This one time in Batto-Ho

So at one of the many intensive seminars at EMK we were doing some Iai Batto Ho.

This must have been a mid-winter seminar as we had just finished zazen and we kept the lights dimmed and it was quite dark.

In fact before I really get into this I would like to quickly refer back to something Tim Sullivan once said to me in passing. This isn't a word for word quote but I'll put quotation marks around it anyway, "It is strange to think that the blade of an Iaito is attached to the hilt by nothing more than a small peg." This was said as he pocketed some chop-sticks in case of the scenario in which the blade of his own Iaito detached from the hilt so that he could quickly fashion a temporary replacement peg.

So we're doing some Batto Ho and we've been split into two separate groups. Basically seniors with Iaito in one group and juniors with bokken in the other. Sensei notices that we juniors are not really getting the point of drawing a sword. The basic idea is that you should be able to defeat an opponent in the act of drawing your sword. Real life duals should start and end with the drawing of the Iaito, by which point the dual should be over, with one of the opponents dead. It should be as quick as a single cut, not the sort of stuff you see in martial arts films.

So when you practice Iai Batto Ho, you should extend and you should imagine your opponent who you should be trying to cut. And as I said, Sensei had noticed that most of we juniors were not doing this.

So he demonstrated. With his sword. On me.

I stood there while he demonstrated to the juniors about cutting your opponent, he didn't hold back. If he had misjudged the distance to my face then I would have ended up in hospital with half my face missing. I don't think it would have killed me, but that isn't that much consolation when you have someone swinging a sword passed your face repeatedly. It was dark enough that I couldn't really see the sword as it passed no more than 2 inches from my face, which made me think that he couldn't really see it that well either. But I could hear it. Again this didn't comfort me one little bit. 

And all the while Tim's words about the blade being held in by nothing more than a peg were ringing in my ears.

Thanks for reading!