(25 years old)

Background

I first encountered tameshigiri (test cutting with a sword) at an Enbu-Taikai (martial arts demonstration) five or six years prior to the establishing of the Toyama ryu federation. At that time I was an uchideshi in Yoshinkan Aikido under its founder Shioda Gozo, and I had been watching the other performances that followed our Aikido demonstration. Of all the styles of koryu kenjutsu and iaido that were performed, the demonstration by Nakamura Taizaburo was the only one that included any tameshigiri. The tameshigiri looked very lively to me compared to the other styles.

I met Nakamura Taizaburo a number of times at demonstrations, and noticed that he was always performing alone and without any assistance. Before I realized it, I was helping him set up targets and cleaning up afterwards. Even after I joined the Tokyo Wakakoma (fight choreography and stunt troupe), I naturally continued to help Nakamura when he was asked to appear at television studios.

Published in the book "Nihonto Tameshigiri no Shinzui"by Nakamura Taizaburo, 1980. Photo shot during the filming of the popular documentary "Eternal Budo" (aka: Budo, The Art ofKilling).

In 1977, The All Japan Toyama Ryu Federation was established. Nakamura held seminars where he taught Toyama ryu and tameshigiri. Many people participated at these seminars. The level of skill in tameshigiri wasn't very good, but since other sword arts did not teach tameshigiri at that time, the seminars were very successful. I began to participate myself in these seminars, and was the youngest swordsman there. However my initial introduction to Nakamura was as his helper at demonstrations sometime prior to training.

In the earlier seminars, there were participants who would exhibit extremely poor control by cutting the floors, hitting the targets with the side of their blades (hira-uchi), cutting their palms, or even throwing their swords. Seeing all these instructors make such considerable mistakes made me realize that kata practice was not enough to master the techniques of tenouchi (grip) and hasuji (edge alignment), and that tameshigiri practice was a necessary part of swordsmanship.

At this time, I was cutting straw and bamboo targets easily with one hand or both hands using techniques of makuri, kaeshi, etc. As an Aikido professional, people were amazed that I could perform ukemi while holding a real sword. Some people began calling me "Katate-giri no Obata" (One-Hand Cutting Obata). I found this interesting since things like falling safely with a drawn sword would be an important skill for the pre-modern warrior. Warriors surely would have had to cut with one hand on the battlefield, and would have slipped or been knocked down from time to time. Prior to WWII Kendo (and of course its parent art Gekken) often included grappling elements in which an opponent would be knocked or thrown down, and choked out with the Doh protector or some other show of dominance. I couldn't understand why these highly ranked instructors of today could not display a more impressive level of ability and confidence. I should mention though that practicing falls with bokken was a common thing in Aikido practice, and that I do not endorse or recommend others to practice falling with live blades.

Published in the book "Nihonto Tameshigiri no Shinzui" by Nakamura Taizaburo, 1980

At the battodo tournaments, I won first and second place in the individual cutting competition. During this time, there was also an Ioriken Battojutsu competition. I entered there as well, and won five consecutive times, and still (to my knowledge) hold the record for the 10-target speed cutting practice in this art. I was also the only one to successfully cut between the prescribed 5 cm cutting area on vertical bamboo targets, called zengo giri (front and back cutting). Since I won every tournament I entered, one of my seniors asked me not to enter any more so that other participants could win. At that time, there was only a first place winner, the competition wasn't split by the participant's ranks.

Since I had a strong tameshigiri background, people would often come to be after seminars and ask if their swords were sharp or not, and instructors asked me to test out their swords (shito). Using the left over targets from the seminar, I would more often that not reply that the swords were sharp (even though they themselves often had difficulty cutting with them). In fact, the older instructors had really good swords and I had a rare opportunity to test them out.

I do not mean to sound as though I am boasting when speaking of my younger days, but I feel it is important that people understand the problems and differences I saw in swordsmanship.

From 1980 to the present time, there is no Japanese swordsmanship teacher outside of myself who has been licensed in Japan, and then immigrated to a foreign country to teach swordsmanship as a professional. When I first arrived in Los Angeles in 1980, no one had ever heard of tameshigiri. In order to introduce battodo (Toyama ryu), I published a book in 1986 called "Naked Blade" since the martial art society in America lacked knowledge of battodo or Toyama ryu. The book "Crimson Steel" followed up Naked Blade a year later, and both books were sold first in America, then England, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and any finally in any country that could understood English. At first, some people voiced opposition to cutting material with a sword, but most opinions expressed were positive. I had performed over 200 demonstrations, and the Western sword society began to realize that tameshigiri was a necessary form of practice.

"Naked Blade" (1986) and "Crimson Steel" (1987) by Obata Toshishiro. Naked Blade currently sells used for as much as $150 US!

There were of course people who didn't understand what tameshigiri was, and some people who thought it was only consisted of cutting materials. Others started teaching tameshigiri from what they thought they knew from my videos and books. As the battodo federation in Japan collapsed, some non-Japanese swordsman went to Japan and received high dan rankings, then returned to their country to begin teaching. Conversely, there were also some Japanese instructors traveled abroad to other countries, forming their own branch schools, issuing high ranks and encouraging tameshigiri competitions under their banner. As I spread tameshigiri internationally, I did so carefully, always thinking to myself "I just don't want anyone to get injured unnecessarily".

Tameshigiri is necessary, however cutting without following the rules of toho (sword methodology) and or without sufficient knowledge and experience in tameshigiri is dangerous and will not improve one's technique. In order to do safe tameshigiri, one must learn the logical and practical techniques, understand safe locations, the proper swords and materials for cutting, the mental attitudes of others, and appropriate manner/etiquette used in Japanese swordsmanship.

It is critical to practice and learn tameshigiri theory under a qualified instructor to accumulate knowledge and experience needed to safely practice. One might very easily injure themselves, someone else, or damage their sword if their understanding of tameshigiri is deficient. Therefore the study and practice of tameshigiri mandates qualified instruction.

Safe tameshigiri means that one doesn't get hurt, hurt other people or damage their surroundings or equipment. It is nothing short of shameful if a swordsman gets injured by their own sword. The reason one gets injured in drawing or resheathing is because of illogical techniques, lack of practice or qualified instruction, or lack of focus and concentration. In Shinkendo and KTRR Toyama ryu, there are many suburi techniques to learn and one must practice earnestly, follow the basic Toho Jusshinho, and learn safe and dignified tameshigiri.

"Seichudo", written for Obata Toshishiro by Nakamura Taizaburo

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