I walk a different path...

I can't believe that it's been over a month since I updated this blog!

I've decided to take a break from iaido. At this point in time, it's just not doing anything for me. It's like, if it were next door then I'd go to every class. But since it's not...

However, here is a picture of the current Tamiya Ryu grandmaster. I think his current age is 100+.

Just because I gave up my current iaido path doesn't mean I'm through with the sword. I searched around online for other options. I was hoping to find a style that teaches the Two Swords As One School school. The nearest one is on the other end of the country so I doubt I'll be joining up.

Above: Romanticized picture of Musashi; Below: a depiction of Musashi as a young boy (not so romantic!)

For those of you that don't know, that would be Miyamoto Musashi's school of fencing. He used two swords. While he was definitely a skilled swordsman, I recently read that he was also left-handed. This means that he learned to use a sword with his right hand (the Japanese arts are taught this way) and then when he picked up a sword in his dominant left hand, he didn't exactly have to retrain it. I'm sure that helped him along his way. So their HQ told me there were several "Musashi" schools but not so many that were official. I'd have settled for unofficial but he didn't offer any locations.

Here's a picture of my weapons shop. I feel sorry for these people when they see me darken their doorway. I've learned to come in with dictionary in one hand and a pencil and paper in the other. It's mostly a kendo shop but they carry a minor assortment of other things. I picked up some wooden swords here and some name patches for my aikido uniform. They passed me a couple of phone numbers for other sword classes.

One of them was a Toyama Ryu Battojutsu class. This differs from iaido in that it's not very old at all. It's basically what was being taught to the imperial army for use in combat. The name was given to it in 1925. It's basically a sword handling/skill class. They even do practice cuts on rolled up tatami mats. The class was very exciting to watch and really intrigued me. I'll be joining up in July. The sensei was a very warm fellow and he loaned me a copy of a VHS tape he made that was full of him and his sensei doing cuts and seminars.

And that brings me to this name plate on a neighbor's house. Every time I meet a sword person, I ask them about this fellow and sign. According to the sign, a teacher of Japanese swordsmanship lives here. Nobody answers the buzzer and nobody seems to know what style of swordwork he's affiliated with. During my meeting with the Toyama Ryu sensei, I asked him. Another student came over and said oh yeah, that's so and so. He also saw the sign and knocked on the door. It was answered by the man's widow. My new sensei then remembered the name and proceeded to show me his self-published book in which there was a group photo that this guy was in. He was a fellow student, back in the day.