[!IMPORTANT] I highly recommend reading the preface for background on the first three kata especially.
Uchidachi assumes morote-hidari-jōdan no kamae stepping forwards with the left foot; shidachi, remaining in place, raises the sword above their head to assume morote-migi-jōdan no kamae. Both sides advance into issoku-ittō no ma-ai. Uchidachi, taking a large step forwards on the right foot, makes a large cut to shidachi’s shōmen. In order to evade the cut, shidachi steps back leading with the left foot while pulling the hands back above the head to avoid the left hand getting cut. Uchidachi, cutting air, continues the cut all the way through to slightly below gedan height, inclining the upper body somewhat. Shidachi immediately follows with a cut to uchidachi’s shōmen while stepping forwards with the right foot to complete men-nuki-men.
Uchidachi, keeping the sword in gedan, straightens up and takes a small step back with okuri-ashi, so shidachi, applying pressure with strong kigurai, lowers their kensen to between uchidachi’s eyes. As uchidachi takes another step back with okuri-ashi, shidachi steps forwards with the left foot to assume hidari-jōdan to display zanshin.
When uchidachi starts raising their kensen, shidachi steps back again with the left foot and lowers their kensen, so the swords meet in the chūdan awase position. Both sides lower their kensen to release their kamae, and return to their respective starting position.
On the face of it, this kata looks pretty strange, and immediately prompts two questions:
Surely, if the main objective of the kata were to teach men-nuki-men, shidachi would use a proper fighting kamae, and uchidachi would do a normal cut in order for the scenario to be more realistic. However, as previously discussed, the main purpose of the first three kata is not to teach specific techniques, but to reinforce basic principles of kendō. In the case of ipponme, the objective is for the student to learn proper ma-ai, or judgement of distance. With this knowledge, let us examine the “peculiar” points from the perspective of teaching ma-ai.
Migi-jōdan is not normally considered to be an actual kamae, the reason being that the reach is not long enough to justify exposing the whole body by raising the sword above the head. It is best seen as a position of furikaburi, the sword raised above the head in preparation for a cut. The closest to a right-foot-forwards version of jōdan no kamae would be one with the hand positions swapped; a sort of left-handed jōdan. So why does the very first kata start with shidachi, the student, in migi-jōdan?
In the first place, why does uchidachi start in hidari-jōdan? Well, during regular practice, students are taught to determine proper issoku-ittō no ma-ai (the one-step cutting distance) by crossing swords in ai-chūdan (mutual chūdan). By instead raising the sword into jōdan, the teacher removes this measuring tool from the student, forcing them to judge distance without any help. The other, more symbolic, reason for uchidachi to start in jōdan in the first kata specifically, is because it is the kamae of heaven (天 ten). As the first component of ten-chi-jin, the philosophical tripartite whole of the universe, it was chosen as the first kamae out of three.
As for shidachi, by having them start in a position with the sword already above their head, not only does the teacher remove the other available measuring stick, but also abstracts away unnecessary parts of the kata. Since the objective is to learn to judge the reach of the opponent in issoku-ittō no ma-ai, the student can then fully focus on that instead of getting distracted by what to do with the sword. There is also the more material consideration of the sword getting in the way for uchidachi if shidachi were in chūdan instead.
When entering into fighting distance in the beginning of the kata, uchidachi should first of all pay attention to how far shidachi advances: do they create correct issoku-ittō no ma-ai, or do they stop before or continue too close? If they are too close, they will have great difficulty evading, and if too far, uchidachi will have no reason to attack. Correctly determining ma-ai without crossing swords is the first lesson, and the rest of the kata becomes meaningless if the distance at this point is wrong.
Uchidachi’s cut from jōdan seems strange for two reasons: that it ends at a position below gedan, and that uchidachi inclines forwards during the cut. Normally in kendō, one would keep a straight posture at all times, and anyone who has done iaidō knows that a standing shōmen cut usually ends at the horizontal level — and if at all possible, one would try to stop the sword (kiritsuke) at chūdan height if the cut is evaded, so as to keep strong seme and stop the enemy from counterattacking. Why break your posture and cut all the way down, creating a prime opening? Is uchidachi stupid? Of course not, they are the teacher — but as already established, this kata is not about demonstrating proper technique, but about demonstrating ma-ai and letting the student improve their judgement of distance.
From this perspective, it makes perfect sense to cut all the way down, because otherwise the sword would get in the way of shidachi’s counterattack. Furthermore, since uchidachi is demonstrating the maximum reach of a cut from issoku-ittō no ma-ai, they lean slightly forwards — thereby further increasing their reach.
One sometimes hears the extremely contrived explanation that uchidachi simply cuts too hard and is unable to stop the sword, ending up instead in an inclined position with the sword down. That would look different. We already established that uchidachi is not an idiot, so it is important that they incline the upper body as the hands are in front of the face in order to reach further, and not at the end of the cut because they get pulled down. Just letting the sword pull one forwards is enough.
