Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu Iaijutsu

[powerkidO7]

im 25 AND I WANT TO LEARN SWORDMASTERSHIP I HAVE ANY CHANSE

[moocowyz125]

@powerkidO7 No

[Echsentriq]

Brilliant.

[jordouellette]

Yup am still a little swordsman (more like a kid pretending to be a little Swordsman) in that art, but man that art worth more than anythingelse on this world.

[eliotudino]

super !

[hhk213]

Godlike iaijitsu.

[KintarosTiger]

Favorite part of the kata: 1:03 to 1:14

[asconan]

9 people prefer ballet...

[sesshy34]

Can someone familiar with Martial Arts tell me the difference between Japanese Kendo and Korean Kumido ? Is it the same thing if not how do they differ ?

[idma]

I don't think you can find a better swordsman alive today. He embodies everything bushido is supposed to stand for. To be a soke is truely amazing, but to be the soke of the oldest existing art is by all means astonishing!!!

[MidniteDragon]

i love this style of swordsmanship:D i would love to learn this oneday. i have sword that spose to deal with this style and what not would hate for that baby to go to waste :D

[fujiizuki]

香取神道流啊

[dodgingaces]

im 16 right now....ive been practicing shotokan ever since i was 4 and i have recently been studying numerous styles of swordsmenship, my sensai says of which he focuses on KSR. Im a bit frustrated though because in a year and a half i will be joining the Marine Corps........4 years of restricted sword practice, unless i somehow get an iaito or bokken over to afghanistan, or when i get to go on leave, but even then i dont have an instructer to train me while im over there.

[buskowiak]

Is there any student of katori shinto ryu who could talk with me about katori iaijutsu kata? I'm student of iaido and there are some things that need explanation for me, so i could understand them well.

[mondslug]

動きがキレてますね、かっこいい！

[kernermalkavian]

Im a new student at KSR, and i would like to get in touch with katori students all over the world, im also studing japanese for a year , i practise every day i hope someday i could be like him, or at least be good at swordmanship because i love it, i hope that powder and guns dissapear someday too and honor sense could be restored.

Thanks to everyone

[malthus101]

Don't be a div.

[thelimbokid]

JDAMs are more effective. As for honor, Pearl Harbor weren't none too honorable. Let's stop watching ninja movies and grow up, shall we?

[MockTheFoolsAgain]

@thelimbokid And Iraq is honourable I suppose? Pretend they've got "weapons of mass destruction" so you can get your hands on all that oil they own. Mmmmm

[MrKernermalkavian]

@lotro4ever4000 . Sempai, im From the group of Argentina, my sensei is Mario Lorenzo, his Sensei is Erik Louw. There aren´t many KSR Dojos here in Argentina. I know the one in La Plata, and in Capital Federal, where i go to practise.

[tarrker]

I have practiced a combined form of Japanese swordsmanship for most of my life and I'm still light years away from these guys in all areas. Maybe I'm just still young or my style is somehow inferior or diluted.

[scottrekishika]

well this man has been training since a little before world war 2. if your style is legitimate then it is not inferior, just different. modern iaido/kendo are very good at their purposes, which is differnt then this school. this school was developed for the medieval battlefield.

[wespalladini]

@tarrker light years is a measurement of distance not time :)

[KankuPitbull]

Beautiful form. OSU.

[stepandstab41]

Damn! Does anyone know what kind of sword would be good for kind of style.

[lucasmagalhaes]

it depends on what you are talking about, if you want to do those flashy/for-entertainment-show-­only moves ,any light weight/aluminum sword would do ,just google it, but if you feel inspired by this video and you are interested in Aikido, google about it, and try to find a good real sword (it doesnt have to be sharp to practice Aikido).

[AxisOfEternity]

that was beautiful!

[Cstrife234]

You have to go to Chiba, it's near Tokyo. The shrine and dojo is there. You have to make a blood oath to the god of the shrine and swear an oath to uphold the principles, not talk about the secrets learned in the school, and to not cross swords with anyone without permission.

