martial arts

I spent a pleasant weekend last week in Dublin at Fiona's Dojo. It was good to see lots of people, including Aureli, who has started up a new dojo in the north west. The course was being given by Alan Ruddock and Henry Kono, and Alan heads the Aiki No Michi, the organisation to which our club belongs. It was a great course, packed since the space is quite small and lots of people showed up, and we had probably the clearest summary of particular Henry's ideas so far, at least for me. Despite some of Alan's comments I did feel some of that connected to what I do in Iaido, and it's something interesting to look at.

Daithi send an email to some folks after the class, indicated that Guillaume had posted some English versions of an interview he had conducted with Henry recently, as well an older interview with Alan. Some nice articles, which show an insight into their practice.

It seems that on the 6th April the long awaited ban on Japanese swords came into effect in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. I don't know what the situation is in Scotland.

Remarkably, even in the jurisdictions that enforce the new ban, there is considerable confusion about its extent. UTV have reported, totally erroneously, that that all such swords are now illegal. The BBC reported that swords over 100 years old from Japan were exempt.

The Northern Ireland Office stated in their press release that "Following consultation, the ban incorporates exemptions for collectors of genuine Japanese swords and swords used by bona fide martial arts and historical re-enactment groups." which is extremely welcome.

I looked on the parliament website and found a draft order, and more valuably, an extensive discussion of the issue.

I am not a lawyer, but my reading of these documents (read them for yourself) is that

1. genuine nihonto forged under license in Japan are exempt
2. there is an exemption for "sporting activities" requiring the use of such swords, e.g. Iaido provided appropriate public liability insurance is held.

So it seems that Iaido may continue for now. What's not clear, having spoken to someone at Nine Circles yesterday is how such training weapons can be acquired. It may still be illegal for them to sell the weapons, even to those who might legitimately buy them. They have promised news on their front page when they work out the situation.

I think it would be a good idea to seek proper legal advice on these matters, but I think it would be very prudent for students and instructors of martial arts to

1. be even more careful about keeping insurance and membership fees up to date;
2. keep your license and/or insurance with your weapon at all times when you are traveling;
3. ensure your weapon is safely stowed and not easily accessible (e.g. in a bag in a locked boot);
4. take legal advice before purchasing an Iaito or other training weapon until the implications of the law are more clear;
5. think twice about traveling to and form any other jurisdiction with your weapon, for example, students of ours from the Republic of Ireland should think twice and seek advice before traveling to the North with their sword, the tarrif for the importation is 7 years!

Today, the BBC News reported on a 'Samurai teen out for revenge'.

It's not at all clear who added the quotes and why, but the young teenager, from Newcastle, Northern Ireland, luxuriating in the ancient samurai name of "Rocco Burns", took his 'Samurai Sword' out to wreak revenge on several people who allegedly assaulted him. His mother very prudently called the police, and when our hero Rocco spotted them he threw the sword into a nearby river. The best bit for me is that

Police recovered the weapon from the river, while its cover was tucked into Mr Burns' trousers, the crown lawyer said.

leading to the great chat up line "Is that a saya in your trousers or are you just really pleased to see me?". It would have been fun to watch Burns-san run. This of course will only add fuel to the fire for the incoming sword ban, which is to be brought into Northern Ireland in line with England and Wales.

We still don't know the form of the ban, but we can observe some important facts:

• it will be illegal to buy, sell and rent Japanese swords (apart from real ones, and we don't know what other exemptions if any);
• it is of course already illegal to brandish such weapons in public, and Rocco has been charged with this;
• it is of course illegal to assault someone with such a weapon or otherwise;
• it won't be illegal, at least for now, to possess such weapons as already exist.

In other words, when the ban comes in April it will be no more, nor less illegal for Burns-san to have done this very silly thing. It's quite bad enough that this sort of thing happens, but please, let's not talk about "samurai teens" unless you've checked their family lineage write back to before the Meiji Restoration when the samurai class was effectively abolished and wearing swords in public in Japan was outlawed.

People who train in martial arts, and have any sense, don't claim to be samurai, so let's not attach this label to this misguided youth.

My sword arrived from the USA and got caught in customs for a while, I went to collect it and pay the import tax on the 2nd January. Since then I've been looking at it quite carefully. I was relieved customs had not opened it (not because of any legal concerns, it is all perfectly legal, but because in the past I have witnessed people all to keen to play with these items, to potentially distastrous consequences).

First of all SwordStore itself handled everything excellently, with perfect courtesy throughout, and seemed genuinely eager for feedback on the new arrival. These swords are constructed in Japan with, I think, parts from both Japan and China. The sword was carefully packaged.

I carefully checked all the fittings before removing the sword from its saya (scabbard); they were all of a good standard and fitted well, there was no damage apparent from shipping. The tsuka (handle) is longer than my current sword, which is good, since my hands are quite large, the same (shark skin) is nice, and the ito (wrap) is extremely tight and well finished. It is blue silk and so the handle feels a little less bulky than my current sword that is wrapped in cotton (incidentally that sword, from Tozando in Japan, still has exceptionally tight wrap after 7 years). I am very pleased with the cherry blossom tsuba.

So, on to the blade. I drew the blade carefully (not Iaido style) to ensure everything was in good order. The blade is beautiful, with a nice pattern in the steel, the hamon is pretty, and could be polished up even more beautifully at some later stage. This sword is 2.5 shaku, a little longer than my old 2.45 shaku sword, and is heavy. Obviously it's a little longer and made of steel, but the blade has a lot of meat, the sword is fairly thick and the thickness doesn't diminish much (or maybe at all) until it reaches the boshi, just before the kissaki (tip). The balance feels further along the blade than a regular iaito, and perhaps it will be too much to wield. Having said that, every time I pick the sword up it feels lighter to me now. The blade is very sharp, and when I tried to place it back in its saya, again carefully for now sliding the mune (back) carefully into the saya, and found that the blade bound up in the saya very slightly when about 10 cm of blade was still out. After a few more insertions this problem has gone, the blade has literally cut a little of the material in the way free. The sword locks tightly in its saya when pushed fully home (importantly), and I next carefully cleaned the blade, applied fresh clove oil, and fitted the scabbard protector that had been awaiting its arrival.

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