HASUJI, l'angle de la lame

Hasuji est l'angle de la lame durant notre coupe, entre le moment ou la lame entre et sort de la cible. En Iai et Kenjutsu, il importe de se concentrer là-dessus et pour s'assurer que l'on coupe bien avec le tranchant de la lame (ha) et non avec son cote (shinogi). 

 

Deux points permettent d’obtenir un Hasuji correct :

1. Le plan de la lame doit être le même que celui de la coupe.

 

2. l’angle de la coupe doit rester le même entre le point d'entrée et de sortie de la cible.

 

Lorsqu’on coupe avec un iaito ou shinken avec bo-hi (gorge sur le cote de la lame), si le hasuji n’est pas correct,on entendra pas le vent du sabre (tachikaze) lors de la coupe.

L’attention au Hasuji est un aspect important de la pratique du iaijutsu.

Nous ne pratiquons pas le iai dans un but guerrier, mais nous utilisons une arme uniquement conçue pour couper. Chaque coupe doit donc incarner une certaine réalité, démontrée dans notre attention particulière au hasuji. Sans cela, nous ne faisons qu’agiter notre sabre en ignorant l’aspect martial de notre discipline. Nous ferions aussi bien de faire tourner un bâton de majorette. 

 

"Don't choke the Boken."

En pratique, la facon dont on tient le sabre est primordiale: si on l'etrangle ou si on le tient trop mollement on obtiendra jamais un bon hasuji, 

 

On en revient au Te no Uchi.

Tameshigiri, la pratique de la coupe de rouleaux de paille de riz permet de tester le hasuji de nos coupes. 

Nous y reviendrons egalement... 

Masayuki Shimabukuro Hidenobu Hanshi

 

Un Maitre remarquable

Au cours des annees j'ai eu la chance et le privilege de rencontrer et d'etudier avec des maitres remarquables. 

Masayuki Shimabukuro Hanshi fut l'un d'entre eux. Je l'ai rencontre pour la premiere fois a Dothan en Alabama vers 2005. Il etait venu donner une demonstration de Iaijutsu durant notre camp d'ete de Yoshukai Karate. 

Je restai bouche bee...

Je commencai d'etudier le Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu (MJER) Iaijutsu le mois suivant  au Big Green Drum Dojo de Pensacola en Floride. 

 

Biographie de Shimabukuro Hanshi

Shimabukuro Hanshi nous a quitte bien trop tot, il y a deja pres de 10 ans. J'ai traduit sa biographie a partir du site officiel du KNBK, l'organisation en charge de l'instruction du MJER pour le monde en dehors du Japon. 

 

Masayuki Shimabukuro Hidenobu 21e Soshihan MJER (1948 -2012)

 

Masayuki Hidenobu Shimabukuro Hanshi est né en mars 1948 à Osaka, au Japon.

Il commenca l’etude des Arts Martiaux a l’adolescence avec le Judo, Karate-do, le Kobudo d’Okinawa et d’autres arts martiaux japonais traditionnels. Il obtint des grades de Dan dans plusieurs de ces disciplines avant de se concentrer plus specifiquement sur le Iaido (ou Iaijutsu), l'art du sabre des Samurai.

Shimabukuro Hanshi commenca l'etude du sabre en 1975 a Osaka, sous la supervision directe du 20ème grand maitre de Muso Jikiden Eishin-Ryu, Miura Takeyuki Hidefusa, Hanshi. Miura Hanshi le nomma Kokusai Bucho (président international) du Nippon Kobudo Jikishin-Kai en charge de faire connaître l’ecole Eishin-Ryu hors du Japon. De ce moment, Shimabukuro Sensei parcourut le monde pour enseigner le Iaido du Muso Jikiden Eishin-Ryu, le Jojutsu du ShindoMuso Ryu et d’autres arts martiaux traditionnels des samouraïs. Il mit en place des groupes d’etudes et des ecoles en Europe, en Amérique du Nord, en Amérique du Sud, en Amérique centrale, en Asie et en Australie.

Shimabukuro Sensei était l’eleve le plus ancien et le plus grade au sein du Nippon Kobudo Jikishin-Kai de Miura Sensei. Il était egalement un étudiant direct de Kenzo Mabuni, le grand maître de l’ecole de Karaté Shito Ryu.

