Jodo seminar notes Nov 2016

General

There are only two kamae in jo, yaya and ma hanmi, no others. [They also came back to this point later to clarify that it's the hips that are only ever in yaya or mahanmi.  There are other positions for the feet.]

Use the line. Jo stays on the centerline, especially for honte uchi and hiki otoshi uchi. The jo stays on the same plane as the tachi so chase the tachi back.

The jo “is” the centerline.

You only remember what you feel.

Precision and determination. Sharp moves with jo.

Your posture is your defence.

In seitei the feet stay on the line. [They seemed to be making the point that the jo stays on the line, and the feet and body move to keep it there.  In some cases it amounts to the same thing.]

Grip, fingers are pointing in the direction of the jo strike or at the floor. With this grip the jo can only strike down to the knee, no further.

Use the hips to avoid the cut always, yaya or ma hanmi.

Move from the hips, not from your feet or your arms. The feet follow the hips. The jo follows the hips.

Ma hanmi is to avoid getting beeru (hara) cut off, turn your side on to tachi because there is no fat behind you.  [This was mentioned in reference to the Fukuoka koryu version of Monomi, to explain why they turn in to the cut.]

Kiai for jo is iei, for tachi is ei. Because of the longer path for jo strikes.

There are many possibilities at each point in kata. Think about them. [You should be in a position where you can move in many directions.  Don't lock yourself into one path of movement.]

The Japanese teach a kata, you must find and fill in the meanings. Westerners teach more from basics to build up. Kata is the book, the story, we must understand all the points in the story. That is the function of kihon.

Keep an open mind, there are many correct ways. Seitei is standardized so everyone all over the world can practice together but the kata are not fully described. This is so you can find your own way.

On thrusts downward, do so at 45 degrees. The floor is a line, tachi standing upright is a line, pin him to the floor like a butterfly with the jo at 45 degrees. [He also mentioned that jodo is a study of physics, and that a 45 degree line is the strongest line.]

Both sides must stay just out of range of the other weapon when moving. This is proper maai. [They mentioned the range of the weapon without moving.  By moving just outside this distance, it forces the other side to do something in order to attack or defend.  If the other side doesn't move far enough, the response should be tsuki.]

When teaching, link the kihon with the kata to make it clear that kihon are in the kata. (This is how the seminar was taught, an alternation between kihon and kata).

As the seitei kata get higher numbers, they are more difficult so they are assigned to the higher grades.

Watch your elbows, use the arms to protect the sides.

The jo strikes in seitei are vertical. [The emphasis was more that they stay in the same vertical plane, so don't swing the jo to the sides when doing things like honte uchi or gyakute uchi.  Rather try and keep the same angle as in kamae.]

All strikes should be made as if they are going to move all the way down. Strikes that finish high should not be slowing down before they stop.

All of jo is a thrust. We only do other things when we can’t thrust so you must always think of thrusting.

<Don't drive your hips too far forward relative to your feet in any of the stances - the front knee can be over the ball of your foot, but no further>.

<Stances shouldn't be too wide, where "width" is the distance perpendicular to jo's the centerline. Same width as tsune no kamae seems about right. Also, stances of the visiting sensei seemed a bit longer than what we normally do - "length" being the distance parallel to the centerline.>

Tachi

Tachi is one fist width from the hips for seitei. [This is the left hand, and for chudan.  They mentioned koryu chudan is a bit further forward to match the length of the jo.]

The kata is done, over, on the very first response from the jo, the rest of the kata is teaching.

<Kata start when the partners begin moving towards each other, and coming into range at the beginning is the most dangerous moment of the kata>

Tachi always comes back on the line to attack jo once more. [Tachi side should remember that they are the motodachi, the teaching side.  The jo side doesn't learn anything if the tachi moves to the wrong place.]

The tachi distance is out of jo thrust range and in katate men distance.

Tachi should never think of the next move, but always think of tsuki.

[Tachi side is very important.  "If the sword side is false/wrong, the jo side will be false/wrong".]

1. Honte uchi

Start with the jo on the line. Step to the right into the kamae and onto the line, keep the jo on the line. Especially keep the tip on the line. When you are in yaya hanmi the jo can be over the line.

