The Bundle of Bamboo

When I teach Kokikai Aikido I am constantly reminding students to slow down. "Metronome 40!" I say, like my old piano teacher who insisted that I practiced at the slowest possible setting of the metronome. I stop students as soon as I see that nage is using force or muscle. And as soon as I turn my back I know they're ramping it up again, to what they feel is "street speed."

I can empathize with students who are afraid what they're learning won't be effective in a real-life self-defense situation. It doesn't seem intuitive: practicing in what seems like slow motion, paying attention to every shift of the hips, every turn of the wrist, even where your eyes are focused! Don't we need to practice in a more realistic way, especially at a more realistic speed?

The short answer is, no. As Maruyama Sensei says, if you practice "junk" 10,000 times, you'll be really good at...junk. Practicing correctly is far more important than practicing incorrectly at a faster speed. I understood this intellectually, and for years I took it on faith as the wisdom of people who knew more than I.

Then I heard a story from Leon Brooks Sensei.

Leon Sensei is a 7th degree black belt. He has been practicing aikido for over 40 years, and is Maruyama Sensei's highest ranking instructor.  In my opinion, Leon Sensei's weapons technique is second only to Maruyama Sensei's. I have seen video of him attacking Sensei with a "live" (real, as in sharp) weapon, back in the days before lawyers and liability insurance made that impractical. So I was shocked to hear him tell our Rutgers aikido class that he had never made a practice cut with a katana - until recently.

A little background: In aikido, as in most Japanese martial arts that practice sword techniques, we use a wooden practice sword or bokken. Katana are seldom, if ever, used in practice. Those who do practice with katana often test the quality of their technique by cutting through bundles of bamboo - surprisingly difficult unless done correctly. Not too many people get the opportunity nowadays, however, because even a medium-quality katana costs hundreds of dollars, and if your technique is incorrect you can dull or bend the blade.

Leon Sensei told us that another senior student had recently let him borrow a katana, and he finally got the opportunity to try cutting a bundle of bamboo.

He sliced through it like butter.

Practicing with the wooden sword for many years, he learned how to make the cut correctly, so that when his chance came to slice through bamboo, he "got it in one."

Students: please focus on practicing correctly. If you ever do need to defend yourself, you may not get a second try.