Tanto: What to teach and how?

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?