Raito and Sente

雷刀

Raito (the variation of jodan no kamae used in Jikishinkage-ryū) is often viewed as a strong offensive kamae, good to attack from. It is a variant of jodan where the arms are stretched overhead with the tip of the sword angled behind you overhead. It seems like it would be a position from which you could launch a powerful attack, and in fact is. However, in to-no-kata, we actually do not see shidachi using raito to directly attack, except in one introductory kata called menkage.

In to-no-kata, the first kata called ryubi (dragon's tail) involves stepping forward and backwards, executing continuous yokomen strikes to the side of the head (or forearm if the opponent is in an upper level stance such as jodan or hasso). The next two kata, called menkage drill similar movements with a direct, downward, cut to the helmet (men). The third pairing, first part of a set called teppa, involve waiting in raito and cutting kesa down to the left or the right, with associated footwork against an upper level or mid level attack.

Then in the second half of teppa, matsukaze, and hayafune (6 of the kata in the set as a whole) shidachi advances three steps in raito and then cuts down slowly to show they know what proper range is. Then various things happen. Again, shidachi advances in raito but does attack from raito. He provokes uchitachi into moving, but uchi does not initially take the bait. This is unusual for a kenjutsu ryuha, as usually uchitachi attacks shidachi in some way, or leads him into a specific situation. But in to-no-kata, we are learning in these kata how to attack and a lot is hidden beneath the surface.

In Jikishinkage-ryū, we want to train ourselves to know what the optimal distance (ma-ai) is from which to attack and advance in a way that shuts down options for the opponent. Similarly, in Hōjō, uchidachi advances in raito three steps and presents a target, which shidachi attacks. For example, in the teppa kata where shidachi advances, uchidachi attacks first or has to respond: the kasumi cut shidachi performs is one way to break (thus the name teppa, which means breaking iron) the seigan (chudan) kamae uchidachi is in. Similarly, in the second kata in Hōjō, shidachi advances forward and follows with kasumi from seigan. We need to drill how to respond when uchidachi does blink or flinch and moves. If they do, cutting men or yokomen or kesa from raito, like we do in ryubi and menkage, is a skill that should eventually be reflexive, filling the gap.

If you think of to-no-kata as somewhat of a progression, then in ryubi and menkage there is movement on the part of both combatants. If the opponent moves back, to attempt to get out of range and disconnect or respond tactically at some kind of angle, we chase them down and cut them down. It looks on the surface as though uchi is doing kage (mirroring/reflecting/shadowing) to shidachi’s attack, but in fact uchi is retreating first, setting up the kata for shidachi. So in fact it is shidachi learning how to shadow (kage) uchidachi’s retreat.

The next two kata explore what happens if you don’t have initiative and someone comes in on you. In the first two kata in teppa, shidachi cuts with kesagiri to the right and then to the left. Then the format shifts where we have six kata where we are advancing. In the second two teppa kata, we deal with what happens if the person does not move from their stance (i.e., they are like iron) and we meet in awase (mutual seigan or what is sometimes called musugu in Shinkage-ryū). Distance is broken, we are in range, and a sudden thrust or kasumi is a reasonable action to take.

Another new reflex developed.

Often, when a person is in raito and the range is just a bit too close (i.e., they have made a mistake, or they are about to attack and haven’t moved yet), if we are in hasso or sha no kurai (a lower level stance where the sword extends out behind you, between waist and knee level) we can take advantage and interrupt their attack. This is sometimes called sen sen no sen (pre-empting an attack which has been decided upon but not yet manifested). So, hasso and sha (on either side; on the left people call it sometimes waki-no-kamae or gyaku-sha) are very good postures to attack from, in this preemptive manner. In fact, uchidachi attacks quite a bit from a low stance in Jikishinkage-ryū. Although we get accustomed to the end of many of the to-no-kata to be kind of rote or ritual in nature, there are a lot of opportunities there for variations and they should be explored.

It is less tiring to be in hasso, your hands are not as vulnerable, and you can attack very quickly. So hasso is on the inside very aggressive (ken), but it is outwardly waiting/hidden (tai). In Hōjō we see attacks by shidachi from hasso and from sha. In to-no-kata we see initial cuts from raito and then later in matsukaze, from sha. Interestingly, shidachi does not adopt hasso at any point in to-no-kata.

This I think is a riddle.

To attack suddenly and with power from raito, a very important skill to cultivate to help with doing so are being able to relax in raito while stretching the arms and then cut with gravity, adding to gravity instead of fighting it, so that you can generate power in an instant. The arms should be stretched in raito, with the shoulder blades pulled down, so that when you cut you feel as if you are releasing an arrow into flight. None of the joints should be locked — in Chinese martial arts we sometimes call this song or "relaxed", albeit that is a somewhat technical term with a specific meaning. In this context, we want to be relaxed as much as possible, so that when the opponent makes a mistake, there is little to no delay. Kage here (mirroring/shadowing) is an active action versus simply passively miming a movement of another person — it is operating at a mental and spiritual level.

Generally, in Shinkage-ryū we want to provoke the opponent into making a mistake. Some lines of Shinkage-ryū kata do this by leaving an opening, to lure the opponent into attacking from a specific angle they are expecting. This can work quite well sometimes, but also devolve into being an overly passive approach. Adherents think if they are smart enough, and precise enough, they can win, but can get used to too specific attacks in kata practice, especially if they never stress test their training through sparring.

Jikishinkage-ryū, as I understand it does less of that, but instead tries to dominate the opponent, cutting down options for them. In the ideal case, you fix them in place, or drive them back, and then cut them down without them reacting. There is a famous story about a match like that with Sakakibara. But for normal people like us, it is more likely we might be able to cause a person to flinch or react and attack us when they are not quite ready or not stable — we are entering but haven’t yet attacked, and we get them to overreact. Then their attack is sudden but not as strong as it should be, and potentially they haven’t moved as much as they would like, so we can cut through their attack and fix them in place, often cutting downward through the centerline and catching the head or torso or forearms.

I think that is why in a lot of the to-no-kata, one person does not react. We are training ourselves not to get perturbed by what the other person is doing. This is called fudoshin. Then the attacks or reactions in the second six to-no-kata (the end of teppa, matsukaze, hayafune) are about how does one follow up and still attack when the initial entry does not shake the opponent out of their stance.

I have come to believe if you practice Jikishinkage-ryū without sparring, you are not practicing Jikishinkage-ryū.

Jikishinkage-ryū kata practice often adopts a two part ya-ei kiai. The ya kiai voiced just as we break ma-ai might cause a person to flinch and give up their stance or posture. I don’t think most people’s kiai is good enough to do that (mine isn’t, and I have spent a lot of time trying to cultivate proper kiai) so I usually never in sparring do a two-part ya-ei kiai. But I think the ya-ei is a hint to what is going on in each kata – we provoke the other person, and attack them just as they are thinking of attacking.

This also might be an example of sen sen no sen.