Tag: Iaido

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Okimitsu Fuji

Steve Rowe

This is Okimitsu Fuji’s hand written history and the photos he gave me at the time, must have been in the 1980’s. I used to have private lessons with him every Tuesday morning for many years, I’d go to his house and wake him up, we’d go to the Irishman’s club in Dartford where he’d give me a private lesson. We became good friends and he was a good Japanese cook so he would cook for me and my family. My daughter Caroline would call him ‘Uncle Oki’ and I also took Toru Takamizawa and his wife to his house … Continue reading Okimitsu Fuji

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Iaido – The Cutting Edge

Steve Rowe

  Tribute to Fuji Okimitsu 1939 – 2017 Iaido came to England by various routes and mention should be made here of Fuji Okimitsu (Jikiden style) who was born in 1939 in Saga Prefecture which is the old province of Hizen, a mecca of Martial Arts, famous for the Hagakure (Samurai spirit), he started training at the age of 7yrs playing Shinai Kyogi wearing white trousers, T shirt and rubber shoes using Fukuro Shinai (bamboo sword split into 16 canes and covered with a canvas bag) as the Martial Arts were banned by the American GHQ. Fuji Sensei was my … Continue reading Iaido – The Cutting Edge

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Translation Of Uke

Steve Rowe

  Translation Of Uke “You win battles by knowing the enemy’s timing, and using a timing which the enemy does not expect.” – Miyamoto Musashi Iaido is the ancient samurai art of self-defence where you draw the sword immediately against an enemy’s sudden attack to win at the moment the sword leaves the sheath.  I was taking my weekly private lesson with Sensei and working on application to the basic Seiti Kata…. “Uke Nagashi!” Sensei called the name of the third kata.  Wearing a hakama requires quite a bit of skill.  Hakama sabaki is hakama (the Japanese divided skirt trousers) … Continue reading Translation Of Uke

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No One Fights With Swords Anymore

Steve Rowe

I love the whooshing sound that a shinken blade makes as it cuts the air.  The soundless drawing of the blade as it unsheathes with the skilled use of both hands that allows it to slip seamlessly from thesaya, the rapid expansion of the body causing the blade to power through the air and the way that theIaido practitioner slides along the Dojo floor on knees or feet with the suriashi (gliding step) movement, utilising the hakama sabaki to prevent tripping over the divided trousers gives a beautiful feel to this deadly art. It’s spellbinding watching Sensei practice, his perfect … Continue reading No One Fights With Swords Anymore

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Death In Battle..

Steve Rowe

The  pennants fluttered in the breeze……… the red  sun  rose from  behind the snow capped mountains throwing fearsome  shadows among  the  warriors….. Icy fear gripped  my  intestines,  the heaviness   of  death  chilled  everything,  the  horses   reared nervously,  snorting  out plumes of condensation  into  the  cold air….. Today tempered blades would be severing many a spirit from incarnation and sending them back into the void…..The  generals sat motionless astride their mounts like  icons  of power,  their  eyes  narrowing  behind  ferocious   war   masks, maintaining a continuous growl of ‘Ki’ from their Tandens filling the  space  between  us and the enemy with  our  … Continue reading Death In Battle..

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A Past Life….

Steve Rowe

I paused in the clear night air to savour the moments before death, I was lucky to know the time of the completion of this incarnation so I was properly prepared, the icy fingers of fate clawed inside my abdomen making me draw in the crisp air and centre myself. When my family had been slaughtered and I had been the only one to escape my fate had been sealed, I had trained day and night with Sensei to be able to complete my Karma the right way, tonight there was no win or lose…… only completion. Revenge powered my … Continue reading A Past Life….