[MockTheFoolsAgain]

@Cstrife234 You can also study at Kawasaki, Tokyo where Sugino sensei's dojo is located.

[irahshots]

damn how I wish we had this in the Philippines. I would love to learn he's style

[savagewolf1]

absolutely perfect...I am sooooo not worthy

[Tadaningen]

Great technique, fast and firm.

[ninjastorm]

The chiburi in this style is really cool, When ever I do it after preforming a kata I think about all my opponents falling lol

[MyoushinRyuNinjutsu]

lol nice one! :D i'll try it out later too!

[rifler27]

i wonder.. are there any such schools in america. or would one have to live in japan to study such a wonderful thing?

[PAVN]

There are Iaido schools in America, but they are kind of rare.  Sometimes Kendo dojos also offer Iaido.

[SorriskienSorranus]

what means pounching into katana after the slice?

[scottrekishika]

it is this school's form of chiburi, removing the blood from the balde, he is not only hitting, but the other movements are too fast to see really. i personally do not feel comfortabel telling exactly what he is doing, but with some research you can probably find out for ourself if you were interested.

[Firronox]

First he spins katana counter-clockwise (doing 360 degree turn around it's axis) with his right hand and then he hits it. This is Katori style chiburi.

[maceioninjutsu]

Dude it feels good to findout that TSKSR has ninjutsu in it. Once u get to a certain level you learn shinobi-jutsu

[scottrekishika]

in theory it is a pert of the schools full curriculum. however, i am not certain how much about it is still taught today.

[maceioninjutsu]

I am certain that TSKSR contains ninpo (ninjutsu) do the research and you will find it. In addition to the prior statement I've just made I know a person who studied under otake sensei for years in japan

[Rafroo]

isnt the bloodcleaning part the part just before he put back katana in scabbard?...Like Bloodcleaning process if i remeber well

[scottrekishika]

yes the purpose of chiburi is, in theory, to remove blood from the blade. however, as my battodo teacher points out, it is questionable as to how much blood it would get off. in reality it probably comes from just a quick battlefield removal of the blood so that it is not running all down the sword. a warrior probably would not really resheath it without AT LEAST using something to really wipe the blood off. however it is still a part of any japanese sword drawing art that i know of.

[Rafroo]

Oh thats cooll i didnt knew ^^

[TomNortherner]

@scottrekishika Blood would do less damage to the wood within the saya, whilst it would remove around 60% of the blood on the blade the main goal is to remove anything that might damage the blade and the saya (guts, hair, bits of bone.. you get the idea)

It's always a pleasure to see a form of iajutsu that has both form and speed, good video.

[Jahleim72Amaya]

@scottrekishika & Rafroo:

Hi Rafro.The cleansing of the blood from the Katana,This is known as Chiburi,

And can be performed in differing manners.

It is done before the return of the Katana to the Saya(Scabbard)Known as Noto.

You would'nt want to place your now contaminated Katana into its prestine Saya all bloodied,The utmost awareness and care for the Katana should always be maintained and present.

In Ancient times The Katana would save your neck and keep you living.

[twoheadbull]

@scottrekishika bloodcleaning (or chiburi) technique if done slowly and with strenght, screwing like, has also been used to break the links between human tissue and the sword, cause sword beeing stuck inside opponents say ribs and other tissue, so to free the sword itself, and continue the fight with other opponents.

[moogyum]

Remove blood

[japancontact]

It's a wonderfull clip, but just a question, what's the music ? is it a japanese music or not and who is the author ?

[scottrekishika]

to be honest, i have no clue maybe someone else that sees this would know

[aikirich]

I think it it Andreas Vollenweider, but i am not sure.

[HockeyNick79]

I practiced this for 2 years, this guy is amazing.

[fieldspec]

"this guy" is Master Otake!

[GojuBob]

Absolutely amazing! No one who hasn't tried it knows how difficult this is. What a master!!

