Lessons from the Sword

Daito Ryu taught many things.  Aikido borrowed some things from other arts apparently, but mostly I think we are Daito-Ryu that has been whittled down.  We don’t practice umbrella retention techniques or many other traditional Daito ryu practices.  We don’t practice how to be lethal.  Our syllabus is much smaller and has much less detail.  We still keep some unusual practices that look esoteric and outdated while we discarded so much.  One of those practices is tachidori.

Some of the more oddball and less apparently martially applicable things:

Hanmi handachi – how to deal with attackers with a longer stride, superior uphill position or just generally taller.  Useful for trench warfare, or in a building or on stairs.  Useful for a tall instructor to figure out how to teach a certain movement to a much shorter student.  Also, useful for a short person to experience being tall – I had to throw someone in seiza while I was standing to understand how to make a Kokyu Ho technique real for a 6’8” student.

Morote Dori is useful for any joint lock reversal or handgun/weapon retention, as well as providing feedback for strikes and general alignment for power.

Kokyu Doza - while the exercise makes little apparent sense martially, everything we do is Kokyu Doza.  This foundation is part of every technique.

So, I feel Tachidori has to serve more purpose than just pretend highly improbable and questionable sword play.  I've started to think the weapon is incidental, because by all accounts our weapons work is not impressive.

Lessons for every Aikido student:

1.  Get off the line.  In time a student gets comfortable with their blocking and redirecting skills.  The feet become planted.  Students stop moving as much in jiyuwaza.  There is no blocking a bokken with your forearm, so students get their bodies moving again.

2.  A little fear back in the practice.  Just watching a moving object coming at you without flinching or freezing is a reflex that means more than most of our techniques.  Every movement has to count.

3.  Maai is far more challenging.  I have heard from several people that a Kendo student can tsuki from much further away than I might think.  Irimi is harder as your partner's arm just got three feet longer. 

4.  Timing gets more challenging.  Your partner is only 5 feet tall?  Give them a bokken, and they can reach like a seven footer.  They can swing that bokken faster and with more power than many can kick without much practice.

5.  "Don't fear the weapon, fear the attacker."  Find the human's balance and weak spots, and don't focus on the weapon.  Read your partner's timing and intention.

6.  Don't get too far off the line.  Miss the first attack, a second attack comes.  A bokken is only an inch wide, so you do not need to cover much ground.

7.  Move from where you are.  If you dodge to the left side of the blade, do a technique that starts on your partner's left.  Enter and act.

8.  In Tanto, we control the knife by controlling the attacker.  In Tachidori, we have an option to control the attacker by controlling the weapon.  We can throw our partner without specifically touching them.

9.  Your stance is stable and poised while the attack is pending.  Your ability to move and react depends on a well integrated mind and body.  You have to be balanced and relaxed.

10.  Accuracy.  Unlike the Jo, the bokken is not manipulated by grabbing anywhere on it's length, only the handle or sometimes the back of the blade.  From several feet out, you have a very small target to control the handle.  (Not all Tachidori retains the weapon.)

Tachidori is all about learning to control spacing and timing.  It is about movement and accuracy in the face of unforgiving attack - something that cannot happen with a panicked mind.  

 A training partner gets an advantage, and I learn to work at a bigger spatial disadvantage than I did with the Tanto.  Partners I might have a physical advantage over now get to be equal or superior.  These are things that can benefit every Aikido student.  

I am reminded of a story I heard once:

A young student came to a sword master to study the sword.  He was disappointed that he wasn't given a sword to train with; his teacher just repeatedly slapped him.  Eventually the student got the idea and started to move out of the way.  The teacher had to get more inventive, quicker, more sneaky in his attempts to hit the student.  Finally, the day came that the teacher was unable to hit his student.  The student was then given a sword and a modicum of training in handling it.  The student went on to become a sword master with the foundation he was given.