When taking kamae push the jo up to the right hand, don't pull the right hand back when taking the 1/4 jo grip on kamae. Do this motion all in one, don’t make it a two part movement.

Beginners, measure the forearm to find the correct grip. Seniors, understand the distance, you only have 4 inches more than the sword length. Adjust your grip to reflect what you are doing to maintain a strong position.

Pull the jo back using the back hand only and keep the jo on the line. Take the back thumb off first, then move the hand. Open the chest and use the back muscles. [They also mentioned using the shoulder to drive the hand, which leads to using the chest and back muscles to drive the shoulder.]

(Honte no kamae - back hand is one fist away from hips, same as tachi)

Keep seme. Don't fade back when moving the jo back. Show determination.

Don’t cover the josaki at the front, it should be a threat to tachi.

Turn the jo inside the hands, don’t wiggle the fingers around. Move the jo on the plane, on the centerline as you move it up and over.

The front foot goes to either side of the line as you strike, the back foot is always on the line. [The way he was demonstrating it, it looked like he was driving the front foot along the line, and turning the back toes out using the hip twist, which maintained the centre line and avoided twisting around to strike.  More than a few times they corrected people to drive straight in on an attack instead of turning to attack.]

<Honte no kamae - back hand is one fist away from the hips, same as tachi>

2. Gyakute uchi

Keep the fingers pointing in the strike direction. The little finger grips on the forward hand. Back fingers or little fingers, different hanshi use either.

Slide your hands on the jo as you strike, keep the jo on the same plane, so relax the elbow as you bring it over to strike. [They also mentioned that the hand shouldn't stop sliding in the transition, which means don't slide, then move, then slide again; it should all be happening together.]

Drive the gyaku hand in a spiral to get the little finger onto it. Point the fingers in the direction of the strike.

Maintain the plane of movement.

Honte uchi and Gyakute uchi can be done as per kendo suburi. Repeated strikes forward and back to face and down to horizontal. Tire yourself out so that you become more efficient in your movements.

<When doing suburi with the jo, if feet come together, hips are in ya ya hanmi - not square>

<Gyakute no kamae - back hand is again one fist away from the hips>

3. Hiki otoshi uchi

Beginners are told to turn their shoulders to find ma hanmi, advanced students can turn their hips. [The point was more that beginners have to be shown to move both shoulders and hips together 90 degrees from the front, since they don't understand how to move them separately.  More advanced students are able to keep their shoulders at 45ish degrees while turning their hips to 90 degrees, which would be why we see hachidan with more open stances that what is taught.]

Drop the josaki (tip) to tachi’s eyes before / as you are pulling the jo back. If you leave it on the same plane you will end up not aiming at tachi, you will lose seme.

The feet are like honte uchi, keep the front foot facing forward.

Keep the jo on the line, if you drop the tip of the jo down at the rear it hits the line.

Drive the front knee forward to open hips to turn to ma hanmi. The front knee should be just over the ball of foot, not further forward. So start with an upright posture. [They also made the point that you replace the threat of the jo saki with the threatening posture of the knee. The shifting of the weight facilitates the forward movement, but also lets you move back if you need to.]

The knee must stay pointed at tachi, just like in tsuka ate of seitei iai.

One handed partner exercise; Take the hiki otoshi no kamae. Close the front hand from the index finger to the little finger in turn, let the jo go up and over on the same plane and strike down like honte uchi but turn the hips later to meet the tachi at the tip. Slide all the way down the sword.

Close the hand index to little finger but the strike is done with the little finger. The strike should only go down to knee height if you have a proper grip. If the back hand turns upward the jo can go further down.

Front foot stays pointing forward, the rear foot turns on taking ma hanmi. Don’t lose your determination, don’t fade back.

Bring the jo back sharply, don't expose your forward wrists to a strike.

If one side is better than the other, use the feeling of the strong side to make the weak side feel the same as the strong side.

Tachi receives hiki otoshi uchi with the hands coming back to the body and square forward in order not to lose the sword or to open up for further attack.

