Nito tameshigiri

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[p00kiethebear]

This doesn't pertain to aikido directly but i was wondering if anyone here has met or seen anyone do Tameshigiri with two swords.

[MikeE]

We cut with both a waki and katana...not at the same time, though.

[Brian Vickery]

This doesn't pertain to aikido directly but i was wondering if anyone here has met or seen anyone do Tameshigiri with two swords.

Hello Nathan,

Toshishiro Obata does Soken Tameshigiri (Two Sword Test Cutting). He's the founder of the sword art of Shinkendo. You can go to the Shinkendo website, in the newsletters section you can see photos and read about Soken Tameshigiri:

www.shinkendo.com

Here are the newsletters that cover this topic:

http://www.shinkendo.com/news/news_2004aug.pdf
http://www.shinkendo.com/news/News_JanFeb2005.pdf

He also has book out on Tameshigiri:

Shinkendo Tameshigiri: Samurai Swordsmanship & Test-Cutting

I hope this info helps out!

[p00kiethebear]

I've seen Obata's technique. His nito cutting is not what one might call "real" nito. He wields two swords, but they only cut with a one-two timing. Essentialy this is one-handed cutting while holding an object in your other hand (an difficult technique to be sure) but it's simply not the same as cutting with two swords in two directions at two targets simultaneously.
Obata's cutting prowess is to be respected but it's not what I'm looking for. I've heard saotome sensei does nito aikiken, does anyone know if he performs tameshigiri?

[akiy]

From my own experience in doing two sword practice, I can't say there are many instances (just a few) wherein both swords are attacking simultaneously. I would think that doing so would diminish the applicability of using two swords wherein one can have both offensive and defensive movements at the same time by using the two swords in an appropriate manner. This is all just conjecture based on informal experience with doing two sword practice.

A person whom you might be able to contact is Kim Taylor (http://www.uoguelph.ca/~kataylor/) up at the University of Guelph in Canada who has studied Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu kenjutsu (and also a very nice guy).

Perhaps Brian might be able to chime in according to what he's learned from Obata sensei? (I've had the pleasure of attending one of Obata sensei's shinkendo and aikido seminars and had a good time.)

-- Jun