the way of the samurai with -leaf-

[Ero-Sennin]

hanzo sits on a rock with his blade resting in his right hand.

 

[Mirai]

As the wind whispers in our ears,the gulls fly by high in the sky,the seas roar as we over lap the ocean on this cliff,today we are here to start a new script.Greeting Ero Sennin,today and the course of the time you will be taught the why's of Kenjutsu along with the way of the Samurai.Firstly let's get a little personal and tell why did you pick the Bushido Way,and why and how you think you may benefit from this training

 

[Ero-Sennin]

ive personally always loved samurai, and i know how to fight hand to hand/with swords in real life, so i already know a little bit about it, and i also mastered basic ken, but i dont think i learned much from it, and i also prefer samurai over ninja

 

[Mirai]

That's quite well to here that you are trying to apply your love for swords and combat here and in reality,anyways here is a personal motto of mine I'm sure you heard before,"If you live by the blade,you die by the blade.This simply means if you are a honorable swordsman don't going dying by falling off a cliff,but rather die in honor of the sword,also other thing is don't ever strike down the weak with a sword as you will forever remain a coward and have tainted your blade with noting but unneeded blood shed,but none the less we will begin by the basic principals of introduction by telling me in your own personal description,of what is Kenjutsu,try to elaborate beyond what most people would say.

 

[Ero-Sennin]

ken jutsu to me, is becoming one with the sword, and useing that sword to protect those important to me, and not to shed uneccesary blood. It also means to me the way of life.

 

[Mirai]

Bless you as one not to simply say "Sword Techniques,indeed its a way of life,it also what governs the mechanics behind the act of kendo which is the style we will be learning later on after we deal with the other things blade at hand,but the universal meaning for Kenjutsu is Sword Technique.Now that we have a bit of information at hand which type of sword your accustom of using?Nodochi,Wakizahi,Long Swords or Katana?Though this is not part of training I wanna get to know my students preferences in the art of the sword .And while your at can you explain to the following terms and tell me the path od which they travel?

• Horizontal Slash
• Vertical Slash
• Thrust
• Diagonal Slash

 

[Ero-Sennin]

my prefrence is the katana.

horizontal slash: One slashes his/her sword to the left or right
Verticle slash: One slashes his/hers sword up or down
Thrust: One slashes fowards
diagnol: One slashes in a diagnol fashion to the right or left

 

[Mirai]

Good choice but lacky descriptions,a good pointer from my past sensei is add italics or a font to your post as its adds more appeal to your posts,but none the less since you seem to have basic idea of the slashes we will practice them first then move on to the fun part of this session ! So first we will be using these wooden swords called Bokken for these exercise as they are perfect for kendo practice.Unlike your previous session ill be using the basic samurai terms for this lesson so well will start off taking a basic kendo posture by firstly stand straight towards me with
your shoulders parallel to your feet. Then place
your right foot slightly forwards whilst shuffling it a
few paces and not lifting and at the same time
shuffle your left foot backwards.

*shows you each step as instructed and awaits you
to do the same*

 

[Ero-Sennin]

hanzo grabs the wooden sword with his right hand, and points his right toe foward with his left toe back. He then makes his shoulders parallel, he then shuffles his right foot foward, followed by pushing his left foot back, without lifting his feet.

 

[Mirai]

Good work, this is the basic posture of samurai now
clench your fists and to your sides and the outer
hand facing downwards. Then take your left hand
placing it onto the scabbard at your left side and
taking your right to unsheave your katana, whilst
taking a vicegrip at a 45 degree angel at the base of
the hilt and unsheave the katana. As you bring it
fully out the scabbard bring your left hand taking
the same grip to the bottom of the hilt and then
level the hilt to your belly at about a fist distance
away then raise the blade to point at my throat and
keep that stance with the same posture maintaining
the square posture of having your shoulders
parallel like this diagram below:

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Note: just pretend you have a scabboard

 

[Ero-Sennin]

i place my left hand on the scabboard, i then take my right hand to unsheath my katana so that i am holding it to my left side at a 45 degree angle. i then level the grip to my belly, and raise my blade to your throat.

 

[Mirai]

Good work, now that the basic position has been
attained we shall move onto basic attack and
defence. For attack i want you to raise your sword
above your head keeping it in the center of your
body and your right left hand just above your head
and then as you bring it down step forward with
your right foot first into the attack aiming for this
dummies head and then step backwards with your
left foot first then bringing your sword back to the
same starting position aiming for the neck. this in
kendo is known as Men-do or in kenjutsu terms Vertical Slash!

 

[Ero-Sennin]

While maintaining the same stance, I bring my sword up leading with my right hand and step fowrd with my right foot, and then i bring down the sword with m right hand still leading. I thm bring it back up and bring down once more aimed at
The nek

 

[Mirai]

Excellent(also can you try adding more description into the movements please! It would really be nice to see how well you describe it),now you will repeat the same motion again but this time slightly turn your blade on a slant and this time aim for the shoulders till you reach the opposing hip,this is your diagonal slash

 

[Ero-Sennin]

i point my right toe foward, and left toe back, and i unsheath my katana with my right hand, so that it is at a 45 degree angle. I then shuffle foward towards the dummy and slash verticly to the right cutting through its right abdamins

 

[Mirai]

Excellent,so now we will try the horizontal and thrusting motions but first we will attain a new stance,first with your left foot forward and right foot back at least a few centimeters away,you will then lower your upper body to be leveled on the surface of the ground,now with your bokken you will take it behind you with the same positioning as before in the first stance,you will then using your elbow as a support you will thrust you arms forward stabbing forward making a forward thrust.Try it out!

Notes:This stance is known as Sha no Kamae and the one before this that you been practicing is Chudan no Kamae

 

[Ero-Sennin]

I point my left foot foward, and my right foot back a few centimeters apart. I then Lower my upper body so that its I'd perpendicular with the ground and with my right hand I unsheathed my katana a perform a foward thrust

 

[Mirai]

Good now quickly,return to the original stance again but this time take one hand and place more closer to the other and slash in the path of the horizon follows!

 

[Ero-Sennin]

I quickly return to my origonal stance and place my hands closer together and slash horizontaly

 

[Mirai]

Nice job,you did the vertical and horizontal slash but now is the time to get into the techniques,but before he start do you have any questions up till now concerning anything?