That’s not exactly what Ohmi sensei told us at the May seminar, but I’m afraid that writing the whole word will get me on a list somewhere.
He said that he had not done much practice in the last few months but had read a lot of books and his own notes. His conclusion? He burned a lot of his notes, saying that they were bull-puckies, and so were the books written by famous people.
You have to practice, you can’t just read about this stuff. Similarly, listening to sensei is useless, you have to practice. If you don’t practice it all starts to, “stink of budo”, not “smell like budo”, as in a 4dan, but to stink as in the “stink of zen”. Or bull-puckies.
Try stuff for yourself, don’t read about it and assume it’s right because some famous dude wrote it. Who knows if he knew what he was talking about, who knows if he practiced or spent his time writing. If you practice you’ll find out.
And then Ohmi sensei told the class about the three swords. There is a place for discussion, just as long as it doesn’t substitute for practice. I’m sorry I didn’t catch the Japanese terms, but they are:
Useless movement, forced movement and movement that doesn’t follow the principles.
Useless movements are ones that are not necessary, like the figiting you do with your fingers at the top of your cut, or just before you start your chiburi. Or to push your sword up before you cut down with it.
Forced movement is where you “over-act”, where you put too much muscle into it, squeezing the life out of your hilt perhaps. It’s unnatural movement, not smooth.
Movement that doesn’t follow riai is also unnatural. It’s movement that goes against the natural rhythm and timing of your sword. To lift, turn and cut, rather than fold the sword in an uke nagashi movement, for instance, as you cut someone behind or at 90 degrees.
Now you have heard about that, are you going to file it in your head or are you going to look for it in your practice, or check your friend’s technique?
If you read it and don’t practice, it’s just so much bull-puckie.
My sensei said that seminars are not for personal corrections, you need to watch the instructors and find the things that you will work on for the rest of the year. You will see proper technique that you should pay attention to. This will let you know where you need to be heading. It will give you an image in your head to compare with what you are doing.
My sensei also said that you should not watch bad people. What he means is not to watch people who do poor iaido. Watch enough of this and you may start to accept it as normal, rather than bad iai. Only watch those who do good iai so that you improve.
Similarly, when you are watching people, criticise them. Not to be mean, but so that you separate the good technique from the bad. Look for the bad technique in yourself and steal the good technique. It’s all pretty simple isn’t it? Unless you don’t know what’s good and what’s bad. How do you figure that out?
Practice.
Seito Bugei Juku 