Details

Aspects and considerations already treated in a previous exercise of Aikibatto, are omitted here.

     Uke nagashi, the high level parry, is commented in the text on OMOTE. So is omote and ura, as well as kesagiri.

Starting position. Tori at right, uke at left.

     Ura, reverse, is the second of the two Uke nagashi, differing from the first in movements five and on. Basically, the difference is that tori moves to the other side of uke after the uke nagashi parry, and the consequences thereof. Also, uke makes two charges instead of just one.

     In movement five, tori is doing the same as in OMOTE, bringing the feet together and raising the sword to jodan kamae, whereas uke - because of having done the short men instead of the deep gedan cut - is quick to draw for a new cut. Uke now takes aim at the point where tori stands after the uke nagashi parry.

     Tori moves over to the right side of uke, getting very near uke by this move. There is no problem in this nearness, it is actually a common dueling distance in the old samurai arts. Since the actual cutting is done by drawing the sword back, starting very near uke only means a lot more of the blade than just the outer part of it, involved in the cutting move. The step to the left with the left foot can be done immediately, but the body cannot follow until uke's sword is out of the way by being lifted to jodan kamae - and then, there is need to hurry.

     The kesagiri diagonal cut is from left to right, as opposed to right to left in OMOTE, stopping above uke's right side neck. This means, when using the method of leaning with the body, that the body needs to be tilted to the left. In case of a straight body kesa cut, the sword should be held at a high kamae slightly to the left over the head - or left side hasso gamae.

     The straightening of the sword in movement ten, is for a more pure and efficient chiburi at the next step. If the body is tilted from a leaning form of the kesa cut, this is the proper moment for adjusting the posture - or the backward step would be a bit awkward.

     The chiburi in movement eleven, is done the same way as in OMOTE, except that it does not start from a standstill position, but begins just before the left foot step backward stops. From then on, it is the same as in OMOTE.

Iai considerations

In iai style single training of the tori movements in this exercise, the modifications of the above would be: the kesagiri in movement eight is not stopped at neck height, but pulled through to gedan.

     Uke's movements in this exercise are not very meaningful to practice in a iai solo style.

Stefan Stenudd