People who see us demonstrate often remark that our budo is beautiful, but, they think, impractical. I am generally more than willing to concede that in their estimation of "practicality" they are correct. We don't carry swords and engage in duels anymore. Some of my colleagues posit that the major and most important goal of the study of iaido and other budo styles is "self-improvement." In previous posts I have taken issue with this idea - I don't discount that one who trains with a sincere heart and reads the right accompanying texts can work some positive transitions in her life. However, I don't think budo (1) automatically confers improvement, or (2) is the best vehicle to gain self-improvement. In fact, practice of budo wherein the point is simply to improve physical skill without considering any underlying personality issues can either leave practitioners kind of as they are, or, worst case, make them worse. A violent personality is bad enough; arm that violent personality and there is potential for real trouble.
Recently I read an interview given by a senior koryu practitioner, an American who spent many years in Japan training in modern and traditional dojo. His bottom line of training is that it be practical over every other consideration. I give him points for not falling into the "make me a better person" trap, which I think is an over-used excuse for learning to enjoy the practice of controlled mayhem that is budo. However, lurking in his commentary is the idea that kata-based budo (which mine is) somehow lacks practicality.
As I said, when it comes to the idea of a technique being "street worthy," iai comes up as a big, fat zero. In the first case, iai kata training is meant to introduce practitioners to hypothetical responses to hypothetical situations. Naturally, at the time when swords were practical weapons, meant to be used, the kata was merely a training tool to a more practical end. Its slow, meticulous nature was meant to train people in techniques that, in practical use, were neither slow nor meticulous. Being able to analyze an opponent's attack and react with a counter while bypassing conscious thought is also considered a benefit of practice, though the evidence supporting this assertion remains somewhat anecdotal, at least for now.
As the practice evolved, and swords became less necessary on an everyday basis (and eventually disappeared as side weapons altogether), practitioners who wanted to continue to train had to come up with other reasons for pursuing the art form; hence the incorporation of aesthetic sensibilities into kata (I am talking about 200 years ago here, in case you wonder). Eventually, health benefits and finally mental benefits were incorporated into training. Modern budo became either a sport or an aesthetic or a self-improvement vehicle, or some combination of all three. The perfection of kata performance became an end in itself, since, on a "practical" level, one did not need sword techniques to survive an encounter with another swordsman.
But I can't get away from the practical - and I feel that my teacher would have agreed with me - that unless I consider the possible results of my actions in a practical sense, that the philosophical aspects of training, which he frequently mentioned but was never very explicit about, cannot be sincerely learned. The controlled mayhem that we practice in kata should give us not only improved timing, and improved physical fitness, and an improved sense of concentration, it should also remind us of the fragility of humans when it comes to sharp objects and the speed with which things done in the wrong spirit (whether angry or just plain stupid) can go badly awry. It also means knowing when to quit - realizing that staying in a fight when you know it will end badly is an error in judgment that will benefit no one.
So perhaps iai is not as practical as free-sparring with a partner, or defending myself in a close encounter with a stranger, but learning enough to avoid the encounter altogether has to be considered the most practical application of all.
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