Nanseikan Kendo Club 剣道クラブ南西館

In the previous post I listed the various branches of Itto Ryu and asked you to consider the similarities between their use of the sword and Kendo. Sometimes when one becomes used to a certain way of doing things, one can fall into the trap of thinking that is the only, or maybe the best, way of doing things. In learning iai kata of Tatsumi Ryu, we are trying to break out of that thinking by exposing ourselves to a system devised long before even the Itto Ryu was founded. This means that there are some fundamental differences in how the sword is used.  In these posts I am mostly interested in the differences in how to swing the sword. In Kendo, and indeed in most of the styles of iaido practiced today, the fundamental cutting action is a straight up-and-down action often referred to as kirioroshi , cutting through or cutting down. In Tatsumi Ryu, the characteristic action where the sword first goes through a circular backswing before cutting downwards is called kowauchi , or 'power...

This is a fantastic old film of one of the greats of Judo, Mifune Kyuzo sensei (10th dan).  If only there were as comprehensive film records of the greats of Kendo like Mochida, Ogawa, Saito et al. Even though I'm no Judo man, it's great to see Mifune's softness, "like an empty jacket" as one of the commenters puts it. I have no doubt that any of his challengers would put me flat on the mat in a heartbeat! The other thing I find astounding is the range of ways that Mifune disrupts his opponents' attacks. If you watch this on Youtube and see the links you might be tempted to watch some modern videos from the IJF. If you do, you'll see amazing athleticism, but be warned you'll also see such awful reiho that your eyes will bleed.