Kata Mae (Front Form)
Kata Migi (Right Form)
Kata Hidari, Mae (Left, Front Form)
Kata Ushiro (Rear Form)
Kata Mae, Ushiro Chokuzen (Front, Rear Center-Level Thrust Form)
Kata Hidari, Mae Nuki-Uchi (Left, Front Jump-Cut Form)
Kata Joden-Uke (Upper-Level Block Form)
Kata Ushiro, Mae (Rear, Front Form)
Kata Oroshi (Mountain Wind Form)
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Foreword
I am sure that anyone who has an interest in the Japanese sword will appreciate this well-written and informative publication. Cary Nemeroff, Soke Shodai (first-generation head founder) of the Fukasa-Ryu martial arts system, is a highly skilled martial arts master who began training under me in 1977. He continues training on a regular basis, even though he is a founder of his own martial arts style.
Cary has always displayed an above-average ability to learn the martial arts. He excelled at everything he was taught, and many years later became my only student who earned dan ranking in nearly all of the martial arts that I teach and represent. This was quite an achievement on his part.
I introduced Cary to the sword many years ago, and it soon became his favorite weapon. He never missed a sword clinic and even had the honor of training in the early 1990s under Shihan Tomio Nakai of Japan (my last traditional Japanese sword sensei) during one of his training visits for Juko-Kai members.
Cary earned his shihan (master instructor) grading in my sokeship art of juko-ryu iai-jutsu/ken-jutsu, and, like all head founders, he developed his own sword kata. His forms are a reflection of what he feels his sword art should represent. It is my opinion that he has done a fine job in this respect.
—ROD SACHARNOSKI, DAI-SOKE, TENTH DAN
President, Juko-Kai International
Ninth Dan Hanshi, Seidokan Karate, Kobudo and Toide
Preface
This book was originally designed as a manual for my own students. I hope it will become an invaluable resource for all students of kobu-jutsu, and certainly for those who are studying some form of iai-jutsu or ken-jutsu.
I will commence by taking the reader through what I term a brief history of Japan. Next, we will examine two major forms of the samurai fighting arts, which in Japanese are known as kobu-jutsu: the sword techniques of iai-jutsu and ken-jutsu, the drawing of the samurai sword and samurai sword fencing. These evolved by empirical means alone, as the samurai reflected upon their experiences in battle, and honed their technique by applying lessons learned using the battlefield as a laboratory.
Last, we will delve deeply into Fukasa-Ryu iai-jutsu and ken-jutsu, one modern ryu (style) of iai-jutsu and ken-jutsu that is deeply rooted in some of the oldest extant kobujutsu. When I use the word “modern” here, it is not meant in any way to imply that this is some sort of inauthentic, completely subjective ryu that evolved from a path different from other styles of kobu-jutsu that continue to exist today. In using the term “modern,” I am attempting to accurately describe something that is taught and learned today, contemplated today, and continues to evolve today. Although it was named as a unique ryu in the modern era, modernity was not an intended component of this ryu, which respects and incorporates long-established kobu-jutsu techniques. This ryu’s ideology, saho (formal etiquette), and waza (techniques) have all been conscientiously preserved in the original forms of the ryu that have come before it.
The Fukasa-Ryu way of iai-jutsu and ken-jutsu is the materialization and documentation of another samurai swordsman’s retrospection upon his life, a retrospection that began with kobu-jutsu study during my childhood and remains a driving force manifesting itself in both my career and my personal life. In writing this book, I am not purporting to reinvent the wheel. I am, however, taking a painstaking look at a variety of well-made wheels and retrofitting them to a more modern car.
In recent years, the samurai sword has undergone one of the greatest transformations in its long history. While once used by a select class of warriors on the battlefield, it has now found its way into lives and classrooms around the world, as a tool for self-betterment, learning, and reflection.
Samurai sword training can have a positive effect on the body by calming the mind while simultaneously exercising the muscles. The complete focus it requires turns practice into a form of meditation through movement. On a physical, muscular level, samurai sword practice can build strength and endurance and can burn calories, just like any other comparably sustained, rigorous form of exercise.
The History of the Samurai Sword
The samurai sword as we know it today evolved as a practical weapon used regularly in battle. As the needs of Japan’s warriors changed and evolved over more than a thousand years of history, so too did their armaments. This development of the samurai sword is often organized into four key periods: Chokuto, or Ancient Sword; Koto, or Old Sword; Shinto, or New Sword; and Shin-shinto, or Modern Sword.
Although today the samurai sword is used for different purposes—for exercise and relaxation, for meditation and important lessons of discipline—understanding its history is an important part of understanding the modern methodology of its use.
CHOKUTO OR ANCIENT SWORD PERIOD
The birth of Japan, like the birth of the samurai sword, is shrouded in
