Holding the sword: does it matter how

[Bruno@MT]

I have some kendo experience, and was taught to hold a boken a certain way.
I now practise Genbukan ninpo, and was taught to hold the boken differently.
When I saw the video clip with the guy slashing a baseball mid flight, he was holding his sword (for the 2 handed tatami cuts) in yet another way, with his hands close together and his left pinky far away from the tsuka.

So I've been wondering about this. I understand that within a system, it is a good idea to always hold the sword a certain way. But in the grand scheme of things, and given the wide variety of grips in TMA systems, is one way really better than the other?

 

[Chris Parker]

Hi Bruno,

Well, yes and no, I guess.Certain things will remain the same, but then different schools will have different emphasis based on various factors. These range from the exact type of weapon used, through to the most common usage within the particular school.

For example, within Kendo, you would have been dealing with Shinai, and Kote (as part of your bogu). The Shinai has a much longer tsuka than most actual swords, as well as being round (rather than oval). Add to this the bulk of your Kote, and Kendo's use of fast, "hitting" strikes rather than cutting actions, and suddenly you have a grip with your hands placed far apart, allowing for the room needed for your Kote, as well as the pull with your left hand to "speed up" your strikes.

To counter that with the Baseball-cutting clips (I think you're refering to the later clips more here, yes?), well the emphasis there is on Tameshigiri, so the grip is closer together to strengthen it and handle the impact better.

But with each grip, there will be similarities which are essential. These include ahving at least some space between your hands (unlike a baseball bat-type grip), which enables flexibility in your grip and manipulation of the sword, the tsuka laying at an angle across your palm, the grip being concentrated in your last 2 or 3 fingers, not your pointer and thumb etc.

So you will probably find that the right hand is very similar in each case, and it is the left hand that changes. On that count, some schools I have encountered specify that your left hand should have the little finger at least an inch up from the base of the Tsuka; others have the little finger under the pommel. I feel this comes from the dimentions of the sword prefered by the individual school. If a longer Tsuka is used, then you will probably have a grip a little bit further up the Tsuka than if you have a shorter Tsuka. So, in that case, it only depends on the sword you are using at the time.

But if you maintain a proper grip (across your palm, space between your hands, squeezing with the little fingers), and utilise the "ring-the-towel" action, then you should find that the similarities outweigh the differences.

Hope that helps...

 

[Ken Morgan]

I was going to write a nice long post about grip, then I remembered my Sensei, Kim Taylor, 7th Dan iaido, 5th Dan jodo wrote a couple of articles about grip some years back.

Links are here, http://ejmas.com/tin/tinart_taylor2_0100.htm
and http://ejmas.com/tin/tinart_taylor1_0300.htm

 

[Bruno@MT]

Thank you both. this was very useful.