Proving the Obviously Untrue - martial arts

Interview with Alan Ruddock and Henry Kono

nospam@example.com (Colin Turner) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:03:24 +0100

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.

Sword ban comes into force

nospam@example.com (Colin Turner) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:16:16 +0100

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

genuine nihonto forged under license in Japan are exempt
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

be even more careful about keeping insurance and membership fees up to date;
keep your license and/or insurance with your weapon at all times when you are traveling;
ensure your weapon is safely stowed and not easily accessible (e.g. in a bag in a locked boot);
take legal advice before purchasing an Iaito or other training weapon until the implications of the law are more clear;
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!

Samurai Teen?

nospam@example.com (Colin Turner) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:43:08 +0000

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.

Sharp Steel Sword (SwordStore.com) redux

nospam@example.com (Colin Turner) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:28:34 +0000

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.
Continue reading "Sharp Steel Sword (SwordStore.com) redux"

"Imitation" Samurai Swords Banned

nospam@example.com (ct) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 12:53:27 +0000

So, it finally has been confirmed, the Home Office will ban "imitation" samurai swords in England and Wales, and I expect the rest of the UK will soon follow suit.

First of all, most students of the martial arts hate the "samurai sword" name, so let's call them Japanese swords. I understand that attacks with these weapons are very high profile, and although in the past I wrote in support of the sale of these weapons by Battle Orders, I am becoming uncomfortable of seeing them on sale in almost every gift shop in every town, often upside down or back-to-front. Having said that, in the main shopping area in Barcelona, every other shop sells them. It's a shame no-one can legitimately appreciate even these cheap swords as a work of art.

My appreciation for swords is now a bit more refined I suppose, and I prefer the zen-like minimalism of real Japanese swords, and my current training sword reflects that, as does the new one on its way, but where will the dividing line be cast?

"Real" swords, shinken forged under license with appropriate paperwork and signed tangs cost thousands of pounds, and are both well outside the price range of beginning Iaido students, but are also far too dangerous to train with since they are razor sharp. The "iaito" most Iaido students train with are, by very definition, imitation swords, made of non-steel alloys and either fully blunt or "semi-sharp" (not filed flat, nor polished to a razor sharp edge), and cannot be sharpened. These are around £300, will they be banned? If so it will destroy Iaido.

And what about my new sword, still on its way, which is in the middle ground, just over £1200, made of unfolded steel, sharp but not signed and licensed. Will I now need to buy a real shinken to be able to train?

Steel Sword

nospam@example.com (ct) — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 16:37:47 +0100

So, I've been practicing Iaido for seven years now. For almost all that time I've used my trusted Iaito or training sword. Like most Iaito it's got a zinc alloy blade coated in chrome to look like the real thing. It's a lovely sword, but slightly too short for me, and has taken a bit of a beating over the years. It's also semi-sharp. I have some decorative (reasonably sharp) steel swords, and I sometimes practice aspects (usually drawing and sheathing the sword) with those, but in many ways they are inferior to my Iaito, so I've long considered buying a steel sword, and have been deciding between three sellers, Nine Circles here in the UK, SwordStore.com in the USA, and Bugei. This week I discovered that nine circles have removed their better steel swords from sale, in fear of coming legislation to ban sale of swords. No-one knows yet when and what shape that legislation will take. It could, at a stroke, totally destroy a martial art like Iaido in the UK, since only those who already own swords will be able to train fully. Anyway, this all worried me, so this week I finally ordered a (very) sharp steel sword from SwordStore (which are a front for a company in Japan). It will apparently take four months, and I'm looking forward to it immensely; I spent several hours poring over which fittings I wanted, and I'm sure the result will be beautiful as well as practical.