole goza
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Comment by Alex Szwaykowski on November 10, 2009 at 10:33pm
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Thank you for complimenting me, but I did make several mistakes. Also, a slight correction, I am a sankyu, not a yonkyu.
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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.
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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