[travolda]

учился у него.......

[malthus101]

Every time I watch this video, it makes me happy. I can't wait to begin with TSKSR... one day soon...

[brilliant562]

i prefer Mugen's style (samurai champloo). i beat 3 enthusiasts of katori shinto ryu, but compared to this guy, they were chumps

[MapleSephiroth]

you mean like in video games? or kendo? mugen's style is pretty much freestyle. jumps on walls and crap and can do many acrobatic things cuz hes so fit and light. his legs are approximately 2 inches in thickness lol.

[brilliant562]

its basically freestyle with a taste of katori. im not as fit, but i can move around really well. like i said tho, those katori shinto ryu enthusiasts were terrible compared to this guy in the video

[drosera99]

If you "beat" them, they were not practitioners of Katori Shinto-ryu. To the best of my knowledge, the Katori Shinto-ryu forbids contests of this sort. So either they were breaking their own school's rules, or they were merely "enthusiasts" and not members of the ryu practicing under a licensed instructor.

[brilliant562]

well, they were most likely enthusiasts, but if they were practitioners under a licensed instructor, then they did break the rules.

[drosera99]

So, these people you "beat" have in all likelihood had no formal training in and no real affiliation with the Katori Shinto-ryu. So using them as a tool to measure Shinto-ryu seems pretty silly.

[brilliant562]

tool to measure? read my older posts and stop trolling you fool. im merely telling my experience with Katori Shinto-ryu. never said anything to "measure" this style. so call your balls kid

[drosera99]

Relax. I'm not trolling. You noted that you "beat" certain "enthusiasts" of this style in your older post. My point is that your experience was with persons who are perhaps not representative of actual practitioners of this style.

That's all. I hope everyone enjoys video. It really is great.

[AZURA888]

This style seems more energyc than the muso jikiden eishin ryu.

[FredDude27]

Well yes...But its not really fair to compare. TSKSR (katori) is very dynamic and fast and its also a very well-rounded system with many weapons unlike MJER.

[TomoeMichieru]

@FredDude27

Well, MJER is iaido, not iaijutsu. It's focused on spiritual development more than combat.

[darkstarprophecy]

Actually that Isn't too fast to be a real blade.

Even if it was iaito [blunt replica for training purposes]

then it would still weigh approx. the same as a shinken [live blade], and it probably bend no more for these techniques than a shinken.

some very nice iai there.

[cortosan]

This man is Otake sensei and his sword it's a koto juyo blade.. I don't think Otake sensei was used a Iaito from last 60 years past..

[FredDude27]

I cant really tell from this clip, but normally Otake Sensei uses a very light (sharp) blade thats 600 years old, mounted with 500 year old fittings (tsuka, tsuba etc). Or maybe it was 500, 400 years old respectively..Meh! Anyhoo! That is prolly a sharp blade he is using nonetheless. :-)

[tonytkokelly]

just thought id comment on the speed of the techniques on the film... the whole reson to study these arts is to increase your speed so you dont die in a sword fight the actual techniques are actualy too fast to capture on film so i am guessing these actions are slowed for testing or dimonstrations.

[naaluvarvas]

nice

[jasonnoguchi]

fast because its not a real sword he was using then. you can clearly see the waves along the thin thin blade. A real sword would be heavier and much harder to come up in speed that much.

[Firronox]

Actually its a real sword and its about 600 years old :-P

[jasonnoguchi]

oh... sorry I couldn't tell. My bad.

[Firronox]

No problem ^_^

Peace

[yamatobusi]

hi jason,

i undersatnd what u r saying. I THINK that the reason why he looks really really quick on this vid is caused by 8mm movie????? but he is still really quick. if u see him coming at u, the best is RRRRRUN. or get a shot gun!!!!

if watch WAY OF WARRIOR-WAY OF SAMURAI on youtube, u'll get more of him.

