Good iaido

[Ken Morgan]

Still trying to breathe some life into this part of the forum….

So have you guys ever performed your best iai (or whatever), while grading, demonstrating or in competition?

I always find, much to my disappointment, that my iai is “best” in class. Even when I’m up front teaching I can do “good” iai.

However throw me out in front of people, even people I know well, and the quality of my iai slips, in my opinion. It happened at my grading two weeks ago, and it happened yesterday at another dojo, that happened to be doing a friendly, informal competition.

I have never walked off the floor and said to myself, “that was the best iai I could do today”. Frustrating.

I can bring “good” jodo to the floor. I’m so focused on my opponent, nothing else matters, other than avoiding getting hit!

Thoughts?

 

[pgsmith]

That is one of the best things reasons I've found for competitions. I used to manage to do poorly at gradings, even though I always did well in class. Back in 2000, I let myself get talked into attending a batto do tai kai in Florida. Had a great time; attended some really interesting seminars, made some great friends, drank lots of beer, and did a really poor job in both kata and tameshigiri portions of the tai kai. Got onto myself for doing so poorly, resolved to practice harder (and did!) and next year did exactly the same thing. I thought long and hard about it the next year to try and figure out what was different at tai kai (and gradings!). I paid very close attention to what I may be doing differently, and came to the conclusion that the extra adrenalin from being in front of judges and a crowd was affecting my actions. The adrenalin rush was getting in the way of my ability to "see" my opponent properly. So, the next year I went to two tai kai, and did four demos at various public events. I've tried to put myself into more situations that raise the adrenalin level while I do kata. Must be working as I felt good about, and was congratulated on, the job I did at my last grading. I also came in second in the kata portion of the last tai kai I attended.

That's my story anyway.

 

[Ken Morgan]

and came to the conclusion that the extra adrenalin from being in front of judges and a crowd was affecting my actions. The adrenalin rush was getting in the way of my ability to "see" my opponent properly.

Yep, thats the conclusion i came too as well.

Its frustrating, generally I'm out in front of people I know well, I drink with them, I eat with them etc, etc., so when i go out I'm fine, but around the second kata I feel the adrenalin kick in.

My plan for this coming year is to visit some of the Toronto clubs more often, hopefully that will help my brain over ride my body.

 

[Sukerkin]

I agree it's a common reaction, my fellow practitioners.

I have felt it myself at seminars when called upon to provide a demonstration - oddly, like Ken, I can 'teach' with no problem at all. Call it a demonstration and suddenly it's a whole different ball game :lol:.

A point worth bearing in mind of course is that it is just our internal reaction. The quality that others see can be very different to our own hyper-critical self-criticism.

 

[Ken Morgan]

A point worth bearing in mind of course is that it is just our internal reaction. The quality that others see can be very different to our own hyper-critical self-criticism.

Obviously muscle memory is serving us all well, our bodies do as we have trained them to do, but the kata don't feel right.

Practice, scotch and drugs, I don't have any other solutions....

 

[pgsmith]

I feel that demonstrations and tai kai helped me immensely. I went out and found quite a number of places that were happy to have a demonstration of Japanese sword arts done ... Spring Festival at the Japanese gardens, fall festival with the Japanese-American society, a very large Boy Scout troop that was doing a night on unusual hobbies, the local newspaper that did a video interview, a couple of different anime conventions. Getting out in front of a crowd allowed me to work on my concentration under stress, and I now feel that I can perform in the same manner whether it is in class, in front of a large crowd, or just a panel of seniors. I still feel the adrenalin rush, but it no longer affects my concentration like it used to.

 

[Ken Morgan]

Agreed. To me its like Toastmasters and public speaking, the more you practice it, the more you prepare for it and the more you do it the better you will become. Not much call for iaido demonstrations in Southern Ontario I’m afraid….but I’ll get out there somewhere.

Have you guys ever gone to a seminar and had all sorts of Hanchi up front teaching, and everyone gravites to the back rows? That always boggled my mind. You’re paying for this, you have iaido gods in front of you, why are you hiding? If I’m working the seminar I stay in the back, if I’m not working I try to be in the front row. Of course you get picked on, but that’s the point!

So what, is there like 4 or 5 of us who practice JSA?

 

[Sukerkin]

I do agree, Ken. When there is quality instruction to be had at seminars it defeats the whole object to hide at the back.

We all know that if your teacher stops telling you what you are doing wrong then you are either perfect or he's given up on you - so why evade criticism that might be invaluable to your improvement?

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Absolutely agree that when you have good instruction you want to be right up front to not miss the details!