Two handed partner exercise: Beginners should set the jo, then cut to position with the tachi. Jo should try to strike as soon as tachi gets to the right position. For advanced students, tachi tries to cut jo's front hand after recovering from the strike. Jo must bring his weapon back sharply to avoid getting hit. <Jo steps back in two small steps, tachi cuts after the first step>

Exercises for first three kihon: Strike forward, back, two forward and two back, to the eyes and all the way down to the knee. Combine all variations.

Exercise: Honte, Gyakute and Hiki Otoshi Uchi on the spot. Start and strike with the feet together, then take the other leg back as you pull the jo back. Turn the hips into yaya hanmi as you bring the feet together. This means that the jo comes back on the line. This can also be done in gyakute hiki otoshi uchi which is the “ai uchi” movement of 11 and 12.

4. Kaeshi Tsuki

Keep the jo on the line. Move the thumb of the rear hand out of the way first.

Don't rock back as you switch the ends.

Move across the centerline as you turn the jo over, change sides with your hip not with the step.

Project your voice in kiai, our pronunciation is good but no sharpness. oO not Oo.

Turn the front foot out a bit on the kaeshi, what is most important is to keep the jo on line. [Let the hips drive the feet] <Hips come to ma hanmi when the jo is set to thrust, then to ya ya hanmi at the end of the thrust>

5. Gyakute tsuki

The hip positions for the movement are yaya, ma, yaya, yaya, yaya don't open up to ma hanmi after the thrust.

The little finger of the front hand grips as you complete the thrust. [They mentioned this was what one sensei had shown them and that they liked doing.  They've also seen sensei that tighten on the index finger.]

Don't over reach. A higher back hand will pin him better.  [If you draw a line from the jo through the tachi to the floor, it should end about a metre to a metre and a half away from tachi at a 45 degree angle as opposed to a lower angled line that ends several metres away.  You want to pin tachi in place, not push him back.]

6. Maki Otoshi

We don't see this kihon until kata 11, but the kihon is here, why? It’s a good place to study the jo moving the sword.

When you take the maki otoshi stance you are in yaya hanmi, so the jo is angled back, don’t go into this position with the hips square.

<The position of right elbow in the maki otoshi stance was described as similar to tachi's "fade back" position in Ukan in the koryu Omote set>

Catch the sword early and draw the jo upward and toward the tip before snapping the sword away.

Align the wrists and the jo.

Exercise: With a partner do a series of repeated tachi thrusts from awase and maki otoshi. This takes the feet out of it and you can concentrate on hands only. [The thrust should be to just in front of the face to replicate the distance of the jo moving backwards.  With beginners, you can thrust just above their heads if they struggle with the thrust to the face.]

Make sure to the keep hands just out of range of a sword cut.

7. Kuri tsuke

Step toward tachi’s right foot to trap. Move him down that line, don’t make pre-moves with the jo. Don’t try to take him too high or too low, he will escape. Find the line he can’t escape.

Hips move in a straight line, the jo circles.

Hands should move in the fastest, most direct way up overhead, so move them up, close to body.

Yaya hanmi at the pin at the waist. Both sides remain upright. All four feet should be on the same line.  [When they were reviewing hissage, sensei demonstrated ma hanmi for the pin, so that you have room to move to yaya hanmi on the thrust.  Other sensei have shown yaya hanmi at the pin.]

8. Kuri Hanashi

This kihon is straight down the line but in kata  the movement of the feet is the same as kuri tsuke. The sword is taken back behind tachi’s body. [They made a distinction in the foot position between kuri tsuke, tai atari and kuri hanashi.  For kuri tsuke you step in like you're going to step on tachi's front foot.  For tai atari, you re-centre, then step for tachi's back foot. And for kuri hanashi, you step in just outside of tachi's front foot.]

Exercise: Do this kihon with the same footwork as kuri tsuke.

9. Tai Atari

Jo’s feet line up with tachi’s feet before the strike.

This is a short sharp movement to push tachi back.

When moving in front of tachi, move the back hand directly down to suigetsu, don't collapse the elbow.

10. Tsuki hazushi uchi

Pay attention to the line.

Yaya and ma hanmi are the only stances for the jo.

11. Do Barai Uchi

Don't hang the hands out there to be cut on the first movement back.

