Any tip to beat longsword using the katana?

Well, that is a false dichotomy as the OP could always train there, break the rules, and do his best to keep it a secret. That aside, my question is more along the lines of "Is the restriction arbitrary and, if so, is the teacher right to do so?" If the student stays focused in class, I would say it is arbitrary, and continuing to restrict arbitrarily, is, in my opinion, wrong due restriction of a student's autonomy. Restriction of autonomy is generally a bad thing if the thin restricted isn't harmful in some way to others.

I'm not sure a teacher would make a good one if they require arbitrary things like that though, just as a friend wouldn't make a good one if they banned me from their house because I worse blue socks. The intuition I'm getting here is that it seems more likely to me that he is afraid of outside testing, as Lukas posted, more so than actual concern.

Not saying it is, only saying it is still possible. Testing, to me is necessary. How do I know I have my art "locked down" if I never use it? It was meant for combat after all. Combat is on unwilling opponents, of which different kinds of sparring is some of the closest methods we have to test it. Is it perfect? Nope, but it is better for real application than a willing partner in a form. I firmly believe, and have been taught, that you learn with a willing partner because it makes you understand the mechanics so you can do them against an unwilling one after they are learned well enough. If I only train with a willing one, how will I ever apply it to unwilling ones?

I would apply the same principle to katana vs longsword. While I agree, the weapon's reach is largely less important than the opponent's skill in relation to yours, you cannot truly figure out what works without testing. Having a friend willing to practice will net the OP more practice than they would get with just the classes, hence it seems like a good thing. As to how to win, that is more of defeating the opponent than his weapon.

I know a number of teachers even on the HEMA side who discourage students from trying to learn more than one type of swordplay at once, at least until six months to a year of the primary art.  This is to ensure that the student is secure enough in the primary art to not simply start mixing and matching.  But some of the JSA folks seem to go further and forbid all interactions, which is another matter.  I found sparring with the Bolognese and saber folks to be very useful in understanding my own shortcomings and fleshing out how I.33 is different and similar.  To put up walls of separation that prevent even friendly interaction is not healthy. 



Well you have to hatch from the dojo egg sometime.  And few things are as useful as really getting your backside handed to you by someone from a different sword background.  Of course that experience, if too early in the main training, will lead you to start abandoning the original art.  But once you've gotten to a basic competence, you can use the loss to better understand how to make your system work.  For example, my initial sparring with the Italians went pretty badly.  They use much bigger, sweeping cuts and do not keep sword and buckler together as religiously as we do.  Consequently they were able to dance around my positions and get forearm cuts pretty easily.  But I came back at it and found that if I focused on entering with a good blow or obsessio oriented to the attacker, I could close measure and get good thrusts into their vitals.  They typically didn't have their bucklers well placed, and would consequently fold up.  With saber fighters I've been focusing on treating the protected hand as I would the opponent's buckler.  Because that's basically the role it is serving.  And until you break down that central point, you won't win.  Binding against the blade does nothing until you neutralize the hand-they sweep around the other side and pop you.  And that experienced helped me see how the shield is, in a sense, inherent in every sword system.  It never went away.  It just changed forms. 

 

A point well made. There is a certain qualia you learn from matches that cannot be taught in forms well. This is a good example of that.

You are severely misunderstanding. I stated earlier my teachers welcomed sparring and participating in matches. My teachers reviewed matches and did very little to restrict my behavior. They taught bunkai but made it clear that bunkai were not all encompassing and I was free to figure out how to apply toho to things not covered in bunkai.

I feel more sorry for the restricted student than I do anywhere else. I believe the mentality of restricting students, especially because you fear your competency being tested to be a big deception. If someone knows their matial arts won't work and they can't teach one that will but presents as if they can, they don't deserve to teach.

As for bunkai, bunkai is a set of actions. "This is a parry against a downward strike, practice this section." The actions are still prearranged. If they weren't, you aren't practicing bunkai, you are sparring.

