Geezer's Long March Toward the Elite Sneaking Up On the Finish Line

[tertius]

To understand the various techniques over the continuum of Japanese sword, you have to take history into account. After the Japanese civil war era ended, many sword styles changed over the following 200 years due to the samurai class becoming basically unemployed. There was a lot of dueling and assassination, and armor was not worn. The style I practice is what was taught at the Toyama military academy, and itself changed, from the Russo-Japanese war to World War II, after which many of the highest level teachers dissociated themselves from the school.

Yeah, i was thinking more of "classical" technique, in particular that influenced by the type of armor worn by the Japanese, which I thought was pretty resistant to thrusting/penetrating attacks (I could be misremembering this though, certainly). Also, most of my exposure to Japanese sword technique has been through aikido and iaido, where I didn't remember many thrusting attacks (and these mostly at the neck). On reflection, both of these are rather philosophically oriented practices, so may or may not be good representatives.

How are the techniques from Tomoya oriented? More practical as opposed to philosophical?

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 244

I worked out with the newly returned green belt and re-taught him choking since he has been away from the dojo a few years. He torqued my neck hard as Hell a few times and my cervical vertebrae feel like they got slightly rearranged. Head ache too, but that could be the after effects of having my carotid arteries cut off a few times, a fair back pressure built up, and then a big surge of arterial blood flooding back into the brain. I greyed out a few times, but it's just what you do when you want to be sure the person you're teaching has got the technique right finally.

The biggest thing I had to get him over was using his wrists instead of his elbows in hard twisting hammer curls that hurt like a bastard but have little effect on knocking you out. So my cue to him was "wrist not elbow" with my hands touching his elbows to reinforce the words. He finally got the tap out time down from 10 seconds to 5 seconds. I hadn't had a chance to practice these myself for a few months but as it turned out I got him in la-la land in about 2-3 seconds. I wait for the hand move up for the tap and release even before contact is made, but even with that his knees buckled a few times. We were both woozy by the end of the session. I also discovered that a palm up palm down cross-handed choke kata juji jime was as effective as it was for me because of the mixed alternating grip. Just like in the deadlift. The hands and wrists torque in opposite direction and seal off the carotids in short order.

We also did the rice bale throw. Scary as Hell if the guy throwing doesn't do it or get it right. So I spent a few extra minutes describing and pantomiming the throwing part of it so as not to get my neck broken. The attacker charges in a low tackle and the defender bulldogs them around the neck while rolling backward on the same line of attack and driving one or both knees into the midsection to boost the attacker over the top. Then the defender tightens up on the neck while rolling over onto their stomach. The green belt for some reason had a problem keeping his back roll from angling off to the side. Very bad for my neck. But some vitamin I should have me a little better.

I forgot something very enlightening. One of the counters to a choke involved an arm bar that wraps around the defender's torso or hips. Very bad on the elbow. Victor, a 3rd Dan and maybe the only one at the dojo stronger than me showed us how it was refined and improved. He reached across and started working pressure points on my head with his thumb. Stretched me out and extended the barred arm even worse until the elbow screams. Not to mention the pressure point being worked. He nailed me behind the mastoid, on the temple, and a spot on the lower jaw. All you want to do is move your head and upper body away from the hurt and that just makes the bar worse. It looks like nothing as the pressure points are being applied too. Except for the yelling and gasping from me.

[Gwyn Brookes]

How are the techniques from Tomoya oriented? More practical as opposed to philosophical?

The kata we practice as Toyama Ryu comes from the sword curriculum of that school, and my understanding of it is that it was an amalgamation of various family ryu, which was done in order to prevent one style from being seen as dominant, thus encouraging harmony among the officer class. I think the school dates back to the end of the 19th century. The curriculum was modified several times as a result of it being used in the various military engagements Japan engaged in from that time up to World War II. One example is that the early curriculum often used straight cuts. These were modified to angled cuts, because when you do a straight cut on uneven ground you run the risk of burying your sword in the ground. Also, angled cuts are much easier to do running. So I would call the techniques done out of this school pretty practical - but practical in terms of the demands of the time.

While the style at my school is called Toyama Ryu, we actually are lucky enough to also practice kata that pre-dates Toyama Ryu by a few centuries; notably, much of our two person training comes from the Yagyu Shinkage Ryu. These techniques do come from an armor-wearing era, although it's hard to know how much they've changed since the 1500s - at which time they were also practical, and used on the battlefield. However, after the civil war era ended in 1600, the techniques probably started to change. After the Meiji restoration, the samurai class effectively ended, and again the techniques must have changed.

