just a few questions

what is a lai-to?
what is a tan-ren?
and there was another something that begins with an "m" I think hehe
I think the tan-ren and the other thing are used for practice by yourself or something? I dunno

anyways forgive my naivety

thank you

damien

An iai-to is a sword made for practicing the art of Iai-do (drawing a sword and cut in one fluid motion). It is usually molded instead of forged and it willnot cut anything harder than pudding but it is far less expencive than a real japanese sword (shinken) and is a rather good substitute when practicing. On the 'HOME' section of Aikiweb theres a link in of the month in the bottom right corner to a MA-magazine and in one of the issues I found a very good article about the origin of Iai-do. Check it out.

Also check out http://www.tozando.com or http://www.nosyuiaido.com they both have information on iai-to as opposed to the real japanese swords.

As far as Tan-ren goes - i can't help you right now.
Likewise.... :)

'Tanren' can be translated as 'spirit forging'

Hope that helps!

Brian Vickery
Mountainside Aikido
Ahwatukee, Arizona

Tanren ho
 

No problem as someone else has already takled the Iaito I'll do the Tan ren. as Brian Vickery said Tanren can and is tranlated as spirit forging. In the context of aikido...specificly aikiweapons it relates to an extended sesion with a mean boken. A tanren Boken is a vert front heavy boken used to beat a car tire (originally I think it was bent sticks) the purpose isn't to strike but rather to cut. the problem for most folks (myself included) is that it is easy to strike the tire it is realy hard to perform a solid cut against something that bounces when you cut it. I don't think I have every made more than a dozen or so "good cuts" out of 200 or so attempts in a tanren session. It is a mentally educational exercise as well as an physical one. I hope that helps