Iaido

A Cherry Blossom's Fall

I decided to insert this article as a change of pace. At the White Shadow dojo one of our major studies is iaido, the art of drawing and cutting with the katana. I wrote this article a while back for some of my Iai students. I hope you enjoy it.


I mention in every class that students should work slowly and purposefully. Still most students seem more intent on increasing their speed. While this is not uncommon, it is a fault normally associated with beginners.


Iaido is primarily a post Sengoku Jidai--the Warring States Period—art form. Many of the kata are no more than 150 years old, many are less! The purpose of Art, despite what the modernists would have us believe, is to create beauty in ways and places where before there was none. There is a tremendous difference between an accomplished swordsman, and a killer with a sword. A critical part of that difference is Art, beauty. Beauty can be as delicate as a cherry blossom falling to the ground, or as awesome as the water cascading over Niagara Falls. There is a time and place for each of these. Both of them, while at opposite ends of the spectrum of power, share certain attributes of form, movement, time and space.


In any Art, one of the artist’s aspirations is to achieve a balance between the positive and negative spaces, and create a sense of dynamic tension. In this photograph you can almost taste the tension between the two figures. This is not a point from which either of these two swordsmen would wish to rush forward precipitously. It is a splendid example of Yang energy (on the left) and Yin energy (on the right). At this point, the death of the man on the right seems to be a fait accompli, but the swordsman on the left is not rushing into the trap, nor is the man on the right breaking his composure, or posture, or admitting defeat.


It is important to notice the grip of the swordsman on the left. The sword is held lightly, delicately poised to strike. His arms are opened wide to prevent constricting his energy and no emotion is displayed on his face. This is a unique example of art, a moment frozen in time, lingering between a movement and a rest, between life and death.


In your own practice try to incorporate the power of both the waterfall and the cherry blossom’s fall, balancing your timing and energy. Try to create beauty in your postures and movements, working your forms slowly and purposefully at first. Make each move as if it were going to be photographed and recorded as your last moment on earth.