Don’t pull the arms back too far, the right hand should be roughly in front of the right shoulder.

The jo moves through a line of about 45 degrees from vertical on the way back.

Similarly, the block is set with the jo at 45 degrees from vertical and for seitei is parallel to the line. The upper hand position is not too important. [I think the point was more that the back hand is a function of the angle of the jo.  Different people will have different hand positions when the jo is at 45 degrees.]

The tachi cut is to the front hip. Use a mark on the floor to show beginners how the movement back should happen.

After the block the jo fades back toward body before the strike down. This is to avoid being cut on the wrists.

12. Tai hazushi uchi.

We didn’t do it.

Kata:

1. Tsuki Zue

Tachi should cut the head and the hand at the same time, don’t hesitate during the cut, don’t keep the hands too high as you cut or jo will thrust or strike you in the fork.

Jo should move back from the hips, not the foot, and move only just off the line into yaya hanmi.

Move slowly, keep your options open for alternative attacks. If you move fast there is only one possible action.

Keep a straight back, take the tip of the jo off the floor rather than lean over. The right hand should be high on your hip. [They were also showing this idea of grabbing the jo with both hands as you pull back, as part of the first point above.  You should be ready to just strike the tachi from below or do tsuki if they hesitate.]

Don’t move very far off the line, wait for the last moment to move back or tachi will follow.

Make the distance (maai) the jo distance, not the tachi distance as you move back.

When you move back you are actually moving forward. Determination, intent, ki musubi (match your energy to tachi’s).

Circle the jo to make the strike unclear to tachi, straight up means only one possible attack.

Strike down the centerline. The wrist is locked by a thrust, not by a strike, ie think thrust to center rather than push down to hold tachi in place. [Keep an inch or two between the jo saki and the body.  It's a thrust feeling, but you still need to keep space to have an effective thrust afterwards, if it becomes necessary.]

When tachi moves back jo can’t thrust but tachi can cut jo’s wrist. Jo must be ready as tachi goes back. So seme on the entire movement to the final strike.

Tachi moves back just enough to get out of thrust range, but he sees that jo is ready so tachi moves just a bit further back.

The strike is to the forearm, not on the wrist bone.

Jo must exhibit zanshin at all times.

1, 2, 4 kata each come a bit further off the original line. [The sword goes back along the centre line as defined by the jo.  Since the jo is in slightly different places in these katas, the tachi moves to different places.]

2. Suigetsu

Do not hit with the front foot, get offline with the front foot, thrust on the movement of the back foot. Do not remove the target as you move the front foot or tachi will track you.

Jo should move straight back on the jo line

Tachi aims the kissaki at the jo rather than at jo’s head on hiki otoshi uchi. The jo is always on the line.

3. Hissage

The initial position is ma hanmi, the same as all others in the set, don’t take a different stance.

Keep the jo on line as you turn and drop the upper end at tachi. Pay attention to where the feet are on the switch to gyakute kamae. Keep the jo on the line, shift the feet across the line as appropriate.

When tachi advances, shift back on the attack line.

To receive in kuri tsuke, align the wrists correctly. A higher back hand makes it easier to move tachi.

Tachi is the teaching side, after the lock down, move onto the jo line at the proper distance.

The final thrust after kuri tsuke is sharp and firm, not a lazy shove.

4. Shamen

Grasp and move right foot at same time, not separately. <Keep the right wrist off the line and out of range to avoid kote strike>

Don't take the target offline on the first foot movement which is the same as for suigetsu.

5. Sakan

Move back to the correct distance, out of range of the tachi but in range to strike with the jo.

Jo hasso is square to the front.

6. Monomi

Move the hip and grasp the jo at the same time but don’t move the target offline until tachi is cutting down and committed to the strike.

On the kaeshi tsuki bring the jo up on a plane, so aimed at tachi.

7. Kasumi

Keep the left hand down to close a suki at the left armpit.

Have a feeling of striking gyakute uchi as you meet the sword.

8. Tachi otoshi

Don’t move too far to the left side with the right foot. The idea is to get off the attack line, not to run away. As you step across you should press the right shoulder forward to get off tachi's line. [Also move into a position where it feels like you're hiding the jo from tachi.]

