Last Sunday, practice was a nice departure from the usual. I brought my new katana to the dojo and by coincidence so did everybody else. So sensei spent the whole session presenting sword techniques.
We began with drawing our swords and doing tenkan pivot spins. I am still not too smooth in this department. I have to remember to guide the sword into the scabbard between my thumb and index finger. Getting better, slowly.
We then paired off and worked on various wazas which included the katana. The final step was to cut off our partner's heads. We did a couple of variations of nikkyo in which we use the handle to put pressure on the aite's hands to drop them. Typically, we would just use our hands, but the katana gave us more leverage.
One of the first techniques practice was using gyakuhanmi to grab the swordbearer's wrist and prevent them from drawing their blade. If they move their arm in response to our pressure, they are pushed into a very weak position. The solution is bring the sword to the hand and draw it using only the wrist. In this way, we can maintain our defensive posture and still deliver a lethal cut.
It was quite fun to swing my new birthday present around in the dojo. More importantly, wielding the katana helps us to visualize the angles and space involved in executing the techniques. It also puts aikido into a historical context. This was originally used by the samurai in conjunction with razor-sharp blades designed to sever heads in the blink of an eye.
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5 comments:
Thanks for your comment. Your photos look great. Very clear. And I like the color, and nice motion, too. What settings are you using? ISO? Aperture? Speed?
I'm going to add you to my links.
Hey thanks, I'll link to you as well. Those pics are all from my digital camera then run through Photoshop. I am not much of a photographer per se.
Hi Steve,
Nice blog. Your descriptions of the sword are correct. Another big advantage of practicing with the sword, or stick, is that you automatically feel that the power has to come from your waste, and that the 'wrist-throw' plus 'relaxed everything else' is very important for the final speed. Despite sensei always teaches us the above, my body tends to forget that when grabbed by an opponent, and I fix my arms and shoulders. With a sword, no-one is so dumb to do that.
Anyway, I like to practice with the sword, because it teaches me great about how to divide and connect the powers in my body. Sensei said that when he would have had a sword at the time he learned Aikido, he would have learned 3 times faster.
Hans
Sorry, 'waste' in the above blog should be 'waist'.
Uchi deshi, I finally posted a link to you. Sorry for the delay. Thanks for your interest and comments.
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