There is very little margin in a good nuki technique. The distance to the passing kensen should be such that the left hand would get cut were it not pulled back above the head, yet the body must move back enough that there is no risk of being cut. This requires a good understanding of ma-ai that can only be achieved through long practice1. It follows that the hands need only move back precisely until the tsukagashira is flush with the forehead, and because the left hand is about one fist above and in front of the forehead, this distance is roughly one hand’s width back along the line of the tsuka.
The most commonly seen footwork in the nuki-men is okuri-ashi backwards to evade, and okuri-ashi back forwards to cut. However, the manual only specifies stepping forwards with the right foot for the cut, and it is not strictly necessary to step in with the left foot. By pulling the right foot closer to the left (but not together) at the end of the nuki, the body can be brought just barely out of harm’s way, and the counterattack easily reach by only stepping forwards again with the right foot. Iaidō practitioners will be familiar with this footwork from the twelfth ZNKR kata Nukiuchi2.
The execution of this technique, as this is the very first kata a student would learn, is characterised by its simplicity, no-nonsense practicality, and strict adherence to basic form: this is often expressed in calligraphy terms as shin (真, “true”), or regular script. A shin-style character is written with each stroke boldly and correctly drawn with no shortcuts, and this is the first style a calligraphy student will learn, and continue to practise throughout their life.
As uchidachi is now inclining forwards and needs to return to a straight posture and get out from under shidachi’s sword, they take a small step back. Shidachi lowers the kensen to between uchidachi’s eyes to display zanshin, and as uchidachi takes another small step back, steps forwards on the left foot while raising the sword into hidari-jōdan. Originally, the wording here was to step forwards and then raise the sword (左足ヲ踏ミ出シ上段ニ冠リ), and that was how the kata was originally performed. There was a debate about how to express this sentence in the 1981 manual, and the committee eventually decided to rewrite “stepping forwards with the left foot and then raising the sword into hidari-jōdan (左足を踏み出して、諸手左上段に振りかぶり) into “while stepping forwards […]” (踏み出しながら) in order to make the connection between the hands and feet more clear.
As for where to aim the kensen, the original text phrased it only as “the centre of the face”, and there were two opinions on how to interpret this: either between the eyebrows or between the eyes. Although the consensus was that it referred to the “upper tanden”, which is (to my understanding) conventionally taken to be between the eyebrows, it was decided instead to specify the point between the eyes.
Usually, when assuming jōdan at the end of a kata, one would step backwards rather than forwards, to restore the one-step cutting distance and better to survey the surroundings. Since uchidachi, in a real fight, would be very much dead on the ground by now, their stepping back is either symbolic or practical (to return to their original location), and shidachi’s action makes little sense on the surface. Let us take a step back3 and analyse the deeper meaning of this kata.
The first tachi form was intended by the Monbushō to convey the virtue of justice, and the righteousness of one fighting for justice. Among the ruler’s three virtues represented by the imperial regalia, this corresponds to wisdom, symbolised by the mirror. Wisdom is necessary to mete out true justice, but I believe there is also an implication that wisdom lies in realising that both sides in a fight are upholding their own idea of righteousness, and that victory, even a just one, does not equal moral superiority. In war, where samurai retainers fought each other on the battlefield because their duty to their lord required them to, there was rarely a moral distinction between two individual combatants. Although one side ends up cutting their enemy down and killing them, the enemy, too, was only fighting for what they believed to be right, and the loss of a life is a regrettable thing.
Inoue-sensei often used the word “correct” (正) about the moral message of this kata, saying that it teaches the student the first lesson they need to know to use a sword for justice: how to set something right that was wrong. In a fight with live blades, this may necessitate killing the opponent, but that outcome may not be unavoidable and is in any case not desirable. “Correct” does not necessarily equal “good”.
The use of jōdan no kamae, in this context, can be seen as an affirmation of righteousness on each side as the kata commences4. Sasaki-sensei initially interpreted shidachi’s final hidari-jōdan as a reaffirmation of their own righteousness upon winning, but Inoue-sensei contested this. Rather, he said, it should be viewed as shidachi paying their respects to the fallen enemy, symbolically “lifting” their spirit to ascend to Buddhahood. That interpretation seems more likely given the connection to the virtue of wisdom, but there could be an element of both. Regardless, the final jōdan no kamae is likely more symbolic than practical, and teaches the shidachi that they should spare a moment of thought for their fallen enemy rather than just pack up and go home.
Or maybe also through genius. I wouldn’t know. ↩
Especially after the recent clarifications from the technical committee. ↩
See what I did there. ↩
Interestingly, migi-jōdan is like a mirror image of hidari-jōdan, connecting back to the Yata no Kagami. Now, I do believe this to be a coincidence, but it is still worth noting that the two sides are like reflections in a mirror — opposite, and yet the same. ↩