[fuyuame151]

very impressive

[smashbro5]

What's the purpose of all the crouching? Wouldn't it be better to be standing?

[scottrekishika]

well this is coming from an outside who is interested in theis ryu. in otake sensei's book he talks about one of the reasons for crouching is it helps to remain hidden during scouting missions. That was a a reason he used. I think it might also come from that crouching postiiton being one of the ways to "sit" during the medieval period before kneeling in seiza became the predominant form. But that is my personal theory as to 1 possible factor in what is probably a line line of factors & reasons.

[Eikinkloster]

I guess it would be a good position to go for the legs of the adversary.

[ninjiujitsu1]

all of you guys are right about the crouching in some respects, but you forgot the one main thing. most of the tradional sword techniques come from the samurai...who wore 80 pounds of armor when in battle.

if your standing tall and someone get their hips lower than you and slams into you after their cut, even if their cut misses youll still fall over, and with all that weight on you your not getting up in time to escape death.

you keep your hips low to the ground for this reason.

=]

[3star2nr]

In addition to what scott said their is another factor. Practicality.

in japan alot of people sleep on floors. Or sit on floors, during meals etc, So it makes alot of sense to learn to kill a surprise attacker from a crouching position.

Japanese martial arts are as practical as they are lethal.

And especially for samurai derived techniques their designed to kill on the first strike.

If you look at the moves hes doing its draw slash, swish the blade clean of blood then sheath

[Cwolfgal]

i believe also that these are quick draws, so crouching is a means of concealment for a surprise attack in this case

[neogtrmn]

Actually the crouching is how samurai would sit with all their armor on and these kata are based on reacting to an attack while sitting.

[Cwolfgal]

that makes sense XD

[Kunclik]

damn, he is so fast!

[0DarkSorrow0]

"danm, he is so fast!" lol damn right he's fast, he's one of the few living Master Swordsman in the world... watch "Way of the Warrior - Way of the Samurai" here at youtube (4 part vid) and you will see what I'm talking about...

[sokakutakeda]

He's so fast in the video because the playback speed is a little too fast. Not too much but still a little bit too far from being natural/normal. Watch the BBC video, then you will see the original speed!

[talo91]

Awesome!!!

[Cutedervish]

this is pretty fast, although he maintains just fine..

[sonicnblaze33]

wow hes good

[malthus101]

Hey FredDude27, thanks for that. Yes, I have been researching and reading more, I am very keen to speak with Michael Jay as I understand he teaches in London? I have asked Phil in the USA if he has contact details for Michael Jay; do you have them by any chance? Thanks again.

[malthus101]

Does anyone know if there are teachers of this style in London, UK? Thank you.

[FredDude27]

Yes there are two authorized teachers of TSKSR in the UK: Michael Jay and Adam Lancashire. They are official authorized teachers of TSKSR's main branch.

[buskowiak]

Dude, what a speed, it's awesome! Hope I would join to Katori Shinto Ryu school one day.

[DanielWebsterCollege]

beauty

[Mcfladge]

some good footage there, liked it. check out my vids guys 'Samurai : Tenshin ryu learn the way''Samurai : Tenshin ryu sensei mike selvey' and 'Samurai : Tenshin ryu budo' let me know what you think in comments section. many thanks.

[irken38]

i never understood how Otake sensei does his chiburi he does it so fast, i like its speed though.

[BujinkanTurkiye]

I also wanted to catch that moment but could not figure out how he did the chiburi, I know similar ones though. This kind of footage shows why Martial abilities and discipline are called an ''art''.

[benway813]

He holds the tsuka with the left hand, pulls his right hand upward which spins the sword on it's long axis while loosely holding it steady with the left hand, then he taps it with his right fist just as he regrabs with the left hand to hold it in place. It's not as hard as it looks but he is a master.

[VID3OZ3TA]

absolutely amazing

but the sword is a katana or kitetsu?

[Firronox]

A katana.

[raigekimaru]

omg he's so fast!

