Some Kohei were asking about getting more practice with
Tanto. This has been a neglected area of
Aikido practice in our dojo. Possibly,
there is little reason for us to practice it.
As I’ve written before, several events during WWII and immediately
following would have led to Tanto or pistol work being problematic to practice
openly. If the Ikkyu and Dan test
requirements didn’t specifically ask for this, we probably wouldn’t do it, and
the way it is taught I don’t know that we would miss much. Our knife work is kindly referred to as “Dysfunctional.”
It was maybe not one of O Sensei’s favourite weapons to
train with – there is mention of pistol disarms in Budo, demonstrated against an attacker with a Tanto. There are some scenes using Tanto in the
Asahi News video from the 30’s, but only disarms. There is much, much less footage and time
spent on Tanto than sword work, empty hand, rifle and Jo. In these above mentioned sources, sword against
sword is demonstrated, rifle against rifle is demonstrated, or empty hand
against weapon. I have not seen O Sensei
showing tanto against another weapon, but one scene where he is using a fan (a
short single handed weapon) against a swordsman. There are no solo training sequences I have
seen where O Sensei was using a Tanto.
If there is one, I would like to see it and please feel free to correct
me.
I had one teacher talk about “Jo Style Movement” (which
looked like what Iwama style would call Kihon) and “Sword Style Movement” (resembling
at times what Iwama style would call Ki No Nagare) but when I asked him about
Tanto Style Movement, he digressed.
Sword work has hands close together and working in
concert. As our art becomes more
influenced by other systems and cultures, we move away from the influence of
two handed weapons and really start to do movement with each hand expressed
separately. Is this Tanto Style? Or, is this really empty hand style and Tanto
style movement is redundant?
The system of Aikido that seems most influenced by Tanto work
is the Shodokan system. Were these kata
discarded from the other Aikido systems because Tomiki himself was made persona
non grata? Were these really Tomiki’s
own innovations? As a military trainer
in China/Manchuria, Tomiki would have had to respond to the Chinese martial
arts techniques the soldiers were encountering and pistol work would have been
necessary.
Kawahara Sensei had a very developed sense of what Tanto
Dori could be, and asked for a variety of types of movements. Movements could be lethal, damaging, pins and
disarms without retaining the knife, pin and disarm retaining the knife and
finally disarms (stripping movements) without any pin. It seemed Ikkyu students had to show they
knew how to break an arm, but Sandan students were chastised for resorting to
the same movements. Nothing was written
down or formalized to my knowledge. If
Kawahara Sensei had a strict Tanto syllabus for us, I was unaware of it.
In general, Aikikai seems to defer to Saito Sensei for all Sword
and Jo work. Saito Sensei’s books and
videos have many Tanto techniques I find familiar, but there is still much less
of a focus on the knife than on the sword or Jo.
So, in setting up a short course of study in Aikido Tanto
work, what to teach? Do I just try to
stick to my memory, or to a specific association or do I try to give a good
overview?
People were learning this for their tests, moreso than any
martial need. Shomenuchi Gokyo and
Yokomenuchi Gokyo without question, Kotegaeshi from Tsuki, Shomenuchi, and
Yokomenuchi. Higikime movements seem universal. I wanted to
do a little more: There was a history
and a period of development of this weapon, and there are implications for
Aikido with one hand full.
For the first class, I started with Aigamae Ate, and then
proceeded to Shomenuchi Gokyo, Shomenuchi Kotegaeshi, and Shomenuchi Higikime.
Second class: From Kawahara Sensei, Udekimenage. This is apparently variation of Gedan Ate from Shodokan.
Variations after the initial opening movement:
Uchitenkan
Shihonage (with a discussion on the
dangers of Tenshin body movement)
Gyaku Kotegaeshi
For the third class, Sokumen Iriminage/Gyaku Gamae Ate
leading into pins and disarms then switching gears to Kubishime, Haragatame,
and Iriminage. I had intended to keep
Ura Ate variations separate, but it just flowed that way.
Fourth class, all Shomen Ate variations, then leading to
Wakigatame, Kaitenage, and Gokyo. Half
of the class was over 6 feet, and half were 5 footers. Arm wrapping variations were practiced from
overtop and underneath.
I did a variation of Yoshinkan Morote Dori Kokyu Ho #1 the
first class to emphasize not using a knife with a boxer’s jab, and this seemed
to help. In time, I did let this
dissolve into Tanto Nage, and I found this was helpful for teaching people to
avoid unnecessary grabbing in their empty hand techniques. Sometimes I see a student wanting a more “martial
practice” and they start keeping closed hands and get grabby – I made an effort
to show that not grabbing means I can have my own tools or I can use the hand
to disarm and not just contain. The open
hands of the “softer, more fluid practice” are actually an opportunity for a
very martial practice. I came up with a
wrist warm up that involved transitioning the blade through the four basic
grips, and I found this actually applied to our empty hand transitions as well. I did a couple of demos using a remote control against a Tanto.
I have one class left.
I’m not clear on how to keep everything I want to do to one hour. Responses to Kubishime, Knife at the side of
the head, behind the head, behind the abdomen, collar grab and stab. Probably a bit of Gyaku Yokomenuchi. Maybe a variation on Tanto Nage with a wallet instead of a weapon.
For anyone out there, what do you consider essential basics to
Aikido Tanto practice? What would you
include or discard?