As for your second point, the same can be said for the teacher. The student will spend their time as they desire, if the teacher finds out and kicks the student out, so be it. Possibly the student has no other option, in which case I can understand why they'd take those actions even if I disagree with deception.

I didnt expect the thread to get into such a heavy discussion on dojo policies, nor did I want to.

I'm not a noob when it comes to JSA. I practiced aikido and its sword curriculum for 4 years before I decided I prefer fighting with a blade than empty handed. I have been searching for a very long time for a good dojo and finally decided on this one. Before that, I went to a Shinkage Ryu dojo, headed by a Japanese teacher. If that wasn't the closest thing you can get to kenjutsu then what is? I thought. Came for 2 classes and I seriously cant bear the teaching. It would fit right in a theater class and the only direction you can head is straight for the hospital or grave if God forbid you use any of that technique in real life.

The current dojo, I went for a trial class and I knew immediately this is it. The sensei is a very good swordman, the way he moves both in and out of class. And a good teacher too.

That he doesnt allow students to spar with another system is entirely his business and none of mine. There's plenty of things for me to learn from the school, techniques wise. Another thing to take into account is that, a lot of JSA mask their techniques to beginners in order to defend themselves against Kata stealers (guys who come for a year, learn all the kata then bounces) It is entirely possible that I'm not getting the whole picture of what I'm getting taught, and that's perfectly fine.

To get back on topic, which is strategy / tactics to adopt against a longer weapon/longsword

As said by many posters, both the strength and weakness of kenjutsu lies in close combat. For once, the katana is a two-handed weapon which are extremely short. That's why JSA tends to be aggressive with extensive footwork because you need to get in close, and in a close distance like that speed and aggressivity wins the fight. JSA also has extensive hand-to-hand techniques to use in such distance (I just need to put my mind on using them. After all Im originally from an aikido/jujutsu background)

However, against the longsword this strength is also a weakness. First, its just hard to get in close. That's like telling unemployed people to go get a job :D Like I'm just supposed to go get a job, like I'm supposed to get in close to the longsword just like that? And when you get in close there's the problem of the cross guard. I figure as I get more acquainted with it I'll know how to use it against him, but right now it's not possible to bind a longsword in cc with a katana.

Anyway, I've been reviewing a lot of strategy against longer weapon. Take a look at this:



This is one of the rare koryu who practices with armor and tachi, and with mis-matched weapons.

You see tactics for daggers vs swords, buckler (the Japanese actually has buckler!!! Buckler-hat!!!) vs sword.
Notice how you dont have tactics for naginata/yari vs sword? I wonder why.
In most katana vs naginata kata I've seen, the naginata wins (arguably)

Maybe the Japs are actually more pragmatic than we think and they dont teach things that are not supposed to work (like sword vs spear)?

Timo makes good points. When it comes to sword vs spear, the techniques exist and are often taught. They are also often slightly modified versions of already existing techniques, so it is more of when a student asks "how do I beat a spear?" the teacher shows them how to adjust for one, not an entirely new set of moves, even when the kata, as katori shinto ryu has, is explicitly against a polearm. You'll see a lot of the movements are similar, if not the exact same as against a katana, such as katori shinto ryu's circular movements post block. How you hold the sword to prevent attacks sliding off of the blade and hitting you tends to not change much unless the weapon has unique properties and the areas you attack only change a little, making it suitable to adapt. To fight things like spears, one must keep in mind they excel at blocking, making a tight circle to break away and thrust in, for example. If you modify your sabaki and technique but keep the same principles, you can adapt to the opponent, making it applicable.

Also, the solo forms and not knowing what they mean is common even without swords. Things like bagua make next to no sense at all until you learn the meaning behind the moves. And even more so, are the ones that appear to be obvious what they are but in reality are applied in a different way entirely. Anti-spear moves with the jian often appear, to an unknowing observer, to just be flashy strikes but in reality are good deflections that set you up to be ready for the stated above disengage and length change.

The ULTIMATE technique to beat longsword......or ANY sword for that matter. Hey, he's a Professor! They know stuff!!