{"id":8834,"date":"2018-11-21T20:54:05","date_gmt":"2018-11-21T11:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/?p=8834"},"modified":"2018-11-21T20:54:05","modified_gmt":"2018-11-21T11:54:05","slug":"rebecca-n-clark-iaido-japanese-swordsmanship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/2018\/11\/21\/rebecca-n-clark-iaido-japanese-swordsmanship","title":{"rendered":"Rebecca N. Clark: Iaid\u00f4 (Japanese Swordsmanship)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0Iaid\u00f4<\/em> is a sport \u2014and an art\u2014 that I\u2019ve wanted to learn since I first heard of its existence several years ago as a freshman in college. The fluid power and steady grace of iaid\u00f4<\/em> practitioners\u2019 movement transfixed me as I replayed YouTube videos and followed along as best I could as swords flashed through the air.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Presentation of members before the grand master at a joint gathering of dojos<\/p><\/div>\n

When I learned that I had been accepted into the KCJS program with its Community Involvement Project (CIP) requirements for us students, my top pick for the CIP was very obvious. With the assistance of the teachers and staff, I was able to find and join an iaid\u00f4<\/em> d\u00f4j\u00f4<\/em> in nearby Hirakata city and soon found myself immersed in a vibrant, close-knit community of martial arts enthusiasts. The people I met there have been nothing short of kind and helpful, making sure that, even with the language barrier, I am able to make it to practices and luncheons every week (the d\u00f4j\u00f4<\/em> has no physical presence and as a result, practices are held at a different community center each weekend), and they have even included me in the carpool system that ensures members of all ages and locales are able to arrive on time.<\/p>\n

Putting on the iaid\u00f4<\/em> uniform proved to a ready catalyst for bonding among myself and the other female members. We all chuckled good-naturedly over my utter confusion as I attempted to wrangle a kaku<\/em> obi<\/em> \u2014a stiff cloth wound around the waist to hold the sword<\/p>\n

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From top to bottom, left to right: sword carrying case; cloth sword cover; kimono; hakama; kaku obi; iait\u00f4; sheath; knee pads<\/p><\/div>\n

and belt the kimono\u2014 into place and keep my hakama<\/em> \u2014wide-legged pants\u2014 in place throughout the three-hour practices. This same uniform also quickly proved to be my biggest reminded of the kindness and generosity of my d\u00f4j\u00f4<\/em>-mates. Every time I look in the mirror of the community center\u2019s practice hall, I see the soft gray of my kimono, the heavy black cotton of my hakama, and the lacquered sheath of my iait\u00f4<\/em> \u2014a blunt-edged sword\u2014 and am reminded of how these items were either gifted or loaned to me so that I could practice with the proper equipment from day one. For example, when we figured out that the iait\u00f4<\/em> I had been using was hindering me because of the length, a member volunteered his extra iait\u00f4<\/em> that was short enough for someone with my five-foot-even stature to wield.<\/p>\n

As with any new sport, I had to learn a whole new way of moving and then how to control each of these motions \u2014such as the initially awkward motion of drawing a sword\u2014 in a process that, unsurprisingly, had its hiccups. One such instance is how I, unused to the wide flowing sleeves of my kimono, have a tendency to catch the hilt of my iait\u00f4<\/em> in the cuff while drawing. In response, the elder gentleman who oversees my training paused the lesson and carefully explained to me how to remedy the problem with a needle and thread when I got home by making the sleeve opening smaller and so allowing me to move more freely. Moments like this, where help and instruction are so readily offered with a smile and steady patience, have come to define my time at the iaid\u00f4<\/em> d\u00f4j\u00f4<\/em> and I wear the reminder of my d\u00f4j\u00f4<\/em>-mates\u2019 kindness every time I step out onto the mats alongside them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0Iaid\u00f4 is a sport \u2014and an art\u2014 that I\u2019ve wanted to learn since I first heard of its existence several years … \u7d9a\u304d\u3092\u8aad\u3080 →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":464,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_locale":"ja","_original_post":"8834"},"categories":[47,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8834"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/464"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8834\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}