Chris,

Fyi, there was phone call that I left on the machine in the dojo about someone interested in Shinto ryu iaido.

Their name and message is on the yellow pad next to the phone, and feel free to listen to the saved message.

I retrieved this message last Friday, sorry for the late notice.

- john

Sorry for the long delay on replying to this, it seems that it came
before I had my spam filter sorted out WRT the group.  Again, sorry
about that!

Lets see, first unlike Aikido, where your belt color and presence of a
hakama *most likely* implies a rank structure, this does not hold true
with most lines of JSA (Japanese Sword Arts).  The full uniform is
keiko-gi/kimono, kaku-obi (these are the wider and very long often
decorated obi you've probably seen us wearing) and hakama.  Neither
the color of the uniform obi or hakama indicate rank of any kind.
Since many practitioners in Japan also do Kendo, it's very common to
see people there wearing indigo kendo-gi for Iai practice.  Most of
the people at the dojo Robbie trained with in Japan wear dark blue or
black.  Black is a bit more formal (not to mention slimming! and since
I can use all the help I can get I wear black).  =)  At taikai/embukai
(tournaments/demonstrations) it's common to see senior (4th dan and
up) practitioners wearing gomon/sanmon (a formal kimono top with
family crests embroidered on the back and sleeves) and a grey/brown
striped hakama.  This is considered quite formal (not to mention
expensive, this kind of hakama can easily cost $400-$600!) and nearly
no one wears this kind of thing for daily training.

Swords:  Some terminology, most Western practitioners shy away from
the term 'katana' despite the fact that it's a perfectly good term to
describe a Japanese sword.  WRT training, the terms most used are
'iaito' and 'shinken'.  An iaito (or mogito) is a dulled
aluminum-zinc-berrilium bladed sword mounted like a real katana.
These are a bit lighter than a comparably sized real sword would be
and are safer, cheaper and easier to maintain.  Nealy everyone begins
with an iaito and for most this remains their main training tool. From
a distance they look the part, feel similar enough and are MUCH MUCH
cheaper than a real sword.  These range in price from about $300 to
about $1,000.  The difference between a $300 iaito and a $600 iaito is
pretty significant, both the fittings and the blade itself will be
higher quality.  The difference between a $600 iaito and a $1,000
iaito is almost all cosmetic.  Even a $300 iaito should last someone
for 5-10 years if properly maintained (easy to do) and not used to hit
anything.  These swords are training tools and are not meant to make
contact with anything more substantial than paper.  So if an iaito is
a training sword, a 'shinken' is a 'real-sword'.  The term shinken,
among practitioners, implies a Japanese style sword made of carbon
steel and sharpened to have an edge.  Shinken can either be 'nihonto'
(Japanese made real sword) or foreign made (China, UK, US...).  The
prices and quality among shiken vary wildly.  We're very fortunat to
be training in a time where there are finally practitioner grade
shinken being mass-marketed at reasonable prices.  Even as recently as
the 70's, if you wanted a shinken, you were probably looking at a
Japanese smith.  Prices generally started around $6,000 and could
easily reach $20,000.  Indeed even today, just having a real nihonto
'art-polished' can cost over $20,000!  In the 80's several (primarily
American) smiths began forging Japanese style swords using modern
steels and smithing techniques.  These brought the entry price to
about $5,000 for a very nice sword that rivaled the Japanese in terms
of fit and function.  In the 90's a company named Bugei Trading and
the "Paul Chen" forge in China caused a sea change in the practitioner
grade sword market by bringing a Chinese made, American designed
Japanese style sword to market for about $1,200.  While not as
beautiful as an art quality sword, these cut very very well for such a
cheap tool.  Over the years Bugei has expanded their line to include
various models at different price points ($900-$1600) and have
listened to the JSA community to bring better and better shinken to
market.  The Chen forge also took the knowledge that they earned from
their relationship with Bugei and began selling their own line of
shinken through (primarily) CAS Iberria.  These range from about $200
to $1,000, and while not the quality of the Bugei offernings, they are
amazing for what they are.  Since Bugei first introduced their
"Bamboo" katana, a number of other players have come to market with
their own Chinese made offerings.  This is great for practitioners!

What that means to someone interested in training:  Shinto Ryu begins
people with iaito, we find this safer and much more affordable.
Currently I'm the only student who regularly trains with a shinken and
that's a personal choice each student makes typically as you come up
on sandan.  We have a couple older iaito that new people can use,
they're not great, but they'll do until you can afford to get an
iaito.  Some schools start people with bokken, but since one of the
first things taught is drawing and sheathing, we prefer for people to
start with iaito.

Cutting: people are welcome to come watch cutting, we cut outside so
there won't likely be any until the spring when it gets a bit warmer
out.  I'll post a heads up before we cut to this list.  Frequently,
we'll meet at the dojo, warm up there and then go over to my house (in
Fremont) or Alan's house (N. Seattle). 

Again, sorry for the very long delay in this response, hope this
answers your questions.

_Chris

--- In seattleschoolofaikido@yahoogroups.com, Robert M Huberth
<loveofthemountains@y...> wrote:
>
> Hi Chris,
> 
> I have always been fascinated with sword work ... as I am sure
others feel the same way who have watched you folks practice ...  a
couple of questions:  While I understand that a Hakama is part of the
uniform (we don't want to just wear our underwear to training ;o) I am
a bit confused on the swords (iaito).  There seem to be sooo many 'out
there' to choose from.  Since a high quality sword can run 4 figure$
(or so I have been informed) I wonder if we could use our Bokken's or
if there are any extra swords in the Dojo for using ... Mona is
correct in that you guys are a bit intimidating to those of us who are
still quite green on our knowledge of marshal arts, but we are
definetely curious and eager to absorb all we can.
> 
> Also, I wonder if the next planned cutting for your group, if a
general invitation might be extended to the rest of our community to
come and just observe.  What better way to learn about this practice
than to watch a live cutting. 
> 
> Just a thought.
> 
> rmh
>
>