Masayuki Shimabukuro a obtenu les rangs de 8ème Dan de Muso Jikiden Eishin-Ryu Iaido (Iaijutsu), 8ème Dan de Karate Shito-Ryu, 7ème Dan de Jojutsu Shindo Muso-Ryu et le titre convoité de Hanshi à la fois en Iaido et Karate-do. (Hanshi est le titre le plus élevé que l’on puisse atteindre dans les arts martiaux japonais traditionnels.)

Shimabukuro Hanshi était egalement representant officiel et directeur international et coordinateur des divisions Iaido et Battodo du Dai Nippon Butoku Kai. Il a également reçu Hachidan et Hanshi à Iai-faire par le Dai Nippon Butoku Kai et représentait la DNBK International pour enseigner l'art du sabre et du Budo à l'extérieur du Japon.

Grades et titres obtenus par Shimabukuro Hanshi

1963 - commence l’etude du Judo et Shorinji Kempo

1965 - commence l ‘etude du karate Shito-Ryu

1975 – commence l’etude du Iaijutsu du Muso Jikiden Eishin-Ryu Iaijutsu sous Miura Takeyuki, 20e grand maître de Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu

1975 – commence l’etude di Jojutsu du Shindo Muso-Ryu sous Miura Takeyuki Hidefusa

1990 - nommé President du Nippon Kobudo Jikishin-Kai, Intl. par Miura Takeyuki Hidefusa

1995 - Établit le Jikishin-Kai International

1999 - reçoit le 7eme Dan de Shindo Muso-Ryu Jo-Jutsu.

1999 - reçoit le 7eme Dan de Nippon Karate-do-Kai

2000 - reçoit le 8eme Dan de Muso Jikiden Eishin-Ryu Iaijutsu.

2002 - reçoit le titre de Hanshi du Muso Jikiden Eishin-Ryu Iaijutsu

2006 – Elu Instructeur d’Arts Martiaux de l’Annee du « Black Belt Hall of Fame »

2007 - reçoit le 8eme Dan de Karate par le Dai Nippon Butoku Kai

2007 - reçoit le titre de Hanshi du DAI NIPPON BUTOKU KAI en Karate.

2007 - Établit le et preside le Kokusai Nippon Budo Kai (KNBK) et devient le 21eme Soshihan (Grand'maitre) du MJER.

2008 - reçoit le 8eme Dan Iai-do du Dai Nippon Butoku Kai.

2008 - reçoit le titre de Hanshi Iai-do du Dai Nippon Butoku Kai.

2008 - nomine représentant de la division Internationalle de Iaido du DNBK

2008 - Nomine representant du Dai Nippon Butoku Kai aupres de l’etat de Californie

2013 - 23 mars, intronisé a titre postume au Pantheon du Dai Nippon Butoku Kai

Ouvrages ecrits par Shimabukuro Hanshi

• FlashingSteel
• Samurai Swordsmanship; Le Batto, Kenjutsu et Tamehigiri d'Eishin Ryu
• Katsu Jin Ken - LivingKarate

 

Shimabukuro & Long Hanshi demontrent un kata avance.

 

J'ai pratique et enseigne le Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu pendant plus de 15 ans aux Etats Unis, sous la direction de Shimabukuro Hanshi puis de son successeur Carl Long Hanshi. Rentre en France en Juillet 2021, j'espere pouvoir ouvrir en 2022 une classe de Iaijutsu pour continuer a enseigner l'art que mes maitres m'ont passe. 

Vous pouvez me retrouver sur les reseaux sociaux : 

Facebook Mokurai dojo

Twitter @mokuraidojo

Youtube Mokurai Dojo

3 reasons why you should not use a shinken.

In the past 16 month I have seen in 2 occasions some high ranking Karate people cut themselves with their swords. In Public. Fortunately, their cuts were superficial, no tendon or bone were cut. But the blood spilled in front of many people. 

 

This is unfortunate. Cutting yourself with your sword is akin to shooting yourself in the foot with your own gun. Would you trust a gun instructor who'd do that ?

Sharp swords – also called Live Blade or Shinken in Japanese – were designed to kill people swiftly and effortlessly. The only reason to use them is to practice Tameshigiri – actual cutting of targets. This is done in a particular environment, with strict safely guidelines.

They should not be used for Iaido which is normally practiced with Iaito. Iaito have the same geometry and shape than regular katana, they may be slightly lighter to prevent stress injury, and they are dull to avoid accident. They are designed for this purpose of safe practice.

If Japanese masters use them, so should you. 

For the following 3 reasons :

A dangerous fallacy.

