[Above: Video of my ‘IP-Suburi’ practice. All will be explained below]
A: Thank you for your inquiry. Since I mentioned Japanese sword in this post recently, there’s been surprising interest in this. I’ve gotten a bunch of other inquiries. So …watch out what you ask for! I say that because every style and teacher in this realm has their own specific variations of what’s considered ‘correct’. As usual, “two of a trade never agree”.
Please keep in mind that the version of suburi that I’m going to present here is tuned for my only goal, which is IP cultivation. If you are strictly practicing within the lineage of a given formal system, or for the specific sport of Kendo, or for public demonstration of the meditative art of Iaido (and I myself used to be a part of such demo’s at akimatsuri types of events) you will not necessarily want to pick up this IP variation. You’ve been warned.
A bit about provenance: I learned sword from several 7th and 8th dan Kendo and Iaido senseis in both the Pacific Northwest and at an elite low-profile dojo in Tokyo. But I also had the great, even historical, privilege of training a number of times with Kuroda Tetsuzan (黒田鉄山), in his regular small classes in Tokyo, not the external demo-seminars.
He was 15th Soke (headmaster) of his family's tradition Tetsuzan Kuroda - Wikipedia, head of Shinbukan Kuroda Dojo. He was renowned for his mastery of "Disappearing" or "Hidden Movements," which captivated and inspired martial artists worldwide. His technique was called "divine speed" (神速) - speed that appears fast because the opponent is unable to sense the start of the movement
That’s right, Kuroda sensei’s sword technique felt absolutely supernatural. It was beyond video capture. His sword “was there already”, instantaneously at the endpoint. There was never perceptible transition time or intermediate phase. That is the highest level of the art which frankly I never saw anybody else achieve, no matter their dan ranking. And that’s because he emphasized developing a soft internal body. Yet he didn’t rely solely on the sword, he was also a supernaturally powerful and tricky genius of a jujutsu grappling master. Here’s me with Kuroda sensei in a class photo below, at the dojo in Tokyo region back in the day.
Below, he appears when he was older. Click the pic to see a short video teaser (which doesn’t begin to convey his live presence).
Now here’s the thing: My own suburi style (in my video up top) may appear slower, softer and less forceful than you normally expect in your own style or your suburi practice. See what I wrote above about different goals. In particular, my IP drill incorporates a much fuller cut, of longer scope than the standard Kendo suburi. The standard Kendo suburi is based on the men strike (head or mask target), thus the sword tip will stop at around or just below head level of an imaginary opponent. Practicing this develops the characteristic strong shoulders, forearms and hand grip of senior Kendo players.
However, with this IP suburi, the cut is much longer and ends much deeper, with the sword almost parallel to the ground and the tip around the abdomen height of the opponent. This also tends to align more with Iaido in general, where the cuts are longer, deeper and slower than Kendo (with their lightweight bokken or bamboo shinai). I typically use either a metal iaito practice sword or my razor/laser sharp shinken (quite dangerous to yourself if you don’t know how to handle it), both of which are much heavier.
Again, neither the shorter, choppier nor the longer, slower version of suburi is super practical for real sword fight training (note that historical Kendo supermaster Yamaoka Tesshu, often viewed as the greatest Kendo master of all time, said that Kendo is useless as combat training, though superb for honing the spirit. He said at that time (he was the Emperor Meiji’s personal bodyguard, so this was around the 1870’s): “Other kendo players hate me for saying kendo is combatively useless, but since I can beat them all at sport kendo they can’t do much about it.”)
The scope of the cut can be understood from one of our old school practice methods, where we had old tires mounted on the wall, for strike practice. As the strike comes forward, it would extend to contact the upper outer tread of the tire, but then would continue downward to end inside the tire at the lower edge.
Yukio Mishima once wrote: "My ideal [writing] style would have the grave beauty of polished wood in the entrance hall of a samurai mansion on a winter's day." On my practice video, you hear the little scratch noises on the backward steps. My usual practice surface is decidely not ‘the grave beauty of polished wood’ like a proper sword dojo. It’s splintery raw plywood, thus I wear thin practice shoes for that drill. In your case, it’s best to do it either barefoot or with traditional tabi practice socks.
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