Blade Show 2003 Photos - Tameshigiri !

U

UnknownVT

Joined
Feb 15, 2003
Messages
2,575
"You gotta see this!" Department

Tameshigiri is the art of Japanese sword cutting -
demonstrated here by James Williams of Bugei.......
(I don't think any further comments are necessary from me)

jWilliams.jpg


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jWilliams2.jpg


jWilliams4.jpg



--
Vincent

http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net/
 
Thanks! They are always impressive to witness.

Vincent, if you've not done so already, you should check out the video on their web site, Here down at the bottom of the page, very cool work!

G2
 
ahhhh james really makes tameshigiri look really easy, man this is another reason for me to jump on a plane and goto the next one if financial enough...i mean how much can a hotel cost for only a week or so. :D :D :D

plus his L6 banite is a spectacular example of howard clarks work :D.

awesome pics. :)
 
Hey when was this demo? I thought I saw most of them! I missed this one! Paul
 
Originally posted by TDE
Hey when was this demo? I thought I saw most of them! I missed this one! Paul
Click to expand...

11:30AM outside in the courtyard/car park -
it was between the blade forging demo (at 10:30am)
and the knife throwing competition (12:30pm)

It was a close thing -
there was no sign of anything at 11:29am,
and it didn't look hopeful -
then James Williams (of Bugei - demonstrator)
and everything else (lots of rolled soaked mats) arrived within seconds of 11:30am - so the show actually started more or less "on time".

I also have pics of the knife throwing -
and have posted one at:

Blade Show 2003 Photos - Pt.4
(5th photo)
 
Originally posted by Manji
on the third picture did he make two cuts before anything fell?!
Click to expand...

Can't say for sure -
but it looks like one where they re-stood/balanced one of the cut bits back on, and he was cutting through the balanced part.

James did many double cuts where the first cut severed the target
and he came back the other way to cut the part before it fell.
 
Originally posted by Manji
on the third picture did he make two cuts before anything fell?!
Click to expand...

If you watch the video on their site, they do that quite often.

Also at Blade there was a video running on a laptop near the swords/axes/weapons display showing tameshigiri of a maker's katanas.

In the video I watched, he would slice the matt two-three times before it fell. Sometimes in mid fall!
 
Yep, the video's give you more idea of it all and i have on my site a RAM video of James at work...he does it a few times along with other awesome cuts. i do some tameshigiri myself on bamboo and small tatami rolls when i can afford to do so but james rolls sure are thick...around three times thicker that of the dojo i train at, well that may be cause of availability of tatami here :rolleyes:.
 
Hey, what did those poor mats do to deserve that? :D Seriously, I have seen a demo like this before, and it's unbelievable. Made me want to run out and buy a sword!
 
Gentlemen,

Thank you for the nice comments. And Vince thanks for the nice photos. If I can answer any questions please ask.

James
 
Originally posted by James Williams
Gentlemen,

Thank you for the nice comments. And Vince thanks for the nice photos. If I can answer any questions please ask.

James
Click to expand...

hey James welcome to blade forums :), no questions but a welcomes good too :D.
 
James, welcome to the forum.

One question. Is the art of a successful cut much like the way a great golfer swings the club?

I mean the body turns, the shoulders tighten and the transfer of energy from hips, shoulders, arms and then to the sword. Or am I totally wrong?
 
There are certainly similarities, however try to keep the tension out of your body. Let the sword cut just like you should let the club strike the ball. The more tension in you body the less effective you will be in you cutting.

James
 
Thanks for fielding questions James -

here's another:

How does one properly measure/fit a sword for an individual?

What does one measure to get the correct blade length?

How about handle (tsuka) length?
 
Vincent.

Nagassa and tsuka length is very personal. It has to do with the style as well as the individual. My normal tuska is 14", most of my swords have 30" nagassa. I am 6'2" and can handle a longer blade however after many years of training my tsuka length is pretty fixed. The Japanese, even though their average height was about 5'2" used some pretty substantial blades when they were fighting. Both blade and handle length changed as the need for combat diminished. During the end of the Edo period there was again a good deal of fighting and I have found many pictures of longer handles from that time period. You can access those pictures at http://www.bugei.com/LongTsuka.html For me it comes down to function, long handles work better for the most part than shorter ones. And in many cases the advantage is great.

I have a different take on things than most modern styles includling the vast majority of Japanese styles even most koryu. I train with the sword in order to learn how to better fight with it. My bokken and sword are the same length and shape. I do not have a short handle on my sword and then take a longer grip on my bokken. This practice is very common with many Japanese. The movements that I train in live blade solo practice are identical to the ones that I use in two man kata when going against another person. When I cut, especially iai jutsu that same technique and form is used. Sometimes when doing demonstrations I am not using kenjutsu or iaijutsu techniques depending upon the situation. We are finished with the Iai jutsu video and it well show this way of training. You have seen some of the iai-tameshigiri clips on my dojo web site however in the video the entire training regimen will be shown.

By the way is there a possibility that I could get some high res copies of the pcitures that you took? If it is possible I would appreciate it.

Thanks,

James
 
Originally posted by James Williams
Nagassa and tsuka length is very personal. It has to do with the style as well as the individual. My normal tuska is 14", most of my swords have 30" nagassa. I am 6'2" and can handle a longer blade however after many years of training my tsuka length is pretty fixed. The Japanese, even though their average height was about 5'2" used some pretty substantial blades when they were fighting.
<snip>
By the way is there a possibility that I could get some high res copies of the pcitures that you took? If it is possible I would appreciate it.
Click to expand...

James,

Thanks again for taking the time to answer.

Understanding as one trains the fit of the sword becomes more apparent with the gain of experience - but....

:) there's always a but :)

If a novice wanted to be fitted - what would be generally considered a good starting point?

For example I have heard/read that holding the sword in a relaxed manner at one's side the blade tip should not touch the ground -
is this actually myth - or does it make some practical sense?

In terms of the tsuka/handle length - I have again heard/read that it should be about 3 fists width apart - which seems to fall conveniently into the 11" tsuka camp...
although doesn't the balance of the sword come into this -
a heavier blade may favor a longer tsuka, and a lighter blade a shorter tsuka?
I don't have much experience in this but handling different sized bokkens I often find myself with a longer than normal grip on heavier ones and even on the more standard bokkens my natural hold seems like a 12" tsuka.
Using this limited experience and logic -
perhaps some of the shorter 11" tsukas are due to iaido -
where the sword blades are alumium/zinc alloys that may be lighter than steel?

Thanks.

PS - I'll send you e-mail about the higher res photos.
 
Vincent,

For me it is not a weight issue, it is just a more efficient method of manipulating the blade. I have heard of the method of standing straight and have the sword hand a certain distance from the floor however I do not adhere to it personally. For one thing very few cuts are done with straight legs so why use that as a method of measure?

James
 
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