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Quick update – I’ve realised there have been a few problems with the blog feed recently. These problems should now be fixed. If you tried to subscribe but were unable, please try again. If you are already subscribed, updates should now work again.

Apologies for the downtime.

Oroshi

The following sequence of photos shows the start of the Eishin-ryu waza Oroshi, as demonstrated by my iaido teacher.

These photos were taken during the hachidan enbu at the All Japan Iaido Taikai.

44th All Japan Iaido Taikai – Results

I was at the Zen Nihon Iaido Taikai in Shimabara yesterday. As my prefecture was playing host to the event this year, I was working as a staff member. This meant I couldn’t see the entire event, nor take photos or video of most of it, but regardless it was a great experience.

The results this year are as follows.

5 Dan Division

First place: Shosuke Hirose, Nagasaki.
Note: this is the second year running Hirose sensei has won the title. This year he won every round with three flags.

Second place: Tsuneyuki Imai, Niigata.

6 Dan Division

First place: Takuji Yamasaki, Shizuoka.
Second place: Shinobu Takagi, Nagasaki.

7 Dan Division

First place: Kazuki Morishima, Kanagawa.
Second place: Kazuhiro Tsukimi, Nagasaki.

Because of their placement in all three finals, Nagasaki took first place in teams.

The shiai was followed by enbu from around 90 eighth dan and two ninth dan sensei. It was an awe-inspiring sight, especially at the very end when two of the very few remaining ninth dan in the world demonstrated in the middle of the huge hall.

Here are some photos from the event. Some video may follow if I can get the camera to talk to my computer.

Hakama tying

As I recently took delivery of new hakama, I thought I’d rustle up a short post about tying them. I learned to tie hakama for the first time when I joined the university iaido club at Kobe. I didn’t learn by tying my own, though; I first learned to tie my sensei’s. Folding and tying hakama was a nightmare for me at first, but now it’s second nature. Occasionally I’m reminded though of how tricky it once was.

Recently I visited a high school where a friend of mine teaches kendo. After the keiko the students insisted on folding the hakama of the adults in the dojo. The pupil who folded my hakama meant well, but clearly didn’t know how to do it properly. His attempt reminded me of how I approached folding hakama when I started – rather messy and slapdash (the Japanese word 適当 springs to mind). I ended up showing him how to fold them correctly, first neatly lining up the pleats and then folding the hakama in thirds. After folding them up, I showed him how to tie the himo with my preferred method, shusse musubi (出世結び). Below is a brief guide to how I do it.

Shusse Musubi (出世結び)

1: Start by folding the long himo in on themselves twice, so they are a quarter of their original length. Place the himo in a cross shape as above.

No Rush

I was recently shown a rather lovely shinken. It was 2.57 shaku, which is close to the perfect length for me. It was beautifully crafted and had, according to the seller, neither been used nor ever resharpened, as it had been made for a shrine.

To have a shinken made for me – which is probably my best option if I ever want one, as antique shinken 2.5 shaku or longer are very hard to come by – would cost in the region of ¥700,000 to ¥800,000. This is a lot of money that I don’t have. I’m looking at saving for a number of years to be able to afford a blade. The blade I was shown recently, however, was ¥250,000. This is still very pricey, but less than half what I would expect to pay for a brand new blade.

I can’t say I wasn’t tempted to buy it. My sensei has already told me to go ahead and get a shinken when I can afford it (in consultation with him, naturally). I don’t have that kind of money yet, but I am saving up. However there was another factor that decided things for me. That was my sensei himself, who was sitting next to me when we looked at the sword.

“It’s nice,” he said, “but you couldn’t use it for iai.”

He gave a number of reasons why (balance, curvature, weight), but he needn’t have – if he says no, then I’m going with that.

This made me realise anew that there really is no rush to getting a shinken. If I’m to do iaido for the rest of my life – which I think is possible – I have all the time in the world. Well actually, assuming that I pass each of my next few gradings first time (which is quite unlikely), I have at least ten eight years* (a shinken is required for the 5 dan grading). But that’s still plenty of time.

I know people who have gone out and bought shinken soon after starting iai, and in all honesty I worry about some of them. In some cases I feel it’s only a matter of time before the blood starts to fly. There is also the question of maintaining a shinken. It’s a valuable investment and again, I know of some beginners who buy them and really don’t look after them. Not only do I need to save money, but I also need to know I can commit to the responsibility of owning and using a real sword.

I don’t doubt that at some point I will purchase a shinken. But there’s no rush.

Anyway, later that evening, I got to handle a tanto from the Kamakura period. Now that was really tempting.

* I can’t count.