July 2010 Oda Hanshi notes, Vancouver.
With June 2010 AUSKF Yamazaki hanshi note from Stan Vardomskiy(italics)
Kim Taylor and Stan Vardomskiy
These are the summer hanshi seminars, not in Guelph May. Note that all
3 hanshi this summer agree on their instructions. It may seem that one
is answering the other here, but these are different seminars. Mostly
this is Vancouver with Texas added.
Main theme is teaching beginners
First note is hand position to grasp tsuka, in seitei it is straight
while in koryu the wrist is in an L shape. The bent wrist is used for #
6 and #7 because the cuts are up and over rather than where the left
hand can twist the tsuka into the proper grip.
Exactness, sort of.
In many cases the book says “yaya” which means “sort of” or “roughly”.
Sageo and etiquette
Make the end of the sageo a little longer and it is easier to control than when it is the same length of the loop.
Sageo manipulation should be smooth, it can vary and it is not written down but it should be smooth.
Lining up for grading: Start approx 30cm behind the line so that when
you sit your knees are behind or on the tape (not over). This is for
the beginning and the end. During the embu it doesn't matter where the
tape is, for instance you would start far behind the tape to do So
Giri. Take the space you need.
When sitting is seiza there should be a sheet of paper between your heels and your butt.
Y: Sit with one and a half fists between the knees for seiza
Width of Body
The cuts and nuki tsuke should be kept within the width of the body.
Practice this against a wall
Metsuke
The metsuke must move realistically, so it drops with the cut, or very
shortly afterward. If the metsuke drops too long after the cut it is
“overacting” since teki is staggering around like the movies.
If you look down all the time you're looking for money.
Nuki Tsuke and kiri tsuke
Any turns of the blade from vertical are done with the blade half drawn.
Cuts should be directly to the target, not a big up and over, Itoh sensei's way to cut. This is the best.
Cuts are done on the movement of the last foot.
Y: Do not use the wrist for furikburi,
use the shoulders, it looks bigger, the wrist is for kiri oroshi. Kiri
oroshi is like throwing a baseball.
All seitei cuts and thrusts are done
with the hips square to teki (except when you cannot, like the thrust
of tsuka ate, the first cut of sampo giri). (All three hanshi said
this).
If a student drops the tip on furikburi, they need to "stick it in the ceiling"
Chiburi
Y: On Yoko ciburi the difference between seitei and koryu (Y. sensei is Jikiden) is that for seitei the hand is always forward.
Turning and body movement
K: Kishimoto hanshi in Guelph mentioned that turning in seitei is on the toes only, for koryu, it uses the heel.
Y: When moving back lead with the neck,
when moving forward lead with the hara. Mostly for foot change on mae
and ushiro but for all kata.
Movie Star
Make the story easy to see for anyone watching. There is an element of embu in iaido.
Don't over act or you're stardust rather than a star.
Mae: Don't do it.... gomen = all over, if not, cut him down. Now
forgive him, “he is go to heav'n” = I hope you will now go to heaven
and I will pray for you.
Y: Mode (France) vs style: (fashion vs style) is form vs depth, depth of practice has spirit.
Grip
The only time you hang on tight and never relax is if you're holding money.
The grip is with the thumbs lined up, as per praying, and just drop
them on. Do not twist them over so far that the thumbs are in different
directions or they will fight each other. Shibori is a squeeze of the
thumbs.
Timing and speed
Seitei is more concerned with precision and proper technique so the kata can be quite slow without penalty.
Monouchi and sword parts
ZNKR definition is the last third of the blade to the tip.
Asaoka s. Demonstrates the exact monouchi point, keep the hilt
supported, turn the blade on it's side, then slide a bokuto toward the
tip, when the blade rolls up that is the monouchi, the sweet spot, the
correct point of percussion.
Sword parts: Bo (tsuba moto) = defence. Sei (chu-o) = control. Satsu (monouchi) = killing
Y: Bo sei sats kissaki for killing,
middle for control, last third for blocking. Understanding this will
improve your technique a lot.
Group practice
Several people in a line, do the kata, the first person in line gets
advice while the rest of the line does the kata again on the same spot.
Then rotate to the back of the next line for the next kata.
One single piece of advice at each turn, keep it moving, the advice is
over when the kata is finished. Make it the most important thing the student needs to do,
or concentrate on the lesson of the day...
Exercises
Y: Do as per mae but stay on the knees,
don't raise the foot forward. Keep the body upright until end of cut
and yoko chiburi. sink back to seiza. 90% cut with hips, 10% with the
arms.
Draw while rising up as per Mae, do
furi kaburi, kiri oroshi and then yoko chiburi and your noto while
sinking down as you pull your foot back to seiza. Do ths exercise to
the front, then migi, ushiro and hidari. You are now facing the back,
repeat to get to the front. In Yamazaki's dojo they do this square 10
times to warm up. For training for a competition you do it 1.5 hours
without losing form.
For pressure on teki, do the first
exercise above with kiai, kiai all through the technique up to the cut,
emphasis on nuki tsuke and kiri tsuke.
