Weight of Swords

I was once asked how today's practice of Martial Arts differed from Samurai's practice of years ago. In essence, my answer was :  "It's very simple : when I get on the ring to compete today, my life is not at stake. If I make a mistake, the consequences won't be catastrophic for myself, for my family, for my clan, my country..."

Here is a high speed camera compilation of the 8th All Japan Kendo Hachi-Dan (8th dan) Championship of 2010.

This is truly amazing, very high level and beautiful Kendo. 

But then, as you can see, in most cases, the strikes are almost simultaneous. The winner hits before his opponent hits him and so, in a real confrontation, both opponents would be cut.

They would both survive, or die, or only one would survive (probably crippled for a while or ever) and the other die.

If at the end of a fight both opponents die, or are left crippled, did anybody win ? 

If I want to win above all, I will do whatever it takes for this, including putting my own life at risk. Whereas if my goal is to NOT LOSE, then I will let my opponent take the risks. This makes the big difference between today's practice of Martial Arts as sports and their practice on the battle fields. 

Also, because of the emphasis on winning at all cost, weapons have been modified to allow for a much faster game. I do not think there is any way one could ever use a regular katana as fast as these shinai are used.

A 39" Kendo Shinai weighs between 1/3 and 1/2 the weight of a regular katana... If you wish to practice more in the spirit of samurai swordsmanship, you should try to use something heavier, it would slow down your practice, (unless you're a Jigen Ryu  student) and bring more realism and intensity to it.

This table summarizes the weights of various contemporary  swords, shinai, boken, iaito, katana...:

WEIGHT OF SWORDS

SWORD	Weight (lb)	Weight (g)	Seller
Regular Kendo Bamboo Shinai (39”)	1 lb 1oz	500 g
PAUL CHEN TSURU IAITO (29” blade)	2 lb	907 g
PAUL Chen Practical Pro Katana (29 ½" Blade)	3 lb	1360 g
Paul Chen Practical Pro Elite Katana (29” Blade)	2lb 13 oz	1276 g
Itto Ryu Bokuto (E Bogu) total length 39”	1 lb 5.6 oz	613 g	e-bogu
SHINAI SHAPE Bokken for Suburi total length 39”	1.85 lb	840 g	e-bogu
Suburi Bokken With Groove (Red)	2 lb 2.1 oz	968g	e-bogu
Suburi Shinai for Training Pieces 4	2.02 lb	915 g	e-bogu
Suburi Shinai for Training Pieces 6	2 lb 5.4 oz	1060 g	e-bogu

From different sources, it seems that an average katana blade of a 27 or 28" length would have weighted between 900 and 1100 g (2 to 2.2 lb). This is the weight of a bare blade without any koshirae (mountings : Tsuba, tsuka, etc...). A mounted blade (without the saya) would probably weight between between 1200 and 1400 g.

So if you want to practice in a more realistic way, you should : 

• get yourself a heavy 6 blades shinai, I know, at $ 75.00 it's a little pricey... 

 

• make sure when you cut your opponent, that you do it without putting yourself at any risk of being cut. (No Aiuchi)

Respectfully...
 

You are invited - Rohatsu Celebration

Rōhatsu (臘八) literally means 8th Day of the 12th Month. It is the Buddhist holiday that commemorates the day that the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautauma (Shakyamuni) experienced enlightenment.

Traditions agree that during that night, as the morning star rose in the sky in the early morning, Siddhartha finally found the answers he sought and became Enlightened, and experienced Nirvana. 

In Zen monasteries, Rohatsu is the last day of a week-long sesshin - an intensive meditation retreat dedicated to meditation. 

Although we'll be a little late, I would like to invite you all to meet next Sunday December 19 at 2:30 p.m. in Headland to celebrate Rohatsu by practicing meditation together. F

or those of you new to it, this will be the occasion to experience Zen in a true Dojo. For those of you who are familiar with Zen, please come support the Dojo through your presence. 

 

We will practice sitting and walking meditation, chant the Heart Sutra and discuss basics of Meditation. You don't have to be a Buddhist to attend ! 

The Dojo is located behind my home at 610 Mitchell Street, Headland, AL 36345. Tel (334) 798 1639

Commitment to the Group.

Once upon a time there was a famine  in Southern India, and in one particular village the poor had it very bad. 

The local Brahmin placed a small tank in the middle of the village and covered it with a piece of  wet fabric to keep it cool. He asked all the rich people of the village to bring a pot of milk during the day and pour it into the tank. In the evening he would call all the poor together and share the content of the tank between them. This would ensure that every one would have at least a little milk to drink.

All agreed to this. But in the evening, when the Brahmin called the poor and uncovered the tank, he found nothing in there but water. Each rich folk had thought : "The other rich folk will put in milk, so my pot of water won't make any difference" There was no milk given at all.

It is very easy  in a group to rely on others... 

If I am part of a Club, of a Martial Art Organization (Kai)  or of a Sangha, it is my responsibility to support it. When a tournament, a seminar, a class, a sesshin is organized, it is my responsibility to attend.

It is very easy to think that all the others will attend, and that because there are lots of them my being here or not won't make any difference. If everyone thinks and acts this way, the group goes down the drain.

YOSHUKAI Karate  - November 2008 - American, Japanese, German and French members attend a class presided by our Grand Master Kaicho Yamamoto (Center with Red Tie)

EVERY member of the group is fully responsible to put in his FULL quota of milk.

Kyosaku as a boken

This is another translation from French of a text by Taisen Deshimaru from his book "Zen et Vie Quotidienne" which I do not believe is available in English. I found this passage refreshing and absolutely hilarious. I wish I had been here to see him beat the hell out of the godo !
Actually, the Kyosaku - a stick used to hit the student to prevent him from falling asleep, at his request - looks like a lighter and straighter Boken...

I participated to a Sesshin at the Engakuji Temple in Kamakura. When I was in College, the Abbot of Engakuji Temple was also our Morals and Ethics Professor. He also was teaching Rinzai Zen at the School.

I went to that Sesshin. For one week, every morning, I got up a 2:00 a.m. and practiced Zazen until 6:00 a.m. In the evening, we could not go to sleep, we were sitting outside, and there were lots of Kyosaku strikes. My body was red !

It lasted 5 days, I had been patient, very patient… The next morning the Godo (head of the dojo) made a mistake. As he was half asleep he hit me right on top of the head. It made me really mad. I jumped up, grabbed his kyosaku and hit him with it. “I want to leave!”

In Rinzai Zen, one does not face the wall for Zazen, but faces each other. Everyone could see us fight. They stood up and tried to grab me. I was champion of Kendo back then. I hit everybody and said “This is not a real religion, this is pure violence !”

I escaped and ran to the Head of the temple who was asleep in his bedroom.

“I want to leave and quit Zazen”. I told him everything. He burst laughing :

“In the History of Zazen, you for sure are the only one who ever beat the Kyosaku bearer !!"

This is a famous story in Japan. Since then, Rinzai as well as Soto monks are afraid of me…