Hello everyone... this is mostly jus for when I've got nothing to do and I don't have an uke.. Anyways I've been watching a lot of Toshiro Mifune movies and also saw Dragon: A Bruce Lee story.... in these movies I see the actors with 2 swords and they are able to twirl them around....(nito in japanese).... I was wondering if anyone can give me pointers.... from kendoists, kenjutsukas, iadoists, wu shu practioners.... anyone??? i seem to get caught up cuz i know one swings/twirls above the other and the bottom... well I'm lost any help??
As far as I know there is almost no sword twirling in any Japanese martial art, so Niten Kenjutsu wouldn't help with that at all. JediMasterChris might be able to comment further on that, being a kenshi and all... Sorry I couldn't help much, I do iaido and the only sword twirling we ever do is a single handed redirection and cut, which is basically only one loop, and finishes with the blade (hopefully) in the opponent.
I love it when people twirl swords cinematically, so easy to just knock the thing out of their hands with even a half-decently placed blow.
Spinning sword is just for flashy demonstration, it is completely worthless in combat. A lot of the traditional sword art was developed for killing and to protect only. Doing moves such as spinning sword will get you kill if you ever need to attack with your sword again, you wont be able to regrip in time to attack or defend. However the move your talking about in dragon (bruce lee movie) is quiet different. That is no spinning at all, his just cutting upward with 2 broadsword created the effect of a spinning movement. That is a very common technique for 1 handed style sword. Straight sword, broadsword all use this kind of movement. Your basically cutting upward from right to left and left to right. Dualing both sword doing it one after the other will an effect of an spinning movement. Hope that helps, this stuff is impossible to explain on-line.
I totally agree that spinning swords is absolutely ineffective in true combat... the same is true for spinning flying triple flipsy dos that extreme martial artists do...I am merely trying to practice something at home that looked to me as being a good workout with the swords and also looked pretty damn cool And yes I agree that it is hard to explain but one thing i have a problem with is where to place the hands after each swing and how to repeat the process... With escrima sticks we usually do it as counts.... 1 is swing right hand around head 2 is swing left hand left to right upward 3 is swing right hand from right to left downward (or something like that) then continue the count... I was wondering if there was such a method in the swords
I would also like to agree that sword spinning in combat is probably one of the worst things you can do, but its not like you do it mid-fight. How many people decide to have a sparring match with swords, and upon stepping into the area instantly draw their swords and charge each other? Obviously i can only speak for myself, but i draw my sword, or pick up my stick (heh), and maybe give it a twirl or two, just for the sake of....well, showing off really, prior to actually stepping forward and engaging. So while knowing some twirls is, as has been said above, useless in a fight, they're still fun to learn. And by the way, Aegis, i'll be starting kenjutsu soon, and was jsut wondering whether there are any similar techniques between that and Iaido? Or is Iaido purely a sword drawing art? ie; attacks done as you unsheath your sword. This is just a curiosity question, but any help would be much appreciated. Thanks
In Wushu they spin swords presumably like you mentioned but it is in demonstrations only i presume rather than fighting.
Iaido is primarily about killing the opponent as soon as possible, so the movements are all performed from the draw, linking the draw with a cut or parry and following that with several cuts designed to kill or incapacitate as soon as possible. Not all of the cuts are actually incorporated in the drawing action, so you will still see moves like double-handed overhead cuts in iaido.
Unless things have changed since i last practiced iaido, there were also strikes made to ones enemies before drawing the sword (i.e. strikes to the wrists).
Aah, i see now. Thanks much, Aegis and Shade. I found out today that my dojo teaches Iaido as well as Kenjutsu, so you never know i might end up learning some. Ciao fow now
i have a question how many of you actually have been in real combat with a sword? i see knives and guns but turning back time before guns would be magnificient to me
Not real combat, no. Fake combat with a semi-points continuous sparring system, yes. I doubt you'll find anyone who's actually fought, truly fought, with a sword, since their opponent or they would most likely be dead.
