I just got back from a seminar with Toshishiro Obata sensei this weekend, and I thought I'd write up a review.

Some of you may know about Obata sensei as having roles in a couple of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, but he is in "real" life the head of the International Shinkendo Federation. You can find more information on shinkendo at www.shinkendo.com.

I attended this seminar at the invitation of an instructor friend of mine in the area who thought I would be interested in taking a look at shinkendo.

The Saturday morning class, held at Suigetsukan dojo in Oakland, consisted of shinkendo basics including a bunch of their suburi, their first five sword-drawing kata, and a few paired practices. Their terminology threw me off a bit since I didn't know them, but the movements and principles were very much inline with what I've already learned. Their sword-drawing kata, when combined with more complex footwork, were used in the paired practices which I thought was pretty neat. We also went through a lot of kiai ("Ei, yah, toh!") through the session; it certainly took me back to the old days...

The afternoon session, held at Laney college in Oakland, consisted of an hour and a half of aikido and another hour and a half of shinkendo. According to the brochure I received from Suigetsukan, Obata sensei was uchideshi to Gozo Shioda sensei at the Yoshinkan hombu dojo.

The aikido class started out with some interesting blocks in jodan, chudan, and gedan, all stemming from the rotation of the forearm at the elbow (combined with turning the hips, of course). These combined with forceful atemi to our uke (punches and kicks, both!) usually formed the first step in all of the techniques taught by Obata sensei.

Obata sensei demonstrated a variety of responses to each attack, usually varying by the side of entry (irimi or tenkan) to the attack and the side of execution (omote or ura). We practiced a lot of techniques that I haven't practiced much as part of aikido like harai-goshi, a modified sankyo (locking the elbow in the takedown), and one of those shihonage which involves really locking uke's elbow with your hands and arms. I ended up taking quite a lot of highfalls that afternoon, a good change of pace from my normal training these days.

Obata sensei's techniques were very effective. He came around and threw me once during the class, and I'd have to say that I wouldn't question his ability to take me down in a confrontation; I met the mat pretty quickly. (I also got to be thrown by Mike Esmailzadeh sensei of Suigetsukan dojo, which I have to say was a very enjoyable experience. He felt like a very capabale martial artist and an open individual.)

The afternoon shinkendo practice was open to all levels, so I found myself pretty confused at the steps of their practice at times. Obviously, most of these people had practiced these kata a lot of times, and not knowing them at all, I had to do the "look at the person next to you and follow along as best as you can" type of thing. Oh well.

I also got shuffled off to the beginner section during a lot of their paired practices which, I would like to be honest and say, was pretty boring. I think we went through about three of their sword-drawing practices in about thirty minutes. Although I very much understand that these sword-drawing kata comprise the basic foundation of the other paired sword work, I nonetheless found myself watching the intermediate and advanced people to see just how they were applied. Luckily, I they convened the beginners' section for the last thirty minutes, and I was able to do some of the paired swordwork.

On Sunday, I woke up late. I noticed that my alarm clock gave this totally feeble "bip bip bipple" type of alarm rather than its normal "beeeep beeep beeep!" alarm, but I didn't think much of it until I logged in to check e-mail. For some reason, I noticed that the 'date' command said it was 8:57 am rather than the 7:30 am for which I set the alarm. It turns out that my alarm clock had become 30 minutes late _and_ I didn't realize that it was daylight savings time. I guess that's what you get for not getting a newspaper, not watching TV, and not listening to the radio.

In any case, although I basically got up at 9 am and the class started at 9 am, I jumped into the car and got to Suigetsukan at 9:30 am. They had just finished the basic practice for some sword swings, and was getting things ready for the "fun" part of the weekend -- tameshigiri, or cuttting with a live sword. I was able to get dressed in time while they were setting up the makiwara (rolled, soaked tatami mats).

I have to say that this is where Obata sensei really showed his stuff; the man knows how to cut. When demonstrating some of the basic cuts, he would beautifully cut down the makiwara at about 3" intervals without really even thinking about it. It kind of reminded me of watching people at the deli use their ham cutting machines. In showing how little strength it took to cut, he would just hold the sword in one hand and (swoosh, swoosh, swoosh) cut the makiwara into about six pieces. He also demonstrated, in addition to the basic kesa cuts, a bunch of kiriage and yokogiri as well. (He also demonstrated once of cutting the makiwara near the bottom with kiriage, propelling the top half into the air with that cut, then cutting through that top half (now flying through the air) with a kesagiri. Quite impressive.)

To get to the crux of things, yes, I got to cut. Quite an adrenalin rush, if you ask me. I went through one makiwara with left kesagiri (start in right kamae in jodan, step forward with the left foot, cut down through left kesa), and these went pretty well. I was relaxed and the sword went through (with a nice sound, as others told me later). I have to say that it does _not_ take much strength to cut through if your sword is extended and you're relaxed.

I had some problems with the second makiwara wherein I did right kesagiri; Obata sensei, sensing I understood Japanese, told me that I was starting out in jodan with the sword blade at an oblique angle, and that although I was cutting through at a good angle (about 35 degrees), the sword blade itself was not travelling at the same angle and would produce an oblique cut. He also advised me to hold my left grip stronger at the end of the cut rather than having it twist in the direction of the cut itself. His advice was very helpful, and it provided me with some very good pointers.

I had a good time with the makiwara cutting. I was very impressed with the fact that it does not take much strength to cut as long as you have decent form and extension. Some people who were swinging the sword like it were a baseball bat had problems since they were using too much strength; the sword would imbed itself into the makiwara, and it wouldn't cut through. Also, it's interesting to actually see and feel the angle of the cut itself (as well as the angle of the blade); it's just something that you can't get in practicing suburi. Although I don't know if I can recommend this kind of live cutting to a complete beginner, I would say that this kind of experience is quite an eye-opener if you have at least some experience with the sword.

All in all, this seminar was an interesting look at some different things from my usual aikido training. Although I don't know if I'll be attending it next year (since it was expensive -- $100 for the weekend), I thought it was certainly a good experience for me, especially the makiwara cutting. As a friend of mine said, "The cutting with the liveblade stuff is addictive!"

Jun