Note that I do some silly things here but they work for me!

I used to play a little game with my iaido in that I would think of performing in front of an emperor, etc. back in the day and that if my iai was not good then my family would be destroyed. Most of the time this helped a bit.

Another was to say in my mind that this would be the last time ever and I needed for it to be smooth.

The most unorthodox technique that I used was to have a baseball machine that through 4 baseballs and I substituted the baseballs with a soft rubber ball and had it rotate the balls hitting me while drawing. Definitely helped my concentration.

Another one would be to set up a timer and slowly reduce the time of your draw so that their is pressure to draw well at a quicker pace. You can of course only do this is you hit your check points and are smooth!

Of course the best practice is simply working with a partner/instructor who is better than you and who critically addresses every check point and monitors every misstep.

Your right I only think there are a few of us and of course all of your are better than I! :asian:

 

[Sukerkin]

Some interesting training techniques there, Brian .

As to your becomingly modest last sentence, with Iai, just as in almost any martial art, at heart the only person you have to better than today is yourself as you were yesterday. I am sure I have heard that phrasing used here at MT at some point but it bears repeating.

It is of course nice when people compliment you on your skill but it is that continual 'polishing of the mirror' that keeps us going .

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Absolutely it is all about polishing the stone and getting better each day, week, year!

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Some interesting training techniques there, Brian .

.

Yes just a little interesting ehh!

 

[Ken Morgan]

I think we are all our own worse critics.

I watch people practice and I think to myself, “I love their iai”, or “they’ve gotten really good over the past few years.” Things of that nature. Sometimes they will come up to me and complement me on my iai, or we’ll be in a competition and I’ll beat them!!

I think Mark is right; it’s about us improving day after day that is important. I can always find fault with every kata I perform, my timing, my angles, something can always be improved.

If the day ever comes when I think that my kata is perfect, that’s the day I either quit or I seek out new teachers, because something in my understanding of what is fundamental within iaido, is simply wrong.

 

[pgsmith]

I can always find fault with every kata I perform, my timing, my angles, something can always be improved.

Whenever I hear a phrase like that, it makes me think of Masayuki Shimabukuro sensei. A number of years ago at a Tai Kai in Orlando, Shimabukuro sensei and I were both taking advantage of the empty floor to warm up for upcoming seminars. He was teaching one, I was attending another. After a while I couldn't help but stop and just watch him repeating Mae, the first MJER kata. (his iai is outstandingly smooth and powerful!) When he had done Mae about ten times, he came over to me and said "after 30 years, I still have things that I'm trying to fix, but I'm getting closer!"

 

[Ken Morgan]

Whenever I hear a phrase like that, it makes me think of Masayuki Shimabukuro sensei. A number of years ago at a Tai Kai in Orlando, Shimabukuro sensei and I were both taking advantage of the empty floor to warm up for upcoming seminars. He was teaching one, I was attending another. After a while I couldn't help but stop and just watch him repeating Mae, the first MJER kata. (his iai is outstandingly smooth and powerful!) When he had done Mae about ten times, he came over to me and said "after 30 years, I still have things that I'm trying to fix, but I'm getting closer!"

It's funny you said that, Kim Taylor wrote this over at Kendoworld recently, and has made similar comments in class. I think Haruna Sensei talked the same way too.

"Now, as I get older, like I said I would like to concentrate on less than I do now so that I can maybe get closer to where I should be.

My wish would be to have the stamina and ability to do mae (first MJER iaido kata) for a week straight to see if I could do a good one. No "old sensei" ******** about that, I'd really like to do one I'm happy with before I die."

 

[Sukerkin]

Absolutely! It is heartening to hear that I seem to be having at least the right thoughts about Iai - meaning that I have said much the same as the above sentiment myself.

In tangential vein, I think it is important to let students have their head at first and plough on with kata too advanced for them for a while. Because you can tell them and tell them that the fundamentals of swordwork are in the first four kata of Seiza and Batto but they will not believe it until they experience it. When the realisation strikes that why their Oku Iai is poor is because they have not worked hard enough on Mae and Junnto Sono Ichi, that is the point where they finally really begin.

 

[Ken Morgan]

Everything you will ever need in iaido, is in Mae.

I was told many years ago that people essentially progress in iaido, (physically and mentally), at the same spend. (By nidan everyone is using way too much strength etc, etc) I’ve found it to be quite true. The correction you give a single shodan, should be adhered to by all the shodans, as in all likelihood they are making the same mistake.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

I absolutely agree with both of you. Basics, basics, basics with proper mechanics and check points and that is what you find in Mae!