When I was in Okinawa, I had a coworker who was very much into the Okinawan/Japanese culture. He learned a lot more Japanese than I did, he dated local girls (almost unheard of, most Okinawans would forbid their daughters from dating Americans and with good reason), and he became a member of a Japanese religion not unlike Shinto - but it was, as he said, completely unpronounceable, and it was represented by a series of hand gestures and a loud clap at the end (seriously).
Anyway, he studied a form of martial arts that was sword-based, and I never got the name of it. It was not kendo. I watched him practice once in our gymnasium, and I don't know if he was practicing a single form or if that was the whole thing, but it consisted of him kneeling on the floor, then rising, drawing his sword (a katana-like sword, not a kendo sword), cutting at something above his head, and then flipping the blade over, and resheathing it, all in one very fast movement.
I asked, and he told me it was for a samurai to draw his sword, cut a horseman, flick the blood from the blade, wipe the blade, and resheath it in one motion as the horseman passed.
Does this sound familiar to anyone? Anyone know the name of it? I'm just curious.
Anyway, he studied a form of martial arts that was sword-based, and I never got the name of it. It was not kendo. I watched him practice once in our gymnasium, and I don't know if he was practicing a single form or if that was the whole thing, but it consisted of him kneeling on the floor, then rising, drawing his sword (a katana-like sword, not a kendo sword), cutting at something above his head, and then flipping the blade over, and resheathing it, all in one very fast movement.
I asked, and he told me it was for a samurai to draw his sword, cut a horseman, flick the blood from the blade, wipe the blade, and resheath it in one motion as the horseman passed.
Does this sound familiar to anyone? Anyone know the name of it? I'm just curious.