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socho
12th June 2000, 08:54
Greetings list-ka,
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a tameshigiri tai kai (cutting tournament) at the Kashima Jingu (shrine) in Kashima, Japan. The shrine is dedicated to the sword arts and is the home of Kashima Shinto Ryu. It has a huge and impressive dojo. The tai kai was run by the International Batto-do Federation(IBF) and attended by dozens of schools. Several hundred people competed, cutting rolled tatami mats. Nakamura-sensei was an honored guest, and I went as part of his group from Yokohama. I'd like to share a few impressions and invite comment or questions.

1) overall, very impressive. good evidence that sword arts, especially cutting arts, are alive and well in Japan. A sword dealer was present, with about 40 swords plus fittings and supplies, and seemed to do a good business.

2) lots of different sword sizes and shapes used by the competitors. Noticed several that seemed a bit short, but were very wide in the mihaba (top to bottom, mune to ha). Don't know how thick they were (kasane), but they cut very well. One very large (tall and broad, not fat) Japanese man had a very long sword, with an extra long handle. Didn't see him cut. Didn't see many like it. Lots of very light swords. These make me nervous, they are fast and great for kata, but not forgiving of poor cuts (they bend).

3) the seitei toho forms for the IBF are different from the All Japan Toyama-ryu Batto-do Federation, which the Nakamura-ryu group follows, and I think this was evident in the judging. The Nakamura group cuts a lot, and pay more attention to the angle of the cut, controlling the blade, and moving into correct position for the next cut. They allow 'free style' and experimental cuts within that framework, and you usually get multiple cuts from one mat. It seemed that the judges (don't know what school or style) looked more for cuts from within their kata set and the kind of flourish you see with MJER. (not denigrating, just commenting)

4) The competition was well controlled and moved along pretty quickly. Each sword was checked to make sure the mekugi was in place. Two swordsmen/women faced three judges. Each would cut, then the judges would kantei (judge). The winner moved up the ladder. The number of cuts was determined by your rank. At the semi-final or final level within your bracket there might be a cut or two added, or you could cut on two mats.

5) the winners in each group were truly impressive, great control, good spirit. It was fun to watch, if a little overwhelming, and I learned a lot (I hope). If you get a chance to attend one of these, I highly recommend it.



------------------
Dave Drawdy

H. Hoshino
12th January 2004, 03:53
Dear my fellow Tameshi-giri practitioners,

Here is my exciting Tameshi-giri activity.

When I came to San Francisco from Tokyo, Japan in August, 1971, I started to learn about the American way of life. One of a few things I did in the 1970's was collecting hand guns. By 1973, I had a little over 200 hand-guns in my collection. I have only 17 of them now. Only 3 are automatic and the rest are revolvers. I do not trust automatic pistols since I cannot tell whether or not the bullet is inside the barrel.

I started going to various gun shooting ranges in the SF Bay Area in the 70's. I got bored after many visits of shooting ranges, therefore, I started going to the boar hunting with some of my colleagues and students in the early 1980's with hand-guns in the Healdsburg area ( 65 miles from San Francisco ). This was on the private property. We used to wake up around midnight and chosen the new moon or skinny moon early morning to hunt the boars. By 3 AM, we were near the ditch where bunch of boars were sleeping. We were carefully spread and no one was in front of us. With the nodding our head 3 times together, we normaly started to shoot at a dozen of the boars sleeping in the ditch. Some were instantly killed with our high powered caliber pistols and many started to run away from us. Some were wounded therefore, could not run too fast.

Our Boar hunting party normally consisted of 3 to 5 persons and after 1/2 hour chasing the boars, we often came back to the original place for reporting the boar's casualty. After removing the skins and intestines, I usually hung them by the trees and perform the Tameshi-giri. In our Dojo, we usually cut the Ao-Take ( Green bamboo reed ), hay bundles, rice papers, etc. During the Buta-gari ( Pig hunting ), we cut the dead pigs anywhere from 135 to 200 pounds. I have used several different kinds of Katana for these Tameshi-giri opportunities. One of them was a 620-year old Nanbokucho blade ( Blade length 27 & 1/2 inches long ), this blade cut much much better than others.

Surprisingly, the Manshuto ( Manchurian sword made in 1943 ) cut the 2nd best among others. One time when I cut the female pig approximately 135 pounds, I hit the vertabrae and heard the small nicky sound, however, the blade went through like the pig was a Tofu. After seeing this, one of my students was very surprised and soon after, he bought a Katana for his Tameshi-giri practice. Sometimes, I wanted to test the Tameshi-giri with a pig without removing the hair, skin or intestines. The pigs with hair was a little harder to cut, however, the previously mentioned Nanbokucho blade cut very well.

Although I do not eat red meat at all, the wild pig meat was lean and we found a little fat under the skin. A few of my students and their wives like the taste of wild pig meat.

The method of Tameshi-giri was Kesa-giri ( Clavicle slice ) as always. We often used the Ryoute-waza ( 2 hands techniques ) but once in a while, we have performed the Katate-uchi with a short swords, Uchi-gatana or Wakizashi for Tameshi-giri practice.

I often carried 2 hand-guns for boar hunting. One is a Long Colt Cartridge 45 Smith & Wesson revolver and the other one was a 8mm Nanbu 1943 Automatic pistol or a hammerless S & W 38 special. Sometimes we had to face the boars over 300 pounds and the male boars usually had 7 inch task by the mouth.

The Buta-gari and Tameshi-giri were always good activities in the 1980's.

Sincerely,

H. Hoshino / On a Happy Day in San Francisco.

PS. I do not go to the Healdsburg area any more, but I found a better place in the Southern California area lately. One of my students use his bow and arrows during the Buta-gari.


Terminology for your education: Nanbokucho Era ( 1334 - 1389 ) / Kesa-giri or Kesa-gake ( Clavicle slice ) / Katana-gari ( Sword hunt ): the 3 major Katana-gri were performed since the late Muromachi Era in Japan. / Kata-te = one hand / Ryou-te = both hands / Uchi-gatana ( Striking swords ) started to appear since the Sengoku Era / Wakizashi = Medium-size swords / Sengoku Era ( Japanese Civil Wartime 1467 - 1591 ) / Muromachi Era ( 1389 - 1573 ) /


:cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool:

Gomur
12th January 2004, 05:00
Dave,

Glad to see you had a good time. I wish, I had a chance to see all these events. But money will always be a issue with me with very bad expenses coming up. Got any pictures? Would be nice to see them. See ya at class.


Harunaka Hoshino,

Please don't take the members of e-budo as fools. We already know about you. Your Sword Society thing in San Francisco. And the things you have done in terms of the Ninja fad. So to you. I give you this link.

http://www.e-budo.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22979



V Nguyen

pgsmith
12th January 2004, 06:23
Before posting replies to anything dredged up by our stealthy ninja friend, please check the dates on the original thread. Mr. Hoshino has been dredging up some very old stuff here. This thread, for example, is dated June of 2000. Mr. Nguyen, you should know that Nakamura sensei would NOT be able to be an honored guest. :(

Mr. Hoshino, please don't drag up old and dead threads unless you have something very relevant to share. Nothing that you have posted to any thread so far has had much in the way of relevancy.

Gomur
12th January 2004, 06:45
OOpsies my bad lol. I thought that was a recent thing.
Again, I was just using it as an excuse to post against Hoshino and making sure people see that thread. I believe him a disgrace to it. My mistakes on the time.



V Nguyen