[tengokukagesensei]

Wow, reminds me of the good ol days when I used to kenjutsu. Gawd, I miss that sensei of mine...

[SnW]

just beautiful

[ob1kendobe]

The back of the katana is dull not for the pupose of defense, that is just one of its uses though. The reason why the back is dull, is a manufacturing techniqu used to be able to have an extremely sharp blad, yet to have a support system to keep it from snapping. So they temper teh blade differently than the back side. and after it is tempered, since the back is softer and teh blade is extremely hard, you naturally get a curve after tempering. Or something like that.

[itsumonihon]

the curve is built into the blade during the smithing process. the quenching of the blade during heat treatment can cause it to curve a little bit more but it's fairly insignificant. excessive curving during quenching would tear and weaken the thin metal at the edge side of the blade.

[xkorpiklaani]

another reason the katana is a curve blade is because of the porpose, it is a slicing sword not a stabing one so a curved blade is more efficient.

and also the smith uses differencial hardening to make the hamon, tempering is to relese the tension on the metal so it isnt brittle

[zerowildfire]

I just had a look at your video's. They have nothing to do with this video. If your wondering why you got a bad rating....now you know. Dont advertise your vidoe's in the comment section. Youtubers dont like it. Especially if your vid's have nothing to do with the current subject matter they are wathcing.

[TakadaGenbe]

well, thats not why one side is dull, but as Otake-Sensei pointed out once, the back of the blade can be used for defense to knock the opponents sword aside and strike within their range.

[Monocromagnum]

Now I see why one side of a Kantana is dull. As seen in the video it is used in a form of defense.

[Sancria]

At about 1:26 in this film, Otake Shihan-sensei executes a horizontal cut, stops the blade _dead_, then raises the blade vertically, stops it _dead_ again and then executes a cut.

Try it at home, with anything with any weight to it, be it a bokken, shinai, or even a baseball bat, and you'll see how incredibly difficult it really is.

[SallyWater]

I was born in 1990)))

[Sepiraph]

Love this video...

[mattbodomtully]

perhaps this video was sped up, but just by looking at his form (and i don't even partake in any sword practices!) you can see this guy certainly has speed and experience behind him

[grangarian]

dear mellowmaromi1, you're right in a way, this video was edited, they've put a main title at the beginning. that is the only edited thing in it. i believe people with this speed and skill exist

[mellowmaromi1]

Just watch how fast the camera shakes and tell me thats not fast.

[MockTheFools]

It appears to be an amateur video with that "jerky", speeded-up look the old silent movies had. So yes, I agree that the film seems faster than normal. However, the point I was making is that Otake sensei CAN perform these kata at this speed (even though he's 27 years older) because I've actually watched him do it in person.

[MockTheFools]

If you are simply saying that the film is speeded-up in some way I agree - if you are claiming that he is incapable of such speed in real life, then I suggest you hop on a plane to Japan and see for yourself.

[grangarian]

actually it looks faster 'couse it was made on film, i guess it was 16mm or maybe 8, and the frame rate is different than of a video, that's why the speed looks a little odd

[mellowmaromi1]

Im sorry, but the video was obviously edited to make him look faster. It speeds up too fast, the strings that tie around his saya flings around much to fast, which shows that the video speed was increased. It doesnt matter how fast you can move, the cords will move at the same speed, its physics. Also parts were cut out which skipped along to make him look faster. Its still good though

[eaguard1020]

This video is about 1.7x faster than real-time. We, however, may not say that this was done to make him appear faster. This is not observable. Also, I have seen him move this quickly at a more advanced age than in the film. (Estimation of film speed derived from simple gravitationally based formulas of Newtonian physics)

[MockTheFools]

Mellowmaromi! and grangarian. Otake sensei can definitely move this fast. Within the last 12 months, I've actually WATCHED him do it from only 3 feet away.

