The US Federation of Batto Jutsu NewsLetter is a means of open and public expression of ideas and experiences in the world of Japanese Sword Arts. All articles published in the NewsLetter are firsthand accounts by the writer. We do not accept articles based on speculation, hearsay or gossip. All events described can be verified by other observers. No individual, group or organization name is mentioned that was not made known by public announcement at the time of the event. All conculsions and observations made are the writer's. If you have views other than those expressed in an article please feel free to submitt your version for consideration of publication. Since the NewsLetter is a public forum, all e-mail responses will be made available to the public.
Having heretofore lacked the means to travel to attend a taikai of the U.S. Batto Federation, much less the experience to compete in one, I was very interested when a friend showed me an article in the U of M campus paper about a similar tournament taking place here in Minnesota on Saturday, November 5th.
I attended the Sengoku Classic as a spectator and not as a competitor, due in equal parts to safety concerns raised by the format of the event as posted on their website, differences between the events offered at the tournament verses what we practice at my dojo, and the fact I've only just begun practicing tameshigiri test-cutting. The safety issues stemmed both from one of their cutting events and their bokken sparring. The website spoke of a "speed cutting" event, wherein each competitor would make their way through a set course of standing targets, cutting through each one in an attempt to acheive the best time for the course. This screemed to me of "running with scissors," and I was relieved upon attending the tournament to find that this event was dropped from the final schedule, leaving intact the more standard competition of cutting from a single spot targets arranged around oneself. The tournament's website did feature viedo of Nakamura Taisaburo, founder of our branch of Toyama Ryu, demonstrating this event. However, Nakamura-sensei had been involved in the sword arts for 54 years before this video was shot; I wondered how many years' experience with the sword this tournament would bring together. The bokken sparring did remain in the event: two opponents sparring at full speed with wooden practice swords, each competitor pulling their strikes before actually making contact, and each competitor acknowledging a good "hit" by their opponent. Even if one dojo practices in this manner, it seemed irresponsible to me to open a tournament to all schools and expect them to be similarly trained. Any martial art or other physical activity has the potential for injury, but we expect there to be reasonable provisions made to prevent such injury. and this event really made none.
The host of the event came out and introduced himself as Al Kilgore, sensei of Chikara Dojo, although he neglected to mention the style of kenjutsu he and his students would be putting on display. He introduced the opening act, Misora Taiko, who put on a thunderous, impressive show and took a few moments between pieces to explain the history and technique of the art.
When Misora had cleared their gear from the stage, Mr. Kilgore came out to tell us a little about what we would be seeing performed that day - iaido, tameshigiri and bokken sparring - and define some of the Japanese terminolgy that would be used in the course of the tournament. Rather than assuaging my concerns about the safety of their sparring practices, he instead used this intro to point out the danger of sparring full-speed with wooden swords, citing only the control developed by his students as a safeguard against injury. However, he also warned spectators sitting in the front row of the possibility of bokken flying free of their wielder's hands and into the crowd, undemining somewhat those claims of control.
The first event on the schedule, though, was iaido. Mr. Kilgore's nine students in attendance sat in rows on the floor in seiza. As one of the performers from Misora provided a beat on the drum she had left set up for this, the students one by one began performing different kata. The effect of drum and movement combined was very dramatic and very cool. That said, the iaido was actually the most difficult part of the tournament for me to form a "professional" opinion on. Toyama Ryu is a very bare-bones, utilitarian style; what was on display at the Sengoku Classic was by contrast rather flashy, with one iaidoka going up on his right foot on a draw and later reversing his grip on his blade one-handed, and with lots of big circular motions of the sword in close and at arm's length to build momentum for a cut. Following the iaido demonstration, the competition commenced, the same techniques performed individually for Mr. Kilgore, the one acting judge in attendance, with my same reservations about forming opinions of what was on display.
Following the iaido segment, Mr. Kilgore came out again to introduce the tameshigiri portion of his tournament. He and one of his students set up seven tatami mats for his demonstration: four in a row in front of him, two a foot apart on his right, and a single roll on his left. Mr. Kilgore remarked on some of his students bowing to their swords as they prepared to cut, making the cryptic comment that the bit of ceremony was "for the sword, not to the sword," without any further clarification......
