Niten Kihon

From Kim Taylor, Dec 26, 2016

Recently we started class with two forms of Niten Ichiryu kihon. We've always done lots of informal kihon but it seems to be getting a bit more defined so I want to write some of it down. You lucky non-niten-students-of-mine can flip to the next essay, this likely won't make any sense at all. For other Niten Ichiryu students, please be aware that some of this might be a bit Sei Do Kai specific but I bet you can adapt it to your own practice.

First Kihon practice for Tachi Seiho.

Do each kata in order. Do it solo and while advancing across the floor. Deep koshimi, then square the hips as you bring the feet together. Our club switches the last two kata which suits the foot positions.

From feet together in gedan, Sasen
feet together in hasso. Hasso Hidari
feet together in hasso, Hasso Migi
feet together in gedan, Uke Nagashi Hidari
feet together in gedan, Uke Nagashi Migi
remain with the left foot forward, move the bokuto into mogiri gamae, Moji Gamae
remain with the right foot forward, drop the sword to gedan, Hari Tsuke
feet together in gedan, Nagashi Uchi
remain with the left foot forward, move the sword into migi waki gamae, Tora Buri
feet together in gedan, Kazu Ki
remain with the left foot forward in hasso, Amashi Uchi
remain with the right foot forward in chudan, Ai Sen Uchi Dome.

Since this is simply stringing the kata together and doing them solo, it should not require much more explanation should you wish to try it yourself.

A challenge is to do every kata from the finishing position of the last one, rather than bringing the feet together between. Switching the kata around will help this, for example, from right foot forward after Sasen, lift the sword to hasso and do Hasso Migi. Then assume hasso and do Hasso Hidari. This lets you do Uke Nagashi Hidari without changing your feet. To do Uke Nagashi Migi you might simply shift the right foot to the left on the deflection. You get the idea.

Second kihon practice for Tachi Seiho.

Use a line on the mirror or the wall and work on understanding your hips in relationship to that line. Concentrate on feeling the hips turn rather than going up over your leg as one foot passes the other. Concentrate on using your hip to move your back leg, don't step-step.

Koshimi: This position is a low stance but it is not as long as it looks. The front foot is facing the opponent. The rear foot is at about 90 degrees (no more) to the front and the heels are not quite on the same line. The rear knee is vertically over the rear toes and the front shin is vertical. The hips are straining toward the front foot but do not drag the rear knee from above the rear toes.

1. Sasen, start left foot forward and in gedan. Twist the hips toward square far enough to take the weight off the right foot, now throw the right hip to the right of the attack line, the bokuto comes forward off the right hip.

Leave the right foot forward, square up and drop the sword to gedan again. Now drive the left foot across the attack line while moving, then keeping, the right hand in front of your bellybutton (heiso), as you come clear of the attack line grip the tsuka with the left hand and the right foot comes around into koshimi (left foot is forward here) as you thrust toward your imaginary teki.

Square up into gedan with the left foot forward and repeat. This is an exercise for sasen but also to understand the one-sidedness (non-symmetry) of the sword. The "Sasen Migi" movement must be different than Sasen.

2. Hasso. Start with the left foot forward, drive the right hip off the line and drop into koshimi. You can continue your cut down to the left hand in front of heiso (bellybutton) since there is no partner in the way, but make sure you are reaching out to strike where the target would be, don't allow your cuts to become small and tight.

Leave the right foot forward, square up and raise the sword to hasso. Now drive the left foot forward off the line and cut hasso migi.

Square up to the original position and repeat across the floor.

3. Uke Nagashi hidari. Do the uke nagashi sides separately. We are working now on driving the shoulder off the line and moving well forward as we move through the uke nagashi position. Then we are working on the hip turn to do the finishing strike. This is a two part movement by design.

Stand in gedan with the right foot forward. Drive the left foot/hip off the attack line and place the left foot in front of the right. At the same time swing the sword forward so that the tip comes up the attack line, fold the bokuto tip back to miss your left ear as you grip the bokuto with the left hand and release it with your right. The left hand should be well forward and the hand at about 45 degrees above vertical so that it is above your head. The bokuto should rest on your left shoulder and your left elbow should be tucked safely behind the blade.

Next use the left foot to drive the right hip forward into koshimi. As you turn your right hand will come closer to the left and you can re-grip with both hands to do the cut as per Hasso Hidari.

4. Uke Nagashi migi. This is the opposite side of hidari, the difference is that when you move your right foot across the line and in front of the left, the right hand is driven well forward and the bokuto folded back, the tip missing the right ear. Then as you drive the left hip around to face the attack line your left hand comes close to the bokuto and you can cut as per Hasso Migi.

