I’m falling into my previous trap of using roman numerals, but I’m hoping to be done with this part before I run out of numerals I recognize.
Most of you will be interested in Kendo style, so I’ll approach this first. Remember, there’s many ryu of Kendo. Most are similar, but there are a few with differences.
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SAFETY WARNING – swords are dangerous. DO NOT TRY these techniques with a sharpened blade unless you are undergoing supervision by a qualified instructor. Cheap swords are prone to breaking and causing serious injury to the practitioner merely by cutting in the air. A simple cut with a sword can lead to massive blood loss and death. BE CAREFUL. If you have never gotten good supervision, give up on the idea of a sharpened sword and get a DEMONSTRATION sword instead to practice with.
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Drawing the sword has an art form, and a great deal of emphasis is put on this art. It is often done kneeling. Why? Good question. It seems most Samurai met in combat in a sneak attack while in a neutral place, and often while talking. Changes in posture heralded the attack, and the Samurai often didn’t spend any time in fencing – who cut first, lived.
Some ryu almost never teach kneeling sword drawing. And of course, in almost every ryu, you’re expected to learn the exact words for the action of drawing the sword. Sometimes the first person to draw would stop with the sword halfway out. If you were about to ambush Ishizaka and grabbed the hilt of your Katana – you’d stop immediately if he had his sword halfway out by the time your hand touches the hilt of your sword.
Other times, the Samurai wouldn’t hesitate and would simply kill the person about to perform the treacherous attack.
For standing, one draws the sword, and immediately steps forward in a manner known as irimi, or “entering”. As you step forward, you’d take a Kamae (stance), usually Chudan No Kamae, as addressed earlier.
An amusing scene from the Seven Samurai is the Jodan stance that the younger samurai takes while holding a stick. His job is to smack the first Samurai who enters on the head. The younger Samurai assumes a spot on perfect Jodan No Kamae stance, to smack the Samurai in the head with the stick!
If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you’ll note that the cast of the Seven Samurai also were filming Godzilla at roughly the same time.
So, your Samurai or your Jedi steps into Chudan No Kamae, sword tip pointed at his opponents’ throat. The Opponent chooses his kamae at the same time.
What happens next is a battle of wills. Eyes lock. Wills struggle. People scatter to avoid being part of it.
And the Protagonist steps forward rapidly, the blade lifting up, and slicing DOWN at the antagonist. This is called Fumikomi, and when you step forward, the FLAT of your foot hits the ground. It should SLAM loudly when you cut.
The battle’s over when the first cut is made. Death the result.
Light sabers apparently can block with the cutting edge.
Katanas usually cannot.
The sharp edge of the katana is folded into the spine of the blade, which is more rigid and strong. The sharp edge is usually far softer than the spine. To block with the cutting edge of most Katana will leave you with the lower two thirds of your katana in your hands, and probably the upper third lying on the ground.
Your opponent will look at his blade, then at yours. He will most likely bow, and walk away as you both gingerly pick up the remains of your blades and take them to a sword smith to be repaired. Or more likely, buy another Katana.
The best Katana are made very rigid and strong. And the research I’ve been doing lately tells me that modern Katana manufacturers, using modern steel, can make a blade that is like a sharpened crowbar. You can do a movie type sword fight with a modern katana (the kind you pay thousands for), and all it will require is sharpening of the blade to effect repairs.
If you try this with a $60 Katana, both you and the other person will die from sword fragments that fly up when both swords shatter. See the warning above.
Blocking was not usually done in sword fighting. There wasn’t time. It was whoever cut first won. Miyamoto Musashi was known as a strategist. But his first duel at 13 years old was against a seasoned Samurai. Musashi should have died. But his reaction was to draw first, rush in recklessly and cut first. He then simply hacked his opponent to death instead of dispatching the normal way.
When blocking WAS done, in many cases it was with the flat of the blade. Kendo assumes one is fighting with the best quality katana, so often they do teach blocking with the blade.
One of the most important lessons in Kendo is this – the opponent sees fear and flinching. I’ve been in a Karate dojo, and literally had someone run off line to avoid my attack merely from the look in my eyes. As you flinch, you open up everything to attack. In Kendo, you lean rapidly to let go of fear.
Failure to do so means immediate loss.
Of your head.