[mellowmaromi1]

Uh.. no. The speed was increased. Pay attention to everyone elses movements. Everyone moves fast in this video, not only the sensei. The straps around his sword sheath even move faster when he moves, which defys physics. It doesnt matter how skilled he is, the string would move at the same speed. This is edited to be faster then it is.

[thelastgreathope]

wow... i watched this vid about 1,000 times even w/out that cool music... and holy hell someone post a better video, I don't think it is possible... was he born with a sword?

[swordsmith07]

I agree with the poster below. Nami-Ryu is utter garbage and made up by James Williams who is a fraud. This is the way it is supposed to be be done

[MockTheFools]

I second that. Prompted by all the adverse comments, I looked at the Nami-Ryu video of a 2006 demonstration by "Williams Sensei" - what ego-inflated shite! He even stops to wipe down his "Paul Chen" blade with a rag after each poorly executed tameshigiri before clumsily PLACING the sword back in it's saya. No wonder he's disabled the comments option.

[MockTheFools]

Further to my comment below, I'm now a little freaked out by 07ATE posting anti-Nami comments on virtually EVERY iai video on YouTube. Sounds like something very personal going on to me (even if Nami Ryu is utter bollocks as claimed).

[DustyAires]

Thank you very much for putting this up. This is the best demonstration of Iaijutsu I've seen to date. For one, every book I've read on the art indicates the first strike is usually on the draw (a handful of exceptions), but most of the so called 'Iaido' and 'Iaijutsu' vid's I've found are slow, and they draw, then strike. I'm not discounting other's skill or that they might just be learning, but this is what I envisioned Iaijutsu to look like. Thanks again.

[shatalg]

the move at 1:05 is amazing. could someone make a tutorial for it? i'd really like to learn that one

[myASIMO]

It's clean!

[07ATF]

This is amazing, this is how it should be done. Lately, I'm seeing a lot of this crap called Nami-Ryu and it's shameful for a person like james williams to practice samurai arts for five years and turn around make his own style. I feel very sorry for james students because they are being fooled. OTAKE SENSEI dedicated his life to the arts and truly a great man and a great master!

[Raymasaki]

great footage

[FistMethod]

Amazing!

[Minroud]

Astonishing and striking, these moves.The way he unsheated his sword left me amazed.That isn´t fastened, if you see it carefully. There are years of swordmanship...

[locoloco17]

oh btw, iaijutsu is faster than most other styles

[BL44Trofl]

It is indeed, I do Katori Shinto Ryu, Iaijutsu is one of the fast parts, kendo is too btw.. but it's not a 'style' itself ;)

[locoloco17]

This is years of training. Don't be fooled just because it is on YouTube. This video is 26 years old and has been posted on other sites far longer than Youtube =P

[JinsukeHP]

One, Katori Shinto ryu is still around. Two, it's no faster than any other style.. The video's been sped up. Still, very impressive.

[soi558]

Actually the video hasn't been sped up. If you look at the guy in the audience sitting down at the beginning its normal speed.

[JinsukeHP]

Watch the sageo when he spins. If the video isnt sped up, then it's flopping around extremely quickly. It's easy to make one move quickly, but it's going to fall back down at the same speed every time when you stop moving. His hakama settle extremely quickly as well. Either way, the person sitting down isnt much proof. People can comfortably shuffle through crowds a good bit slower and faster than that regardless of the video's speed.

[HaMoOhAhA]

I highly doubt this has been sped up. What you are saying about his hakama settling is rather farfetched considering the quality of the video. And of course the sageo is flopping quickly. Afterall he is spinning pretty damn fast. Also, from what I know about Otake shihan and the other videos I've seen and such, He is definetly capable of that speed, and its a realistic speed.

[aWhym]

Great kime!

As I know Katori Shinto Ryu was one of the quickest among all, it would've been exciting to fight against it.

[sagmann20]

he's so graceful you cant help but be mystified

[quarkiepoh]

great movement, with grace and power, a joy to watch!!

[HaMoOhAhA]

Wow! :0 What more can I say?