In both these movements be sure not to turn your back on the attack line, this makes your deflection a block as your sword moves perpendicular to the attacking sword. Instead, stretch the shoulder forward to take it off the line, and keep the bokuto as parallel to the line as possible. This movement is not to stop the attack or even to deflect it, it is to provide coverage should the opponent try to "bend" his cut in toward you as he is missing.

5. Moji Gamae. Start with the usual moji gamae position, left foot forward, hips in koshimi, sword placed so that the monouchi is across your face (it would be covering your partner's face during the kata). Raise the sword as you drive the right hip forward off the line and into koshimi. Strike down, "stamping on the sword".

Leave the hips as they are, right foot forward, and move the sword into a position like moji gamae on the other side. Repeat the raising of the sword and drive the left hip around into koshimi. Repeat across the floor.

6. Hari Tsuke and Kazu Ki. We pair these kata. Start with the feet together and the sword in gedan. As you drive the left foot forward off the attack line turn the bokuto edge upward and place the left hand on the mune in the correct position as you slap the attacking sword away and then thrust using the same hand position. (this is Hari Tsuke). You are in koshimi.

Keep the left foot forward as you square the hips from koshimi to gedan, (your hips again in the normal walking position). Now drive straight down the attack line with your right leg as you turn the edge of the blade upward and take the same position on the mune with the left hand as above. Lift the blade directly upward, covering your body with the blade horizontal and the edge receiving the the strike. Immediately drive the left hip forward and off the line as you fold the tsuba toward yourself, dropping the right hand and carrying the left hand over the back of the attacker's blade. You will be trapping his blade against your thigh. Thrust in koshimi as per the movement above. (This is Kazu Ki).

Move your feet together and drop the blade to gedan to repeat the entire sequence across the floor.

7. Nagashi Uchi. You have done uke nagashi right and left to examine the sword and hand positions already, this exercise is to work the legs and hips. Start in koshimi, right foot forward, with the sword in seigan. Now lift the sword to cover the attack line at the tsuba moto (1/3 near the hilt) as you drive your left hip forward and across the attack line, cut as you come into koshimi once more. Now lift and cover your head on the attack line as you drive the right hip across the attack line into the original koshimi position and cut into seigan once more.

Repeat as many times as you can across the floor. Keep your stance in koshimi, as low as your legs will allow and step forward only a small distance. You must move forward across the floor but only an inch or two each time. This is for stamina, hip and leg strength, breathing and all the other good stuff.

8. Tora Buri. Begin in koshimi with the left foot forward, the sword is held with the tip to the rear, parallel to the floor and the edge held outward. Twist the right hip toward the front to unweight it as you did in Sasen, drive the right hip to the right side of the attack line as you use the turn of the left shoulder to swing the sword through the target. This is the movement that gave birth to the "sei do kai rope sword".

Remain with the right foot forward and move the sword to the rear on your left side to do the same movement on the left side of the attack line. In this case you must virtually connect your left hand to the right hip to pull the sword through the movement. This is difficult and you may wish to use the right hand to begin the sword movement with the same feeling as you had on the other side. As soon as possible connect the left hand with the right side of your body.

9. Amashi Uchi: It is a peculiarity of our club that we switch the last two kata of Tachi Seiho. For this kata we begin in hasso, the left foot forward. We then drop the left hand off of the hilt, move it down and backward as we move to the right front off the line. As our feet come together again the left hand comes back on the hilt and we then cut down using koshimi across the line. Make sure in this kihon that your forearms are parallel to the floor as is particular to our practice, it is the left forearm that our opponent is trying to cut.

The second version of this kihon is done by releasing the left hand from the hilt and carrying it directly back as you push your right hand directly forward so that you are in hitoemi (completely sideways) parallel to the attack line on its right side. Turn your hips back to face the attacker as you move back into hasso and then cut down in koshimi.

10. Ai Sen Uchi Dome. For this kihon we are working from the chudan position of awase, just after we have pulled back into the issoku itto position from the initial cut. We start with the right foot forward. Now remain low and drive from the left foot while pushing the hilt forward with the left hand, letting it rise naturally from the pivot of the shoulders. Cut down into koshimi while remaining directly on the line.

Next move back into the starting position, chudan, and then twist the hips slightly to load the front foot and drive off of that front foot, moving your left ahead into koshimi as you cut down.

Step through with the right foot to the starting position and repeat across the floor.

This completes the formal kihon exercises of our club. You will note that some of these kihon do not appear in the kata. Fine, don't do those if you don't want to but remember that it is more important to know what you're doing than to be a good robot.

Kim Taylor
Dec 26, 2016
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