I have heard many people say “I like to practice with a sharp sword, because it forces me to be more accurate.” Invariably, those people cut themselves. And it's just a matter of time before someone cuts someone else. So this is a fallacy, and a dangerous one.

A bad image of Yoshukai

Unless you know what you are doing, you will cut yourself, as long as it happens in private, it is your problem, but if it happens in public, you are displaying a poor image of Yoshukai in front of students or parents.

A serious liability

An other aspect of this is that when you bring to a room, a dojo or a beach a sharp sword and leave it unattended on the ground, you are in effect letting a dangerous weapon in the open for anyone to mess with. Would you leave a loaded gun laying on an open table in a picnic area ?

People, and children in particular, are curious and can be sneaky. If anyone would grab your sword and accidentally cut themselves, or wound or kill someone, you would likely be liable, as would probably be whoever organized the event or own the venue where it happened.

So if you don't have a sword, please purchase a Iaito, there are some good ones available at Cheness. If you already have a sharp sword, dull it. Use a grinder and take the sharp edge out of it or ask someone to do it for you. If you want to keep your sharp sword purchase a Iaito.

If you have questions about sword purchasing, please contact me at Frederic.lecut@gmail.com

Outdoor practice

Now that the polar vortex left us, is a perfect time for outdoor practice. 4 of us met at Kiesel Park in Auburn, AL on Sunday (April 13) morning and trained for 2 hours. 

Here Travis Page and Jim Robertson practice Tsukekomi, the second waza of the Tachi uchi no kurai set of MJER.

Tsukekomi - 01

Tsukekomi - 02

Tsukekomi - 03

I completed yesterday (December 21st) one of my goals for this year. I practiced each one of the MJER Shoden waza and Batto Ho waza 150 times - that is home practice and dos not include class practice. I also practiced Yoshukai Iai - the whole set - 120 times. The long term goal is to practice each waza 1000 times.

Katachi cannot be practiced solo, so far we are up to 350 times Ukenagashi Sono Ni, both parts. I certainly cannot say our execution is perfect, but it has improved a lot. When we first started, we would, maybe, get one acceptable waza each 20 or 30 repetition. Now there are times when I can perform properly 3 or 4 times in a row. 

How do I know they are good ? That's a good question. It feels good, it seems that the timing is good, the distance is good, the opponent's boken slides effortlessly on mine. Notice that I did not say it was perfect ! I am sure there will be things to improve, which I am not able to figure out by myself, and this is what seminars are about.

One thing I know is that our practice has improved, and that this is the only way to progress.

I practice 4 or 5 mornings per week - MJER Iai, Yoshukai Iai, then Zen, the whole thing takes about 1 1/2 hours. Some days I have to shorten it. 

We practice Katachi in class, usually Tuesday night for we have a 3 hours class. We only account for sets of 10. If you practice 3 times a waza, you don't really have the opportunity to improve it, so it does not count. We do 2 to 5 sets, each opponent does both Uchidachi and Shidachi part. It takes a while, but it is worth it. 

Practicing each waza 1000 times will take years, but we have time ! In 2014 I want to complete 150 of each Chuden and Okuden waza; for katachi: 1000 Ukenagashi Sono Ni - then we will switch to an other one, possibly Shinmyoken. 

What are your goals ? 

SHIN - GYO - SO

During the October 2013 KNBK seminar in Pensacola, Carl Long Sensei introduced us to the the Shin-Gyo-So practice forms of the Ono-Ha Itto Ryu Kiriotoshi

The words 'shin, gyo, so' come from the three ways of writing in Shodo (Calligraphy), 'kaisho (equivalent to shin), gyosho and sosho'. Shin is a formal non cursive form, Gyo a semi-cursive one, and So is the cursive form.

" 無 " - MU - Nothing - brushed in the 3 styles

In the Itto Ryu practice, the distance between opponents (Mai) and the target of the cut are different for each one of the 3 different ways: Shin (真), Gyo (行) , So (草).

	SHIN (真)	GYO ( 行 )	SO ( 草 )
MAI	Long	Medium	Short
TARGET	Solar plexus, Suigetsu (水月 )	Throat, Nodo ( 喉 )	Head, Men ( 面 )

Practice intensely and repeatedly...

 

Kenjutsu, Iajututsu, Kendo & Iaido

When I taught a Kenjutsu class at our Yoshukai Summer camp 4 students out of 15 showed up without any kind of sword...

Turns out a most students had no clue what Kenjutsu is about.

Let us try to clarify what Kendo, Kenjutsu, Iaido and Iaijutsu are.

