Hello everyone. Thank you for reading this article. I’m Shogo from Let’s ask Shogo, the interpreter of the online lessons and owner of this website.

1. What is This Video About?

In our opening video of Let’s ask Seki Sensei, we show a Kama sickle Kata where Seki Sensei blasts the Bokutō wooden katana away from his student, Tsukada-san’s hands. Many people have been asking us how you perform this stunning Kata because it’s quite rare. However, from our Ryuha, Asayama Ichiden Ryu’s point of view, blasting the opponent’s katana with various weapons isn’t rare at all. So we used four different weapons to actually demonstrate some other Kata too that blasts and throws the opponent’s katana in the air.

2. Why Should You Absolutely Watch it?

Most techniques of fighting with Japanese traditional weapons are about directly attacking the opponent or just parrying the opponent’s weapon to defend yourself. So taking away the opponent’s weapon and completely disarming him is quite rare. Our Ryuha style Asayama Ichiden Ryu is a Kobudo with 400 years of history. It carries on techniques that was actually used on the battlefield, and in real life disarming the opponent was an effective move to heighten the possibility of you winning a battle.

3. What are Some Points NOT Discussed in the Video But Shared Here?

For anyone who trains Iai/Kenjutsu, it would probably be very shocking for your to see Seki Sensei throwing the katana everywhere around the dojo. Filming this video did leave a lot of damage on the floor of the dojo. I believe many Iai/Kenjutsu instructors would think this is a taboo to treat your katana this way, but why do we do this? It is because of Seki Sensei’s Sensei’s teaching. His Sensei was the 21st headmaster of Asayama Ichiden Ryu, Osaki Sensei. Osaki Sensei taught Seki Sensei that the katana is called the soul of the samurai because having a katana was proof that the samurai was willing to devote his life to Bushido. It’s not because the katana itself important, but the meaning of carrying a katana is more important. So Osaki Sensei taught Seki Sensei that he shouldn’t hold anything back when he trains with his katana. This is why for teaching and carrying on the techniques of his Ryuha, Seki Sensei is willing to do everything he can, because that is his priority.