Madeira Beach Library ‘08 Demo

By Arthur Fain

With the hopes of promoting the Shop, Dojo, and generally Toyama-Ryu I agreed a few months ago to host a demonstration for Japanese swordsmanship. There was a small cash incentive for this; however, I always felt that demonstration equaled something similar to exploitation. Though I realized if there had not been a demo some years ago, I myself would never found Mike Femal Sensei, whom I have followed thus far. I finally agreed after a couple of weeks of people pitching me the idea, despite the fact it meant I had to deal with little kids. Aside from merely flashing sharp cutting thingies in front of their eyes, I was told that teenagers and some adults were expected as well. However, I would be representing the dojo and Toyama Ryu so I asked Sensei for permission before I agreed.

Sincerely hoping to wrangle in some fresh students for the dojo, I included Tameshigiri as part of the demonstration, and then I decided to bring my array of weaponry for overview of the weapons for the Bushi and today’s Budoka’s. Unfortunately, I totally forgot about the event until two days before. Hastily the day before, I created table top descriptions with the kanji of each weapon I brought, and spent the evening before class and the night after writing the script. Unfortunately, my lovely speaker wasn’t familiar with the any of the multitude of Japanese terms I included in her dialogue. Sorry honey. Despite that, she was lovely and helped keep everything in order, including parents and the children.

We were running behind that morning considerably, thankfully it turned out that we had shown up over an hour early, giving us ample time to set up the tables, and discuss timing. For attire I used the same Keiko gi and hakama from the class before, and picked up some very nice new black tabi to appear more formal. Topping this off with a small grass-designed hoari I tied up the sleeves with an old sageo, I thought I looked very plain nothing like the Samurai-on-duty that would have stood out in the crowd. However the kids and parents seemed awestruck, and when my “Black Belt” rank was announced it seemed even more so. I found that ironic, since for me, my first dan rank only seemed like another stepping stone, up the river against the stream. Tiff got the kids settled in, and gave several safety speeches, that I admit, were warranted. They positively couldn’t stay still; eager to get the wheels rolling I wasn’t going to wait. I was nervous at first but I shook it off with the same resolve as testing. Thus, resolved to die, I began my kata and I all I remember was silence. The little girls may have giggled, while the boys were either captivated, or generally jumpy and frightened. I let out kiais with finality, so it would surprise adult and child alike. Unfortunately the Intro, Disclaimer (do not do this at home or without a qualified instructor), and Kata did not take anywhere near the fifteen minutes they were scheduled to.

Running fast of the schedule, kids were still excited when I put my Iaito away after kata and parents were whispering amongst themselves attempting to grasp the point. I knew then; it was time for Tameshigiri, so they could come to an understanding for the seriousness of the subject matter. Tiff gave another safety briefing, and then I gave another right after that since the rule of thumb was if I spoke nobody else did. I performed Rokudan-giri, and as Tiff explained the nature of Batto-do cut and draw, I cut the second target entirely with Batto cuts. Later I watched this recorded portion of the demo, and like a fly on a wall got to hear the parents, “Oh my- that’s like an arm, or a leg!” It left the exact impression I wanted it too.

Immediately after that the spectators were observant and quiet. And then I asked if anyone would like a piece of the cut target as a souvenir, suddenly eyes doubled in size, woken like some kind of nocturnal flesh-eaters from a cavern. Aiming to please, I decided to divvy out pieces by cutting them with my Wakizashi, which further increased their apparent need, as they began tearing them apart from each other’s hands reminiscent of so many victims of George Romero films.

After that, I proceeded to do Wakizashi kata, followed by more Kata with my Iaito as filler. I just needed to get close to the thirty minute mark, as I was sure I could easily occupy over fifteen minutes babbling like I always do about the weapons I had brought with me. Thankfully they were quite captivated by the Wakizashi kata, since it brought me closer to their level, especially more for some kata than others. When I finished this, like tameshigiri or regular kata, they clapped to encourage me on, which left me with a feeling of simultaneously being patronized and encouraged.

Roughly thirty minutes had passed and I moved onto my favorite topic, weapons. I cleaned out my Yaris and had loaded different implements of death into my car, so I was equipped with my Yari, Naginata, Kusarigama, Jutte, Katana, Wakizashi, Yoroidoshi, Suburito (which I still consider a weapon), and my Odachi. I started with the Naginata, covering both the ancient manly side of it, and the graceful feminine side of it. Following that I covered the Yari, which took dominance of the battlefield in the Sengoku Jidai.

Since Tiff had already narrated details for Daisho while I had been doing kata, so I left those out. However the real ooh-ahs came from the Kusarigama, which the kids loved, and the Odachi, which was so large one woman found somewhat offensive to be so large. :) Only if she knew! But there’s always next year. Covering each weapon still went pretty quick, however the kids really enjoyed the misuse of my Yari to pick up cut target pieces to hand out, I admit I did also, since for the most part my back was still hurting a lot from a couple days before. However, pain can be a useful source to draw from to maintain the stoic mind setting or expression required while performing cutting, kata, or just sitting in seiza at all. With ten minutes or so to go, things ended early, so it was Q & A time. There where a lot of questions, “did you train in other martial arts prior to this?” “Does anybody get hurt practicing?” “Do you compete against one another with real blades?” “Is the Odachi real, and what would you do with it- fight two people?”

I answered yes to everything; however they asked so fast I was unable to elaborate. So you can imagine that they got the wrong idea pretty quickly! Almost as quickly as the parents got out of the room when everything ended! Ironically they might now have the idea the Japanese still fight with swords, ironically how the Japanese think we all have and fight with guns. However the kids had fun, the little girls flocked to Tiff and me to take pictures, and a couple Moms encouraged their sons to actually come talk to me, because they were afraid to ask questions! As Tiff and I cleaned the target-layered floor I thought oh well, maybe in ten years we’ll get a new crop of students. The librarians may have actually enjoyed it just as much, however I was told at the end of the demo they would be providing Seppuku, I’m still waiting for that...