Iaijutsu : Basically, Iaijutsu is about drawing your sword and cutting your opponent in one move. This is the intent. Ideally, your opponent is out on your draw (nukitsuke). As it is unlikely that he is fully dead, but more than likely wounded, you put an end to his misery with an additional move. It is also possible that you missed him on your first draw, or that this first draw was a purely defensive move needed to evade his attack. In that case, you proceed to other moves in order to get rid of your opponent. 

In a way Iaijutsu is more about duelling and street fighting.

The student of Iaijutsu generally performs moves by himself. It is somehow similar to Karate kata. It is important to supplement this training by actual practice with a partner, but at the beginning it is not necessary. 

Generally Iaijutsu is practiced with a Iaito : a blunt sword that allows safe practice by numerous students in a dojo.

Kenjutsu : In Kenjutsu you draw your sword and use it. This is more about battlefield combat.

The student of Kenjutsu immediately starts training with a partner.

Kenjutsu is usually practiced with a wooden boken. 

Iaido and Kendo are similar to Iaijutsu and Kenjutsu in their technical aspects. The techniques of Iaido are the techniques of Iaijutsu. The spirit of their practice is different. Whoever practices Jutsu is seeking technical mastery of the Art. Whoever studies Do is seeking self improvement through practice. However, this is not clear cut. The practice of Iaijutsu or Kenjutsu can also be a spiritual journey, and some senseless idiots practice Kendo.

	Kenjutsu / Kendo	Iaijutsu / Iaido
Practice	With partner	Solo
Type of fighting	Battle field	Street fighting
Training weapon	Wooden Boken / Bamboo Shinai	Blunt Iaito

Sometimes the term Batto-do or Batto-Jutsu is used to regroup the 2 disciplines under the same term.

There would be much more to say on this subject, but the point is simplicity. I apologize for the approximations. 

The next time you come to a Kenjutsu class, please bring a boken

About DO and JUTSU arts

I have heard repeatedly over the past few years people who believe that the JUTSU types of Martial arts are superior to the DO types, when it comes to actual usability in a real fight.

Such people will pretend for example, that Jujutsu is superior to Judo in an actual confrontation in the street, because the dangerous moves of Jujutsu were remove from Judo so it could be safely practiced in competition.

This is a fallacy. You may debate for hours what is the best car in the world, but if I have to go to town now, the best car in the world is my car. In case of a confrontation, the best martial art in the world is the one you know - IF YOU MASTER IT - because the is the only one you have...

One day a guy called and asked me if I taught Kendo or Kenjutsu. When I told him we practiced both at our dojo, he explained - at length - that he was only interested in Kenjutsu, because Kendo was a modern - therefore worthless - version of Kenjutsu. So I asked him where he had practiced before and he acknowledged the fact he never had, but had read a lot about the subject. I invited me to come to the dojo for a try.

Interestingly enough this guy never showed up for class ...

 

This is a very interesting video - it shows the Sensei demonstrating fast action Kendo. He is wearing no Bogu and his opponent attacks Men repeatedly. Watch the speed of his action, I don't think his opponent was able to touch him but once, the rest of the time, he hit his Do, Kote or Men, (*) or a combination of these. Obviously, these guys enjoyed this greatly, and I myself really enjoyed watching them. 

Some experts will say that this would not have been practiced by real samurai, that because the Shinai is longer than a real Katana, and that is has no curvature, too much practice with the Shinai would create bad habits that would kill you on the battle field. And there is some truth to this. It is said that Yamaoka Tesshu liked to practice with very short swords for this reason. 

It is also said that when Miyamoto Musashi had to fight the famous Sasaki Kojiro who was using a very long sword (the drying pole) he carved an even longer Boken out of an oar and beat him with it.

Watch carefully this video and ask yourself honestly, would you really feel comfortable with your real sword fighting this little yellow devil armed with a wooden Boken ? 

The best Martial Art is the one you master.

Merry Christmas to all

Terminology :  

Do, Kote and Men are approved targets in Kendo : they are the sides and front of the abdomen, the wrists, and the top of the head. 

A Bogu is the armour used in Kendo to spar.

A Shinai is the flexible bamboo sword used in the Kendo video.

A Boken is a wooden sword the size of a real Katana sword, also used in Kendo and Kenjutsu Training.

