Happogiri summer

I have continued teaching iai at a local community college as a volunteer. The center where I teach is officially "closed" for the summer, with my classes the only ones on the schedule.  It has been a real pleasure to walk in to a room that is reasonably clean every week, free of hair and stray Zumba beads.  It's the closest I have ever gotten to having my own practice space, even if it is for only a few weeks before school starts again.

Perhaps because we are the only thing on the menu, new people have come into the class practically every week.  Additionally, starting a Thursday night class at Resobox, a cultural center in Queensboro Plaza, in July, has meant that I have given practically the same lesson over and over, time after time, week after week, introducing iai to people who know next to nothing about it. 

I teach an opening exercise designed by my teacher to show people the basics of handling a sword.  The exercise, "happogiri" means to cut in eight directions, and that is exactly what happens.  We are not, however, making the same cut in each direction (which is one interpretation of the expression); we are making different cuts in each of the different directions, as well as a thrust, to make eight.  In the process, the students learn the basic stances - how to walk, and how to grip the sword properly and how to make a proper cut.  Sensei designed the exercise on two levels, with advanced students given the opportunity to perform more difficult, compound cuts, changes of direction, etc.  In terms of style, it's fairly generic, though more resembling our core style of Muso Shinden Ryu and its relatives rather than some more modern styles.

Even though I call it an opening exercise, and we normally do it at the beginning of class, and it is the first thing I show new students, happogiri is not a "warm up."  It is kihon waza - technique practice - the cuts and kamae serving to acquaint new people in a general way with how a sword is handled, at the same time allowing more experienced students (and their teacher) an opportunity to further refine their technique. 

Some people might think I would be bored to tears to be doing happogiri up to three times per week with people who start out literally not sure which side of a katana is used for cutting, but some people would be wrong.  I have no problem at all showing people over and over again.  When we do the exercise, I can hear Sensei's admonitions in my head - "Make a circle!  Breathe!  Iaido is all about circles!"  Every week I see the newbies get better and better.  I'd like to think Sensei can see them too.