Exercises For Improving Accuracy With Jo Or Bokken 1
Here are a few exercises which will help improve your accuracy with a bokken (or jo for that matter).
For shomen uchi: Have a partner hold a jo horizontally in front of you so that the jo is parallel with your shoulders. The jo should be fractionally below the height of your natural cutting action. You should make a few practice cuts to establish the correct height. With the jo in place, cut shomen uchi repeatedly with your bokken, trying to come as close to the jo as possible without touching it. Your partner can indicate how close — or far away :+) — you are. Aim to cut with the last couple of inches of your bokken. Try not to look down at the jo, look straight ahead instead.
Yokomen uchi: Have your partner sit seiza directly in front of you and hold a jo vertically. With your bokken, cut yokomen uchi alternately to the left and right of the jo. Again, the idea is not to touch, but to come very close.
Once you get the hang of these you can ask your partner to move the jo about a bit. Hopefully your cuts will remain consistent as you adjust your position and posture to cope.
For tsuki (poke): Draw a small circle on the wall at your natural poke height (hmm, sounds disgusting :+(), and try to tsuki inside the circle every time. If it's too easy, make the circle smaller. A wall is probably a bit too solid for this really and you might annoy its owner too, so perhaps fix something with a bit of give to the wall (back to tyres eh?) .
Aikido and Bokken Bokken Parts
Tsuka handle of the bokken
Kissaki tip of the bokken
Tsuba handguard that is sometimes slipped over the bokken
Bokken Stances
Seigan-no-kamae / Chudan-no-kamae
Right hanmi with the bokken in both hands directly in front and on the centerline of the body. Weight is centered evenly over both feet and both hands are near the level of your navel. The left hand is on the butt end of the bokken about one fist width away from your body. The blade is tilted slightly to the right to take advantage of the natural curvature of the blade. The kissaki is at your opponent's throat. Look directly to the front. Jodan-no-kamae
Stand in right or left hanmi and raise your arms until your left hand is in front of your forehead. Your hands are above your eyes and your elbows are out to afford vision to the front. The kissaki is directly above your head to protect those behind you. Your weight is slightly forward. Gedan-no-kamae
Lower the kissaki from chudan-no-kamae, but be ready to raise it at any time. This provides an opening for your opponent to attack. Be ready to step off the line of attack by keeping your weight evenly distributed on both feet. Hasso-no-kamae
Stand in left hanmi, eyes to the front, weight evenly distributed. The bokken is raised vertically with the hands at the levels of your left chest and left shoulder. The tsubo is at the level of your mouth. Waki-no-kamae
Left hanmi bokken lowered on the right hand side.
Bokken Suburi
Shomenuchi
The sword is raised overhead as you step back with the right foot. The sword is brought down in exactly a vertical line. Strike to the head with good focus then slowly subside to chudan-no-kamae. Shomenuchi
Same as above but slide step forward while striking. Slide step back again after subsiding. Yokomenuchi
Move the left foot off the line of attack. Do this for both with the right foot stepping and without. Gyaku Yokomenuchi Kirigaeshi
Alternate left and right yokomen Shomenuchi front and back
Step forward strike pivot repeat
Bokken Tai Sabaki
Shomenuchi
Yokomenuchi
Tsuki
Unarmed defenses against bokken (tachidori)
Shomenuchi kokyunage Shomenuchi kotegaeshi Shomenuchi tenkan kokunage Yokomenuchi shihonage Yokomenuchi ikkyo Tsuki
Bokken Forms (kengi)
Bokken/Bokken (kumitachi)
First Aiki kengi
Facing north initially (n,s, etc. indicate ending direction)
1. shomenuchi (n)
2. step through and tsuki (n)
3. pivot right 180° shomenuchi (s)
4. tsuki with slide step (s)
6. tsuki with slide step (e)
7. pivot right 180° shomenuchi (w)
8. tsuki with slide step (w)
9. turn left 45°, step through with left foot and shomenuchi (se) then 180° pivot right (nw)
10. shomenuchi, then pivot left 90° (ne)
11. shomenuchi 180° pivot right (sw)
12. shomenuchi (sw)
13. keep bokken horizontal and turn to the right 495°. Then step back with the right foot into jodan-no kamae, then step back with left foot and raise bokken into seigan-no-kamae. (n)
Aiki kengi #2
Originated by K. Tohei, refined by R. Kobayashi. Facing north initially (n,s, etc. indicate ending direction)
1. Slide off line of attack and raise bokken with U motion (n)
2. step through and strike opponent's right wrist (n)
3. step through and strike opponent's left shoulder (n)
4. step through and strike opponent's right shoulder (n)
5. pivot right 180° shomenuchi to forehead (s)
6. slide forward to thrust to opponent's throat (s)
7. pivot right 180° shomenuchi to forehead (n)
8. slide forward to thrust to opponent's throat (n)
9. leap through, yokomenuchi to left side of opponent's head, immediately turn 180° (s)
10. repeat last step (n)
11. bokken horizontal, thrust forward (n)
12. step through and strike opponent's left shoulder (n)
13. turn 180° to right then raise sword step back with right foot. Then step back with leftfoot and return to seigan (n)
Aiki Kengi 3
by R. Kobayashi.
Facing north initially (n,s, etc. indicate ending direction)
2. tsuki with slide step (n)
3. reverse yokomen with step (n)
4. 180° turn right strike shomen (s)
5. tsuki with step through (s)
6. 45° turn to left yokomen strike (se)
7. lift bokken blade up into upper jo-like ready position (se)
9. another kesa-gakae by turning 135° to the right (w)
10. turn 45° to left and be in chudan-no-kamae (sw)
11. slit opponent's throat, 225° to right, jodan-no-kamae (e)
13. 45° right, reverse kesa-gakae, step with left foot (se)
14. kesa-gakae look to nw (se)
16. reverse yokomen (nw)
18. turn 180° to right chudan-no-kamae (se)
19. turn 90° left lifting blade into high guard (ne)
20. reverse yokomen (ne)
21. strike yokomen, udefuri-choyaku-undo 180° to left (sw)
22. lift into high guard and (s)
23. reverse yokomen (sw)
25. 180° turn to left and then do the zig-zag cut (ne)
Before Practice
Kumitachi
The kumitachi came originally from an old sword school. They were modified to include the concept of Aiki by the Founder, Professor Morihei Ueshiba, who left them as a legacy.
There are many possible variations of the kumitachi. The Founder, when he taught, called these first attack and second attack variations. These variations are naturally used with the ken but are soon adapted to taijutsu.
Consequently, the kumitachi are considered to be the personality of ken, jo, and taijutsu basic techniques. If one does not have a good understanding of suburi, it will be useless to practice the kumitachi. If practice is done everyday on the kumitachi and partner practices, stability of the hips will not be attained, and an important point of practice will be missed. Therefore begin each practice session with the suburi as shown in Volume I. Uchitachi (Attacker) and Uketachi (Defender)
The kumitachi are not to be considered competition. They are practices, and the partners do not vie for an attacking or superior position. It was said that one should be uchitachi for 10 years before being allowed to become uketachi. It was felt that this was the proper way to learn.
Morihiro Saito
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Uketachi |
Uchitachi |
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Chudan no kamae |
Chudan no kamae |
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Jodan no kamae, right foot back |
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