Terminology : Katana, Tō, Tsurugi and Ken

 

         The complexity of Japanese terminology is a constant source of aggravation and wonders... The same Character can very often be pronounced in very different ways (Also 2 different characters may have the same pronounciation...)  When it comes to sword, 2 words come back very often "To" and "Ken". 
They are found for example in Junto sono ichi (First waza of the Batto-ho set of MJER) and in Shinmyoken (9th waza of the Tachiuchi no Kurai set of MJER).
However, to make things even more complicated for us poor Gaijin, other words such as Katana and Tachi come up on a regular basis...

Let's try to clarify some of this :

The Character 刀 reads Katana in Japanese and Tō in Chinese. It is found in the Japanese words :

• Bokutō (木刀) : wooden Sword.
• Iaitō (居合刀) : sword to practice iaidō
• Nihontō (日本刀) : Japanese swords
• Battō-jutsu (抜刀術) : art of sword drawing

The Character 剣 reads Tsurugi in Japanese and Ken in Chinese. It is found in the Japanese words :

• Bokken ( 木剣) : wooden sword.
• Shinken (真⁠剣) : live (sharp) sword.
• Kendō (剣道) : way of the sword.
• Kenshi (剣士) : swordsman.

Originally 剣 (Chinese Ken; Japanese Tsurugi ) was used to designate a double-edged Sword, and 刀 (Chinese Tō; Japanese Katana ) a single-edged one. 

 

Character	Chinese	Japanese	Type of Sword
剣	Ken	Tsurugi	Double-edged
刀	Tō	Katana	Single-edged

 

 

Naginata - Tsurugi - Tanto - Uchi Katana- Tachi

Although the single-edged curved blade has been used in Japan for over a millennium, the usage of 刀 (Chinese tō ; Japanese katana - single edge sword), is much less common in pre-modern Japan (before the 1868 Meiji Restoration)  than the usage of 剣 (Chinese ken ; Japanese tsurugi - Double edged straight sword). Thus, in pre-modern Japan, swordsmanship was more often referred to as kenjutsu, kendō, kengi, gekken, and other terms rather than tōjutsu, tōhō, etc.

After the Meiji Restoration, the modernized variants of Japanese swordsmanship have been referred to exclusively with the character 剣 (ken ).

The Tsurugi  is the Japanese version of the Chinese Jian Sword - It was originally used in Japan until the Single-edged saber (Katana) was introduced around the 11th century. 

In this remarquable video, Masayaki Shimabukuro Hanshi and Carl Long Kyoshi demonstrate the details of the 2 waza Tsukikage and Suigetsuto. These kenjutsu waza are performed with a boken - a wooden sword. They are part of Tahiuchi no kurai set of the Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu school of Japanese Swordsmanship.

Carl Long Sensei  goes a very long way to explain all the details of these 2 techniques, how it's done, and why it's done that way. This is very important, too often, in Iaido, Karate or other Budo, you see people perform techniques in a way that may be at times elegant, but is also wrong, because they were never told (or they forgot) what these techniques really were about. When you get to that point, you don't do Martial Arts anymore, but a sort of aerobics... If you can remember the details exposed here, and try to practice keeping them in mind, you should improve your own technique.

This segment is part of a set of 3 DVD available on line.

Buy them, train with them

(don't just leave them on a shelf...)

Okuden Tachiwaza - Bangai no Bu

In this amazing video, Iwata Norikasu Hanshi demonstrates the Okuden Tachiwaza and Bangai no Bu sets of Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu school of Iaijutsu.

All waza are  demonstrated from several angles, and bunkai are provided for each one of them, seen from different angles, even from above when necessary..

Although  the comments are in Japanese, this is so well done that you pretty much understand everything.

Enjoy, train harder...

You can read a great Interview of Iwata Norikazu Sensei (also called Iwata Kenichi), who left us on January 1st, 2011. He was 97 years old.

Perfect Settings

I arrived this evening at the dojo, tired by a long and hot day of work, still sore from last night's somehow intense Karate class.

Fred and I began warming up with our Iaito : Kirioroshi, kesa giri, nukitsuke, and a few more basics

We switched to our boken, and brought Vlad in the game – 100 vertical cuts, then a few sets of waza against him..

We completed the class by practicing the Shodan sets of waza. By the end of the class, all my fatigue was gone !

While we were training, the rain finally decided to hit us !

I drove back home, had a sip of Rosé, changed cloth, walked to the Zendo. 

The night was fresh from the rain, the deck wet under my feet, tree frogs and other night creatures were humming in the darkness.

Drops of water falling from the  trees onto the metal roof. 

Ting, ting.

Just Perfect...