Student Views:
Western Fencing and Iaijutsu: Comparisons
& Challenges
Introduction
A little more than a year ago I started the study of Tamiya Ryu
Iaijutsu. Before Tamiya Ryu, I studied Western Foil Fencing while
in college. The switch from fencing to Tamiya Ryu was just a little
challenging to say the least, as I carried over many bad and good
habits from the practice of fencing. Some of my worst habits, and
the areas I have the hardest time with are my footwork and cutting
technique, or bladework. I was, however, surprised to find that
my fencing training actually helped me in some ways. For instance,
I found that I did not have too much trouble coordinating my sword
techniques while moving at the same time. Fencing helped me the
most, though, with my blade control and “distancing”
(i.e. spacing between combatants).
Footwork
When I began training in Tamiya Ryu Iaijutsu, I had quite a difficult
time with my footwork. I wanted to turn my back foot inward so that
my feet were perpendicular to each other because my feet were so
used to this basic fencing position for the feet. I still find myself
turning the back foot in when I am getting tired or when I am concentrating
on a new sword technique. This was very apparent when I was learning
the Tsuki movement in the Kata known as Yokemi. I did the blade
turn, catch, and Tsuki correctly, but then my feet reverted back
to the way they are positioned in fencing. Instead of stepping through
with my left foot, I almost did a lunge movement from fencing instead.
I had no idea that I had done this until Sensei showed me what had
occurred: that the lunge was ingrained in me when doing a thrusting
movement with a sword.
I have, however, noticed that doing a sword technique while moving
was not quite as challenging for me. The only area I really had
to work on was doing the right footwork with the different techniques.
I believe this was also due to my fencing background. Class after
class we would practice the basic lunge and blocking techniques
in different combinations back and forth down the gym floor. We
had to make sure that our footwork with correct so that we were
in the right position to either advance or retreat efficiently and
quickly. By the time I started the study of Iai I was already used
to performing sword movements while moving, so the sword/footwork
coordination was somewhat in place. In addition to my footwork,
my bladework in Iai has also been affected by my study of western
fencing.
Bladework
When I was learning fencing, I was taught to make all of my movements
as small and compact as possible. The bladework consisted of mostly
straight up, down and sideways movements with my arms, with most
of the movements being done using my wrist and fingers. I was taught
that large sweeping movements were too ineffective to be used, since
many matches are won due to split second subtle moves. Now, when
I have to do large, sweeping motions like Nukitsuke (the initial
sword draw) and Kiri Oroshi (the downward cut), I tend to “chop”
instead of getting a nice, big cut. My cuts have gotten a little
better over the past year, but I still catch myself not cutting
big at times and chopping instead. So even though I have brought
a few bad habits with me, I also have brought some skills.
Western-style Fencing is very good at teaching someone how to properly
control his or her blade. It is the main physical technique (besides
footwork) that you have to learn to be successful in fencing. If
you could control your blade, you had an easier time controlling
your opponents and opening them up for an attack. The blade control
went hand in hand with distancing, if one was lacking, the other
was of no use. If you had poor blade control, no matter how good
your distancing was, you had a hard time scoring. Your opponent
would either circle around your blade, or tap your blade out of
the way and score on you. It also held true that if your bladework
was very good, but you had trouble with your distancing, you would
also have trouble scoring. Bad footwork would place you either:
1) too far away from your opponent so that you
would tend to lean into the thrust to make contact, or: 2)
you would end up too close and jam yourself into your partner making
your technique ineffective. Both of these can be seen in Tamiya
Ryu Iaijutsu when doing either bunkai or partner exercises. If your
distancing is off, you will either completely miss connecting with
your opponent, or you will end up being jammed and your technique
will suffer.
Making the transition from Western-style Fencing to Tamiya Ryu Iaijutsu
has been a long and continual process, and I still make a number
of mistakes during my weekly training sessions. This is all part
of the learning process, though, and is one of the reasons why coming
to class each week is so fun and enjoyable.
Respectfully Submitted,
Joe Gallagher, Ikkyu
United States Tamiya Ryu Iaijutsu
Michigan Honbu Dojo
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