Strike down properly with gyakute uchi on the attack line, yaya hanmi.

Tachi should catch the jo as per maki otoshi, catch the jo deep and then slide up toward the tip. Tachi will turn the hips to turn the sword and cut straight down. [Move straight in to cut, don't cut as you're turning.]

[There was a point about the gyakute uchi and the tachi's block that I'm not sure if I translated right.  They talked about have a feeling after the gyakute of pressure on the sword and then releasing that pressure, which gives tachi the ability to cut.  In this way, jo knows exactly when the cut is coming.  This was related to the idea about the strikes having enough force and momentum to go down to the knee if your tenouchi didn't stop it.  You hit in such a way that tachi can't really cut until jo releases the pressure.  This moment doesn't last very long though.]

The initial movement of the kuri tsuke is to relax the arms toward body as per do barai uchi kihon. This is to protect your wrists from a strike. Aim for tachi’s elbow. You must see tachi’s elbow to catch his arms. [I think a more accurate translation of this last point was "Targeting the elbow is the only way you'll be able to catch the wrist."]

Lock the arms down with kuri tsuke on the line, then move the josaki past tachi’s face as you turn it over in kaeshi tsuki. 

<After kuri tsuke, jo executes kaeshi tsuki quickly and sharply, followed by a sharp hiki otoshi uchi>

9. Rai Uchi

Keep the jo on the line for the first thrust to suigetsu.

Keep the jo on the line as you move your hips onto the other side of the line for the strike into waki bara.

Tachi strikes off the line for the first cut to the shoulder, then he moves back and cuts down the line on the second. Jo lifts the left arm straight up which moves tachi’s target about 6 inches further. By the time he gets there jo should be somewhere else.

Pin tachi down at 45 degrees on the thrusts to prevent any movement forward or up.

10. Seigan

Tachi is to draw and cut from the second step, so don't pose with the sword or the jo. [The point was more in iaido we grasp on the second step and cut on the third step, while in jo we grasp and cut on the third step.  Or at least that's tachi's intention until the jo shuts them down.

Jo must prevent the draw and cut with a thrust toward the face and then down to the wrist as per tachi otoshi.

Make a fast gyakute tsuki as tachi starts to open the sword to the side.

<The tachi cut is direct and comes along the shortest path, looking very similar to downward cut in seitei iai Kesa Giri. If I understood correctly, sensei made a point that there was no single correct position for tachi to start cutting from.  However, if the tachi's right hand comes too far back as he steps back to avoid gyakute tsuki, the cut takes longer, giving the jo more time to do something.>

Pull both hands apart and fade the jo back toward the body as you drop the jo downward to avoid the wrist strike. Then move the jo up to jo hasso, square on

The final strike is quite vertical, not from the side. Tachi should not turn very far to the side.

11. Midare Dome

Begin as per Hissage.

<When one of the sensei demonstrated the gyakute no kamae position relative the centerline, it looked like tachi started with both feet to the right of the line, instead of straddling it:

line
  |
  |  |   - right foot
  |
  |
  |\     - left foot
  |

>

Strike down tachi as per hiki otoshi uchi.

On the ai uchi movement finish it with the hips already to the side in yaya hanmi, not square. The jo is on the line, hips off the line.

The open position with the jo is square to tachi. When doing tai atari move the right foot forward and the left into ma hanmi, then step into yaya hanmi with the left foot forward to drive tachi back.

The rest is hiki otoshi uchi.

12. Ran Ai

The first thrust and setting of the jo is firm, don't just wander in, don't thrust weakly.

On the first kuri tsuke, compare seitei to koryu where you move the left shoulder off the line as if coming in to hit the face with your rear hand, the front hand only at the end of the jo to prevent knocking your partner's teeth out. Seitei does not come in this far but the feeling should be the same.  [They also talked about the timing and feeling to get to here.  Tachi draws out and behind, jo moves back to nissoku no ito maai.  The tachi decides to move two steps to cut for the head and as tachi reaches issoku no ito maai, the jo steps in which shortens the distance to half a step and forces sword to readjust to cut the wrist.  As the cut comes in, jo turns off the line and catches the sword near the end of the jo.  When jo side turns, keep the jo under the arm, don't let the jo wander.  Then bring the jo up from underneath once at 90 degrees to tachi.]