Do mae with a stomp on the nuki
tsuke. "Stomp so you break the floor... if you break the floor raise
your hand... you are not stomping, you are petting the floor." The
lower ranks stomp because it helps their practice. The difference with
the higher ranks is that they should stomp mentally which will generate
a mental vibration which is seme.
Turns should be natural so to get
natural, turn and cut over and over, speed up until you are dizzy and
then go the other way. After such practise you will get used to the
motion and do it naturally. Budoka need to be able to move in all
directions.
Note: Stan says that Yamazaki's
points on kata were the same as Kisshimoto in Guelph. Oda sensei also had
the same points in Vancouver.
Yamazaki s.:
At lower levels you may not be able
to do it as higher levels do it and this is OK (there are some things
that beginners can't do).
You really should understand the riai of each kata
Easy movement is not necessarily more effective in a martial context.
There is one common mindset
when one does seitei or koryu, to fight an opponent. The form may be
different but the mindset is the same.
Mae
Hand with straight wrist, little finger on top, turn hilt with left hand (use saya) into right hand when half way drawn.
Nuki tsuke for Mae and Ushiro is slow, and up to saya banari he can say “gomen” and the kata is over.
At sayabanari the right little finger pushes down and the tip moves up
to horizontal, then cut is flat. If you grip, the cut ends up moving at
an angle across the target. Which is no good.
At noto there should be a piece of paper's width between your knee and the floor.
Ushiro
The most important thing is to move the left foot across as you cut. Hold it back and in place until you cut.
Little finger pushes down as per mae. The same hand position for most kata.
Uke Nagashi
Start with partner practice with bokuto.
Look and grip without hesitation, the draw here and the rest of the
kata is different than mae and ushiro, it is more quick, more
aggressive.
Right toes under = raise hilt
Left toes under as you move the leg forward = draw upward a bit
Wait (Tame) and invite the cut to the head, “come come”. The kata does not make any sense unless teki cuts to your head.
As teki cuts rise up, right foot comes into left instep and meet the
cut with uke nagashi, the chest is square to teki (used to be left
shoulder forward) and immediately the left shoulder must be pulled back
or it will be cut.
The amount of turn in the left foot depends on your ability.
Y:
The block must be strong, if not the cut will crash through (story
about his student who got hit) Practice with a bokuto to develop a
sense of urgency. 800-1000 g sword travelling at 150 km/hr hit your
sword, is your grip good enough?
Setup is two people sitting in seiza facing the same direction a few
meters apart. First stands up and attempts to cut the other down.
Tsuka Ate
After the hit, keep the attention forward for about half the draw, then look back at the rear and thrust.
After the thrust back count 1-2, then look to the front on 3. A small delay before looking to the front again.
It used to be that the head turned with the body and the cut, but now look a bit sooner and then cut.
The little finger pressed the hilt down to bring the tip up to the chest before the thrust back.
The thrust is ma ushiro, directly behind. Keep the tsuka along the right forearm.
The turn of the body pulls the tip out of teki.
On noto the right foot pulls directly back.
To stand up do the shortest step forward that you can comfortably and naturally do. No need to do it at the knee.
Y:
Common error is height at which thrust ends. Needs to be down near elbow, not stay at nipple height.
"Pull the sword up" is a bad translation, sword get pulled out by the hip turn and hands bring it up.
Going into sonkyo on noto should occur when it is natural to start doing so.
Kesa Giri
Relax the left hand so that you can reach further over the tsuba and
then turn it all the way over so that the edge faces the ground.
Right hand turns over to grip, like gyakute in jodo, back of right hand to the left.
Beginners should grip and turn it over on the second step. Seniors to their own story.
Use little finger and cut up, turn over at top.
Chiburi secret for seniors: square up as you begin the noto, it makes
it look bigger. (Kisshimoto s. says stay square through the entire
chiburi)
Y:
Opponent is in jodan which is why gyaku kesa (kiri age) makes sense, it's faser than kiri oroshi from jodan.
This cut must be real, it has to disrupt the attack so it can't be fake or weak.
Don't drop the shoulder too much between cuts. (Interpretation problem re importance)
Bunkai... kesa giri is done while moving off the line to avoid the cut.
Going into hasso automatically protects the temple from attack.
Morote Zuki
Bend the wrist when you grasp the tsuka because the cut is upward.
Cut close to your head, stop at his chin. The saya biki is back and down
as per the angle of the cut, but the left hip stays forward as the left
hand pulls back.
Move to chudan, left foot comes close to right, and drop tip to throat as grip with left hand.
Drop to suigetsu as you thrust
Hiki nuki on both turns, the sword stays on the same line and the
opponents are on the same line. Relax the hands and arms to do the
turns.
The hands should be above the head at the end of the turn.
Y: The footwork in morote zuki is different depending on the level,
ideally teki is ma ushiro especially if one is going for higher rank
but beginners can get away with the old style sweeping back foot as
long as he shifts back onto the line on the cut. Turn as Kishimoto s.
explained in Guelph.