I don't know enough about iaido to comment on its history or its practice, although my understanding is that it teaches you to cut right from the draw, which to me suggests dueling, as opposed to battlefield technique, as its practical application. As far as aikido is concerned, the style of aikido I practice doesn't have a sword component. My aikido grand-teacher (Toshishiro Obata Sensei) was uchi-deshi at the Yoshinkan dojo under Shioda sensei, but his main art is sword, and he did not teach a sword curriculum as part of his aikido curriculum as he already had a separate sword art. So I can't really comment on how other aikido schools view their sword curriculum.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 242

5 minutes warmup on the bike. (Deload: good thing too)

Dips: -70 on gravitron for 3 sets of 8

Hammer Curls: sets of 8 45-55-65. Taking a page from Oldsters book on these, although I am not fond of dumbbells. So since Gold's has one of those high-tech pronating wrist circle curl bars that you can rotate your wrists in any which direction I used that.

Squats: Sets of 5 110-135-165.

I did these three as a giant set since they weren't taxing. The whole routine took 23 minutes and perked my average HR at 128 bpm for 80% of MHR. I decided to experiment with a little of this to see how much cardio I'd get from a deload session. Pretty much the same as the others as it seems. I think I'm going to like these deloads a lot. God knows after yesterday I couldn't have done well if this were not a deload.

I am hurting a multitude of places from my mastoid and cervical vertebrae, to my L5. Also on the temple where Victor worked me over yesterday in refining that torso arm bar. I am paying the price for being a good uke with the chokes and the rice bale throw gone bad. My head hurts with a headache that won't let up even with liberal (did I actually say that?) use of Vitamin I.

[Jonathon Sullivan]

To understand the various techniques over the continuum of Japanese sword, you have to take history into account. After the Japanese civil war era ended, many sword styles changed over the following 200 years due to the samurai class becoming basically unemployed. There was a lot of dueling and assassination, and armor was not worn. The style I practice is what was taught at the Toyama military academy, and itself changed, from the Russo-Japanese war to World War II, after which many of the highest level teachers dissociated themselves from the school.

Toyama-ryu is what I learned first; Toshishiro Obata sensei is perhaps the best-known exponent in the West. Later, I learned Eishin-ryu, which is an arguably more "classical" style and incorporates a lot of techniques from seiza and from the seated-in-armor position (tatehiza), both of which can be uncomfortable or awkward for people unused to these postures. Toyama-ryu is perhaps a more "Westerner-friendly" style, emphasizing the draw from a standing combat position. I enjoyed them both. I'm terribly out of practice. And I never did get very far in kendo. Life is too short to do all the good shit, I swear.

[Gwyn Brookes]

Toyama-ryu is what I learned first; Toshishiro Obata sensei is perhaps the best-known exponent in the West. Later, I learned Eishin-ryu, which is an arguably more "classical" style and incorporates a lot of techniques from seiza and from the seated-in-armor position (tatehiza), both of which can be uncomfortable or awkward for people unused to these postures. Toyama-ryu is perhaps a more "Westerner-friendly" style, emphasizing the draw from a standing combat position. I enjoyed them both. I'm terribly out of practice. And I never did get very far in kendo. Life is too short to do all the good shit, I swear.

Another sword geek! It's true that life is too short. If I had more time [were independently wealthy and didn't have to work] I'd also study naginata; there's a very good school near me.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 244

5 minutes warmup on the bike. (Deload)

Standing Overhaed Press: Sets of 5 55-70-90.

Barbell Row: Sets of 5 90-110-135.

Claw Grip: 2 Sets of 5 220.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 245

Lots O' stuff happening at work this week. In and out of the gym fast with a GXP.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 245

Real change of pace for me today. I had to get into work at 0500 and "do stuff" so no morning workout for me.

So I left at 1:00 and lifted then. Running on fumes too because I use my morning lifting routine to wake up and I slept like crap last night. Thank God for deload week.

Bench Press: Sets of 5, 95-125-145.

Power Snatch: 3 sets of 3 with 110. A little challenging.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 245.5

Interesting drive to the dojo this morning. I passed the X Games set up in downtown LA and a platoon of National Guard with ropes and gear on a training exercise on Stony Point rock formations off Topanga Canyon Road.

I worked on re-teaching the green belt chokes. I'm in way better shape than this time last week but he still needs some work on technique without rearranging my neck bones. Done right, there's no discomfort at all. Just tunnel vision and then sleep. The practice I had the last two weeks had him tapping as his knees buckle in 1-2 seconds and I'm releasing as I see his hand come up for the tap out.

We lead off with the rice bale throw so we would both be fresh and not woozy from chokes. I walked him through it again emphasizing keeping himself on the line of attack and continuing the move along the same line. The teen blue belts were amazed and slightly scared by the throw. They asked about the noises I was making as I got choked. Just me trying to get air in my lungs and gargling as my carotids close up and my trachea shuts off.

One of the other techniques had one of the black belts showing how to deflect a straight punch up and then dropping under the exposed side and driving the point of the shoulder into the 5th rib. It hurts and the lungs empty explosively as you drop slightly. Right into a cross-neck choke that comes in under the raised arm. Then nighty-night time.

We finished up with some instruction on combining low kicks with blocks, deflections, and joint locks or counterstrikes. Even some low hooking sweeps as combinations for the same. Boy was that playing my song. Those were some of the adaptations I had to make with the judo and earlier shorei goju I had to make when I had to fight for reals.