Jigen Ryu and Cadences
I came across this video of Jigen Ryu a while ago. It looks (and sounds) strikingly different from most sword arts. They seem to go as fast and hard as is possible to strike terror into the hearts of men. This style is from Kagoshima: the south edge of Japan where the samurai remained most untamed by the government in the Edo Period and where the "Last Samurai" made their final stand in 1877. In other words, these guys have a history of ferocity.
From http://www.jigen-ryu.com/
I've been trying to feel the rhythyms in sword work a lot more recently. It seems to be most natural to fall into a steady beat of give and take with your opponent. Of coruse, you really don't want to find yourself 'taking'. I often find that we fall into this in partner drills; the defender will move simultaneously with the attacker as if they are dancing. This only works because the defender knows which block to use in advance. By following along with the attacker's rhythym, the defender loses initiative and is playing the attackers game.
In our style, the cadence should be more syncopated...it seems best to wait a fraction of a beat for the opponent to commit to a movement and then move off rhythm to interrupt the opponents timing. There is, to my limited understanding at least, a certain aiki nature in what our timing should be; when done right it jams up the other guy and keeps him off balance.
Anyway, the reason I'm thinking about this now is that it occurs to me that the Jigen-Ryu stylists seem to take an opposite approach to timing. They are controlling the rhythym of the fight by dominating the timing. It looks to me like they are trying to go so fast and hard that the opponent will die like a deer in the headlights. It's not very subtle, but I can imagine a few hundred guys running into battle like this would be quite a sight.
To summarize what I'm musing on, it seems to me that where we would break timing by by going a half-beat behind the opponent, they would do it by going a half-beat before the opponent. I am, of course, totally unqualified to comment on Jigen Ryu. It's not what I study (nor wish to), but the contrast is useful for thinking about my own practice (and let's keep in mind that I'm writing for my own benefit rather than your education anyway).
Hmmm.
From http://www.jigen-ryu.com/
* * *
I've been trying to feel the rhythyms in sword work a lot more recently. It seems to be most natural to fall into a steady beat of give and take with your opponent. Of coruse, you really don't want to find yourself 'taking'. I often find that we fall into this in partner drills; the defender will move simultaneously with the attacker as if they are dancing. This only works because the defender knows which block to use in advance. By following along with the attacker's rhythym, the defender loses initiative and is playing the attackers game.
In our style, the cadence should be more syncopated...it seems best to wait a fraction of a beat for the opponent to commit to a movement and then move off rhythm to interrupt the opponents timing. There is, to my limited understanding at least, a certain aiki nature in what our timing should be; when done right it jams up the other guy and keeps him off balance.
Anyway, the reason I'm thinking about this now is that it occurs to me that the Jigen-Ryu stylists seem to take an opposite approach to timing. They are controlling the rhythym of the fight by dominating the timing. It looks to me like they are trying to go so fast and hard that the opponent will die like a deer in the headlights. It's not very subtle, but I can imagine a few hundred guys running into battle like this would be quite a sight.
To summarize what I'm musing on, it seems to me that where we would break timing by by going a half-beat behind the opponent, they would do it by going a half-beat before the opponent. I am, of course, totally unqualified to comment on Jigen Ryu. It's not what I study (nor wish to), but the contrast is useful for thinking about my own practice (and let's keep in mind that I'm writing for my own benefit rather than your education anyway).
Hmmm.
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