The
Iaido Journal Nov
2003
Comparison
Chopping:
A
non-scientific review of current offerings for the tameshigiri
crowd.
Continued...
On
to the doubles! We followed the same order as before, starting
with the Bugei wara. It still amazed me how tall that wara looked
after cutting the others.
It wasn’t much harder to cut the double mat of wara than the single.
It didn’t really require any more tip speed, but it did require you to
be a bit more careful of your hasuji. We both agreed that they were a lot of
fun to cut.
The four roll of beach mat was actually a bit easier to
cut than the two roll as strange as it sounds. The extra size
of the roll kept it from bending when you were a bit off, so
it zipped right through. I decided to be brave and purposely
hit it badly. I swear it was on purpose! It cut through in a
nice scoop shape without feeling like it caught at all.
The
Mugen Dachi mats were next, making a satisfying thump when you
spiked the double roll. These required some decent tip speed
as well as good hasuji to get through. These grabbed your sword
if you were off a bit. Definitely a sword bender if your concentration
wavered. Doug and I both had to take a couple of tries at it
to get the ichimonji giri clean.
Our
next challenge, the double roll of used tatami, required a lot
of focus and speed to cut well. I love that zip sound that tatami
makes when your cut is good! Doug experienced real difficulties
making kiriage and ichimonji with the double mats. It was “knock
over the stand” time. Everyone that has cut tatami with
a horizontal cut has had that happen to them at least once. You
try to put enough speed in to cut cleanly, but the angle is a
little off and over she goes!
Up to this point I was feeling pretty good because I was doing
fairly well with my cuts. I had a bit of that smugness that you
try to avoid, but just can’t help feeling, when your cuts are on and your training partner is
having an off day. Well, all that crashed to a halt when we began cutting the
noticeably heavier double rolls of Bugei goza. I had a bit of trouble spiking
the single roll, but the weight of the double roll just smacked it down on
the spike. Doug just couldn’t get either the kiriage or the ichimonji
on this one despite a couple of re-tries. I didn’t fare much better,
and firmly stuck my first attempt at kiriage lifting the target completely
off of the stand. It took a couple of re-tries in order to get through the
kiriage and ichimonji. The double Bugei goza required a whole lot of speed
as well as good blade alignment, quite a challenge! In this picture, you can
see where I stuck the preceding cut!
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