Two Sword Style

Murata-san came to Fuchou again tonight so I got my second run at fighting someone who does nito. I couldn’t land a single hit on him! He’s so fast and his defenses are impenetrable. Still, it was a lot of fun, and he gave me some pointers, such as worry about the long shinai and don’t keep a dead center kamae. My waza aren’t advanced enough that I can pull off a defense and counter attack of such complicated moves. Maybe I’ll see if I can study a bit of nito after I get ni-dan. Fortunately, Murata-san’s dojo practices 3 times a week, and all in the evening, so it’s feasible that I could go! How much kendo can I physically do in a week? I guess we’ll find out.

First Time Fighting Against Nito Ryu

We had a visitor to our dojo today! Murata-san is from Miyukakuji dojo and he does nito ryu! Even in Japan nito is rare so having the chance to watch him fight, and to keiko with him was a real treat. Of course, I had my backside kicked right out the door by such a strong defense and stronger strike (that one handed strike is decimating!) but it was a lot of fun and really kept me on my toes. I watched a little bit how other people handled him but it seemed that he came out on top in all of his matches.

The trick, I was told, was to adjust my kamae to point to the shorter shinai, sort of like go-hon-me in kata. The danger in that is the shorter shinai’s ability to execute quick and distracting harai-waza that makes any sort of defense or attack near impossible and leaves one vulnerable to the quick strike of the longer shinai. 

How I’m supposed to deal with the shorter shinai, even with an adjusted kamae, I haven't figured out yet but I hope he keeps visiting, and I hope I can have the opportunity to visit his dojo as well. If I’m able, I’d like to give nito a try myself one day, but not before I have a better command of basic kendo.