Shadley Cuts

Sometimes tanto were mounted without the wrap, favouring a full clean wrap with rayskin. In these cases, it is necessary to directly attach the menuki using pins. Normally the menuki do not actually have these pins or even the little metal button you sometimes see and you have to attach your own.

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I like to document the process of any important rewrap, not so much because its pretty, but because I like to be able to look back on things and show the people Im doing the tsuka for progress pics. For this reason, I'll keep the monologue as short as possible :)

First off, we have the typical raptor tsuka, kinda haichi in shape and fairly overbuilt. :) I think I'll have plenty of material here to work with. 

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When I was last up north, both Leon and I decided to get rid of some of the bottles that had been building up courtesy of my friend Simon. This is Leons first time with a sharp, not only that, he was using a full sized blade. I think he did really well.

Leon started with bokken when he was 6 years old and ended up using a cut down katana in unokubi zukuri for a while before he got his hands on something potentially dangerous. He was taught to handle even the wooden one as if it were sharp and this way, when he progressed to a live blade, he was in a perfect condition to start learning the cutting mechanics without injuring himself.

Even so, I still supervise him, I mean anyone can mess up no matter how much you train or how old you are. It's all about lessening that likelihood.

It's been almost two years since I last swung a sword and so I was keen to get back into it. As you can see however, the lack of practice does really show. It's not something that you lose altogether of course but once you put down a sword, the muscles that you worked in order to be able to heft a sword around relax and return to normal and the motor memory, grip, transitions and small alterations you made to your technique have been all but forgotten. Of course you pick it up again fairly quickly, but one session in two years isnt going to return you to your previous glory.

With this firmly implanted in my brain, I decided to not beat myself up over my crappy cuts and just get on with it. I had fun, but it was clear from my practice that I would have to be cutting more often if I wanted to get good again.

So, Here are three little sessions I had whilst up north in Tewkesbury. Click on through to see them.

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