The Way of the Warrior : The Samurai Way - 2/4 - Katori Shinto Ryu Risuke Otake

[infokemp]

Great video - it just goes to show that the Japanese used the empirical method as well as the Europeans - the techniques are much closer to Talhoffer than to kendo which is aggressive but a formalised exercise. A european longswords (conquistador or Gothic foot knight) man would recognise the whole use of the sword as a weapon - as is shown here - folks can say there are more ways to use the European long sword or Messer but the Katana is for me still an excellent blade it can cut & stab.

[TheSamuraiWorkshop]

@infokemp

Thanks for the reply! Actually Kendo has absolutely nothing to do with the Bushi arts. Kendo is a point based sport which targets the protected parts of the armor. Kenjutsu - which this video is about - targets the weak point which are left open in the armor.

Unlike European martial arts, old Japanese ryuha (schools) did not have any form of competition or free-sparring training. All experience was created by endless repetitions of pre-defined kata.

[infokemp]

@TheSamuraiWorkshop Thank you for making clear those fine details, the drilling / Kata aspect is something I see as a strong way to take knowledge down from Sensei to pupil, in an effort to keep a pure battle-field tradition; the accumulation of knowledge from one instance & context of a winning soldier using that technique. Do you believe though that drills/kata's should also in the modern context be accompanied by free-sparring to develop fighting skills? As in full contact Jujitsu.

[TheSamuraiWorkshop]

@infokemp

I believe that there is a middle road that probably works best.

The repetitive training program of Samurai is actually an excellent example of 'muscle memory training'. With all the daily mistakes you and your training partner made during the years you are perfectly capable of anticipating pretty much anything you'll encounter in real battle. Train until you have 'no mind' and the body will fight without thought.

Ki-ken-tai-ichi means spirit, sword and body as one

[infokemp]

@TheSamuraiWorkshop Excellent reply - empirical and exactly what Miomoto Musashi's doctrine said. Thanks.

All the best

David

[trialsrider001]

man these guys are fast with amazing skill

[schizoidboy]

The discipline and the concentration are amazing.

[VikingWannaBe51887]

thanks for uploading!