The pin down means that tachi must move back off the line, the jo takes the line.

Move with tachi a bit backward, then, not feet together but turn the hips like kaeshi tsuki. After that step back with the right foot and thrust waki bara in a modified do barai uchi. See if this works for you. [Sensei mentioned that this point is not in the book, it's just what he does.]

This hidari hasso is not high for tachi, not as high as the hidari hasso for the final do barai movement.  [They weren't really doing hidari hasso at this point, it was just pull the arms out at mid chest height and cut from there towards jo's back.  It was a fairly continuous movement.]

Keep seme with the josaki as you move back to break the contact. Keep ki musubi with tachi.

Ai uchi and strike, feet together but hips yaya hanmi. This is the gyakute hiki otoshi uchi exercise.

After the ai uchi strike the jo is flipped on the line and the tachi is struck away.

As tachi comes back in to cut, the jo moves up on the line as shijo gets out of the way to the left side of the line.

Pin tachi down at 45 degrees with the thrust to waki bara.

Jo strikes, tachi catches the jo and pushes, when jo avoids the yoko giri, don't stop at the top, bring the jo immediately down to a thrust to waki bara.

Kuri hanashi, avoid the return sword strike on your hand and take center again with a deep awase on the second step. Thus the first thrust makes tachi move back quickly. (Let’s call this thrust and strike “push and roll”)

<In the "do barai" portion of the kata, tachi cuts from "left hasso" - I'm not sure if "hasso hidari" is the appropriate term for it.>

Do barai, strike down to the head or onto the hands in seitei. Do not lean in and try to catch everything, stay upright.

The final strike to the side with the jo is firm, not suriagi men. Strike the tachi near the tsuba to make it move aside, jo stays there a moment before coming back to jo hasso. [It wasn't so much that the jo stays there a moment before coming back, he was just doing that to demonstrate when the jo should hit the sword.  Most people were pulling their bodies back as they tried to hit the sword which was resulting in a weak hit and tachi could come back in.  The hit should be with the jo forward without moving the body, then go back into jo hasso.] 

Shinto Ryu:

Ai Sui Sa and Yu

(These were likely done to demonstrate the roll part of the “push and roll” movement in Ran Ai.)

<I think Ai Sui Yu was also meant to introduce the "left hasso", and get people used to cutting from it. Sensei corrected people to make sure their hasuji was correct and the ha pointed at the opponent.>

Tachi higher, feet together,

Awase, then shift back to feet together. Step forward with left or right and cut on second step

Rotate sword in right hand to strike under and over wrist. [One thing sensei was demonstrating for the shidachi side was to keep the right hand relaxed, then use the left thumb to push down the handle to bring the sword back, then as it turns, use the left palm to help it along and finally use the left little finger to cut. I think part of the reason sensei did this exercise was to help people relax their grip.]

[When uchidachi goes into jodan, they should be going back with the feeling of cutting shidachi's head or shoulders with a big cut as they move backwards.  Shidachi needs to move in with a feeling of controlling the left wrist before uchidachi can complete this movement.  This is another example of why it's important to have the weapons moving in the same plane, and not swinging sideways.]

Drop the sword down sort of but not the same as chiburi, uchidachi shifts/steps back, shidachi drops or steps forward to drop. Heroic pose

Hands together, feet together. Hands are a bit higher than seitei, left hand turned in slightly (thumb toward belly).

Additional points:

3> Hissage  "When tachi advances, shift back on the attack line" ADD ' To do this, pull the jo back FIRST, then move your body.  Don't slur these two things together'

12> Ran Ai  : Just prior to the final cut from Tachi, the shidachi moves the joseki (which is on the floor) off the line to provide an opening that Tachi can advance into.

AND KIHON

7) Kuri Tsuke

There are 5 levels of the timing for this (and rationally the other 2 like it) kihon.  We were told we were attempting level 4 without mastering levels 1,2,3 first.

I'll need someone to check the video to describe the timings of 1,2,3,and 4 - level 5 was not shown.

Eric