[!IMPORTANT] I highly recommend reading the preface for background on the first three kata especially.
Uchidachi and shidachi start in chūdan, and advance together starting with the right foot. Upon entering ma-ai, uchidachi, sensing an opportunity, strikes at shidachi’s right kote. The cut stops slightly below the wrist.
Shidachi steps back to the rear left diagonal leading with the left foot, while dropping the kensen with a feeling of drawing a semicircle under uchidachi’s sword, thereby evading the cut. Taking a big step forwards with the right foot in okuri-ashi, shidachi makes a large cut to uchidachi’s right kote.
Uchidachi steps leading with the left foot, and shidachi with the right while showing zanshin with strong kigurai, back to the centre position to make awase in ai-chūdan. Lowering the kensen to release their kamae, both return to the starting positions.
One thing stands out as odd in this kata: uchidachi attempts to cut kote by cutting vertically down the centre, basically right along shidachi’s sword. Even in the best case, the cut would hit the tsuba. A kote strike normally requires one to get slightly off the centre line to get around the opponent’s sword, or the strike is performed at an oblique angle to reach the kote.
Of course, the teacher is not actually demonstrating the best way to cut kote from awase. The second lesson is about the principle of the centre line (正中線 seichūsen), and the purpose of the cut is to mark the mutual centre line for the student. The target is the part of the right wrist that is on this line, and the cut is performed as if shidachi’s sword were not there. Regarding the level of the sword at the end of the cut, it was decided to add the clarification “slightly below the wrist” to the manual because people tended to cut too low: horizontal is quite enough.
For shidachi’s nuki-kote to be successful, they need to get two things right: stepping just enough off the original centre line to evade the cut, and keeping their own centre line aligned towards uchidachi to make their own attack. This is, of course, in addition to implementing the previous lesson about ma-ai.
The first priority is to drop the kensen to get the hand out of the way of the cut, and as one steps away at the same time, the kensen will trace a near-semicircular arc below uchidachi’s sword. The reason behind this wording is to emphasise that dropping the kensen and stepping away are not two sequential actions, but need to happen simultaneously.
One does not need to apply any deliberate force to pull the sword down, as it is quite enough just to let it fall by gravity alone. As for the step, the right foot needs to move to around where the left foot was in order to move the body off the cutting line and out of reach.
Shidachi’s new centre line is not towards the target of their counterattack (although it ends up being on the line anyway), but towards the centre of uchidachi’s face. That way, the cut will pass straight down between uchidachi’s eyes before reaching its target. This additional seme towards the eyes will also reinforce the opening and buy a moment’s more time.
After shidachi’s cut, as they return to the awase position, shidachi needs to show zanshin with enough kigurai, since there is no additional action to display zanshin. Kigurai can be translated as confidence, a proud bearing projecting unshakable certainty.
The clarification that there is no physical action of zanshin was added in the 1981 manual, and before that some teachers would raise the kensen to eye-height as an additional threat before returning to chūdan. There was never any mention of such an action in the manual: the original text said only “[…] strike the right kote and assume ai-chūdan.”1 However, because uchidachi is incapacitated but not dead, the kigurai has to be strong enough not to allow uchidachi any opening for a final counterattack. This is where this kata ties into the next.
When returning to ai-chūdan, shidachi simply steps back onto the original centre line while raising the kensen to chūdan, while uchidachi has to allow shidachi to pass before raising their own.
The second Monbushō kata teaches the virtue of benevolence, represented by the jewel, Yasakani no Magatama. The lesson is simple: do not take a life if you do not have to. Shidachi has an opening to cut men and kill uchidachi, yet chooses “only” to maim them by cutting off their sword hand2, taking away their ability to keep fighting.
There is a progression of both skill and morality evident here: as shidachi incorporates the lessons from the previous kata in their swordsmanship, they become not only more technically proficient, but able to use that skill to spare a life. If the first kata taught them to see the enemy as a person whose death was regrettable, the second kata teaches them that the skill to win can afford them the benevolence to end the fight with less than the death of their enemy3.
The second component of ten-chi-jin is earth: chi. Both sides start this second kata in chūdan, due to chūdan being the kamae associated (in the Kantō region) with chi.
Shidachi is taking what they learnt in the first kata and showing that they have learnt to apply their skills in a more dynamic way, adapting to the situation at hand. This shows a progress from the shin style to the more fluent gyō (行), the semi-cursive or running script in calligraphy.