Thread: Why no tsuba?
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Old 02-19-2012, 09:00 PM   #133
kewms
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,318
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Re: Why no tsuba?

Quote:
Graham Christian wrote: View Post
Now before anyone goes off into personal this and that without knowing one thing about my own personal methods and skill know this only: Contrary to how most teach the sword or bokken I would not teach anyone until they had practiced Aikido for many years. I let them hold the bokken and try small things only to demonstrate certain principles or sometimes to show them why they shouldn't be thinking they know much about it.

My pre requisite is that a person must be at least quite capable of sen no sen before they can learn much useful about the sword at all. Without that, in my view, it's pretty much a waste of time no matter how competent or flash you look or indeed how many skills you know.
Ah. Very useful context, as such people would be expected to have quite a bit more awareness and control than beginners. We view weapons as integral to aikido and introduce them from the very beginning, hence a need to practice safely even with people who are so new as to be hazardous to themselves and others.

Katherine