Ellis Amdur

One line of Toda-ryu, founded shortly before 1600, became the family naginata style of the Suneya family. There are no documents, however, before the mid-1800's, when Suneya Rosuke and Suneya Satoko did a reorganization and public release of their version of the art - Toda-ha Buko-ryu. Relevant to this discussion is that within the chuden level kata is a section referred to as Aiki no Koto. This referred to a set of kata in which the kusarigama (uketachi) opposed naginata (shitachi), a most improbable match. It is obvious within the kata that the kusarigama is used to force the naginata to cut in certain exact angles. Precision is taught with the "threat" that if the naginata fails, s/he will hit the kusarigama wielder (teacher or senior) on the head or hands. In this case, "aiki" - used as a phrase long before Daito-ryu - means "fitting together."

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