drawing of a samurai sword

[Charles Mahan]

Walter, keep in mind that the way you and Nguyen-sensei practice MJER is not necessarily quite the same as everyone else. I don't rotate my saya at all during the second draw in Yaegaki. I don't rotate all the way to 90 degrees before the first cut in Mae either. I'm not saying that what you guys are doing is wrong, but it's different from what others in the style are doing, even within our branch there are variances on this sort of thing.

 

[Walter Wong]

Oh no, I didn't mean that we turn all the way to 90 for the nukitsuke from Mae and etc. We don't turn the saya that much before the cut. We're turning the saya as we draw and by the time the kissaki's out to cut horizontally, then the saya finishes turning to 90 degrees at the sametime. I meant more like that. I wasn't thinking. This stuff is hard to translate in text. When I come to Embukai, you'll see how Nguyen Sensei is teaching me to do it. I've been told I look identical to Nguyen Sensei when doing waza. But I'm sure I'm not nearly as good as him still cause he is a far better Iaidoka than me. And yeah, we don't turn the saya at all in Yaegaki either on the draw low block part.

So there's some turning of the saya and no turn of the saya for our Eishin Ryu as well depending on the waza up here in Boston. I have a feeling we are doing it very closely identical even in minute details as you are. The last time you saw Nguyen Sensei was before he had the corrections in Japan which he went to last summer for a few weeks. When you see him practice again you may see some changes and I think it will be close to how you're doing it in Texas. But we'll see when we meet. We are doing the same seitokai. If there's any differences between our seitokai, it's probably alot smaller than you might think.

In Nami Ryu, the saya never turns regardless of the waza or kata.

 

[Charles Mahan]

Well the Embukai is the place to learn for sure. Hope to see you down next year. Nguyen-sensei was definitely missed. I think you'll be amazed actually at just how much variation really does exist within the Seitokai branch of MJER, but perhaps we are more similar than I suspect. I suspect our Iai in Denton is much closer to yours than say, ours is with Stanley-sensei or perhaps Meeker-sensei.

 

[Walter Wong]

I hope I can make it to the next Embukai as well. We'll see how your Mae and etc. looks to mine. Most likely better than mine but regardless I admittedly am curious of the technical differences of your seitokai and mine.

 

[Walter Wong]

Charles, I was talking to Nguyen Sensei last night after class about Iaido done at your place. He did tell me that you guys do it different than we do as well. He said the differences are very small but still different.
Perhaps we in Boston Iaido will not be exactly the same as The Dojo of Denton TX. Just identical with subtle differences.

Anyways, will be fun to get together and see the differences.

I'm curious to see your Swordstore Steel Iaito That Cuts model as well.

 

[Charles Mahan]

Yeah we should be pretty similar. Yamashita-sensei, who was my instructor's instructor, and Esaka-sensei were both students of Fukui-sensei. The differences between us may stem from Tanida-sensei's studies with Ikeda-soke.

The more pronounced variations you'll see at the Embukai, will come from Huff-sensei, Irey-sensei, Meeker-sensei, and hopefully this year Stanley-sensei. They come from different lines in different areas of Japan. There are some pronounced regional differences. All good stuff. Slightly different bunkai and such. Hard to explain.

 

[digitalronin]

am new to the sword so I would like to know, if by twisting before drawing the weapon would that result in a telegraphing motion. Do all styles twist?

 

[Charles Mahan]

Twist what? The sword? The body? A chicken?

I suspect you mean a slight turn of the hips in order to make the draw a little easier. The answer is no, not all styles will do this. Some make use of a shorter sword to avoid the need. Others have different ways of doing it with the same length sword.

Back to answer your question, the little turn of the hips I'm talking about isn't likely to telegraph as it is only done at the very last moment in the draw when only the last inch or two is still in the saya. By then the sword is almost completely drawn. I suspect your enemy knows you've got something going on by then Of course by that point your cut is just beginning and that doesn't leave your opponent much time to react.

 

[digitalronin]

I was refering to the sword holder (saya?), when u grasp and do the 90 degree twist then draw the blade.

 

[Charles Mahan]

Well I don't. Not like that anyway. It's drawn more or less blade upright with a bit of twist at the very tail end of the draw when the cut actually starts. It is done that way specifically not to telegraph. Even then, I usually don't rotate the blade much past 45 degrees until after the kissaki is free. Kinda depends on the waza and situation. There are certainly situations where more rotation is necessary.