For thrust left foot comes near right heel but in no way equal to it.
Called okuri ashi
Should not pull on the sword, should rotate the hip to clear the sword out after the thrust.
Bring the hands up naturally but remember that there is an ukenagashi movement here.
Sanpogiri
You must push the front person at the start of the kata. Ta-me.
Don't draw toward the front any more, make a short sharp move to
forward as a threat, and “cut the koiguchi” (open it) to hold with
patience (tame) the person in front.
Draw up tall to the right and cut down almost vertically. (yaya)
The wrist needs to be bent as you start the draw since you're not turning it with the left hand.
All cuts need to be within the body width. Use the wall to do the first two cuts.
This cut is from hitoemi rather than turning the body to the right to
cut. Not kicking out the heel. (check this with the Yamazaki-Kishimoto
tape).
Turn the eyes to the front person after you finish the cut to the first and before you cut the second.
On the turn to #2, you must reach for the tsuka with your left hand
somewhere around your face height, not after you finish the turn. You
should be able to do an uke nagashi if you need to (there is no uke
nagashi to the person in front but could be if needed). You are ready
to cut down when the turn is finished.
Y: Assuri is the word used for the pressure we put on the person in front.
To oppress, overwhelm. Seme means to attack, it's the pressure during
the attack. The person in front must feel assuri, pressure before he is
attacked and while the other two are attacked.
Do not draw too much before cutting the opponent on the right, this
changes the trajectory of the cut and makes it more shallow. Originally
it was a vertical cut but this can't be done strongly. The cut is
nearly vertical.
Ganmen Ate
Grab and thrust with no space, no time between. It has to be all one move. The right wrist is straight.
Strike straight forward and as he stumbles back, you can turn so leave the kashira where it is.
Sweep the back foot across and bring the sword directly to the hip, at obi height.
It is a judging point that the back heel is square in this position.
The thrust is to the suigetsu, don't go too high.
Saya biki is straight, push the left hip forward to keep the hips square on the thrust while pulling the left hand back.
The thrust is into the centre of your body with the tip, and the kashira is in front of your right hip.
If the opponents are not exactly on the same line this is OK, ie the back opponent is slightly off-line of the front.
Turning back to cut the first person, bring the left hand up by the
face to touch the tsuka, this is sooner than it used to be and is so
that you can do uke nagashi “if you have to”.
The head turns with the tsuka, not too early as this will tend to drag the hands out to the side.
My hands are too stiff, so the sword comes offline as I turn.
Y: Since we are thrusting from the hip, we have to be off the centre line
if we want to thrust at the target suigetsu. So we sweep the back leg
and get off the line which lines up teki perfectly.
There has to be an uke nagashi movement on the turn and cut.
Soete Zuki
Take three forward steps, the opponent is walking beside you.
The opponent attacks so all three of your steps are aimed forward rather than angled in which would be an attacking move.
Turn and cut him from the neck to the love handles. This draw is less high than the previous morote tsuki and sanpogiri.
The right hand ends up at belly button height, and the tip a bit higher.
Pull the front foot back a bit before thrusting forward.
Drop the metsuke after pulling the blade out of the opponent.
Y: Bunkai is two people walking side by side or passing.
Kuzushi on the draw to the face to make teki reel backward and disrupt his attack.
Do not lift the left hand when lifting the right to nipple height. Makes everything look ugly and small and doesn't make sense.
Shiho giri
The hit is on the hand, not on the wrist, so it does not drop below horizontal.
The left hand is the one that should be doing the hit, so it is the
power hand on this strike, the right hand is held loosely, fingertips
only, and aimed down, back of hand pointed to the left.
The kashira is right in the centre of the body on this first strike or
the next move will miss, or the arm will come away from the body.
Turning to thrust to the second person, pull the left foot back and thrust.
Turn and cut down the first person
On the last cut, the waki gamae is with the tip below the knee.
Jodan chiburi, the left hand is above the left foot and the body is
angled a bit. This is the same as kendo. (secret here again for seniors
is to do the actual chiburi movement with the body square to the front)
Y: Kiri oroshi in the guidelines means that something gets dropped, in
other words the last cut must be strong and deflect the strike of the
opponent.
(Where is teki, book says "right front" etc so don't make a big deal, teki is where he is when we turn properly.)
So giri
As per usual. Horizontal cut is at obi height. Stop each cut, including
the horizontal cut (180 degrees, as you exit, then around and down).
All the cuts are shallow which is why you need the final vertical cut.
The cuts are only half way through which is why you need to come out on the same line.
Yoko chiburi, push the tip over at the same speed.
Y:
Angle in the block is the same as a natural angle on the draw. Draw toward suigetsu, now turn 90 degrees and that's uke nagashi.
Each cut must be distinct otherwise the judges will miss them.
Good tenouchi lets you stop the sword where you need to. "People who are
skilled are not picky about the tools they use to kill you"
Nuki Uchi
Enough to clear, but not too far back.
Y: No deviation to the sides on the draw and cut.
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