Katana primer with Markus 313 in Essen, Germany

In before any flamewar. First, much respect for making the video and also for sharing it. I know my form is improper as I did not reach Dan rank in either of the arts I studied. I may reluctantly do some test-cutting videos as part of reviews, but I'm sure I'll look like a mess.

So thanks for your courage and initiative!

I'm ready to enter into the flame war.

Right at the beginning you make a very common statement. You say do not touch a sharp sword until properly trained. I want to talk about this and some things about it.

If a person is going to learn to light a fire, (get it,, flamewar?), they don't practice moving their hand under the sticks for a period of time, perhaps weeks, before they ever hold a flame. Actually, first you introduce the person to a lighter, tell them to be careful, and not to move around while the fire is lit, and then you show them how to work the lighter. Then they practice making the lighter light, and merely being in control of a lit lighter. They first practice paying attention to a dangerous object, and then they don't learn another move until they are prepared to first be aware of the danger of the object.

Then when they go to light the fire, they practice trying to start all kinds of things on fire, and likely they just start one little stick or piece of grass and then it goes out. Perhaps they even burn a page of paper and still fail. Eventually they move up in amount until something is over the top enough to light a fire. But, never do they simply make the motions of moving the lighter into position. They don't start moving around until they are already learning how to move the dangerous object. The first time they try to move the lighter, it is already as dangerous as it can be, and they need to be extremely careful for the very first time they move at all.

One COULD argue that a safer way to learn how to handle a sword, is to start with the sword. The student does not move around, they do not perform any forms, they do not move the sword around to feel its weight, they do nothing but hold the sword, and pay attention to it. THen, they make tiny little motions, they move their body ever so slightly, they move their feet to start learning how to move their feet while paying full attention to the sword. The sword is so extremely dangerous that they do not try to do anything other than hold the sword in front of them in full view, and try to be aware of their body.

::::edit:: another parallel is handling guns. You do not take students, and before handing them their first gun train them for weeks and weeks to make the trigger pulling motion. This would result in negligent discharges. Instead, you do not train them to aim down their hands, you do not train them to pull trigger motion. You impress upon them the extreme danger of guns, and you train them to first to make sure they DO NOT TOUCH THE TRIGGER, and then you train them to make sure the safety is on. They are NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE TO TOUCH THE TRIGGER. Then, only once they are in full control of the gun, fully familiar with when it is unloaded and impossible to fire, do you go to a place that a loaded weapon can be handled, and have them begin to learn about how to make sure the gun is always pointed down range, how you never put your finger on the trigger until it is time to shoot, how you frequently check the safety to make sure it remains in safe mode, etc. The student NEVER pulls the trigger, until the gun is loaded, pointed at a target, and everyone is confident they are in control of the gun. 
end of edit::::

So applying this to punches, the student would not practice forms. First the student would make a fist, and then they would begin to make contact with materials and objects around them with their fist, to see how their fist feels, perhaps they would select some harder and softer objects that they are confident will not be damaged by a gentle hit, and then they start testing their fist onto perhaps the couch, perhaps the table, etc. Then the student finds a target they feel they can adequately strike, and begins testing their fist onto it until they can use exert themselves into their fist. If the student practices forms, they will practice the starting motion of the strike, without actually practicing the motion it would take to perform a strike. THey will be perpetually out of position for a capable strike, because at all times they will try to use muscle memory that was developed before they had awareness of the motions a strike requires. Also, they are at risk of hurting their fist, because they will perform a reflexive striking motion without knowing how to handle the energy of the strike. If the student is capable of striking already, then when they begin to practice forms, the motions they perform will be according to the strikes that they are able to produce, and they will prepare for these known strikes instead of simply moving to a posture that roughly approximates a strike posture.

Likewise, with a sword, if the student practice a long series of forms, they will develop a repertoire of reflexive muscle memory before they have attention to the sword. This student is now at risk of causing serious bodily harm to themselves or others, because they will attempt to recall lengthy series of motions that they practiced with something that did not feel like the sword they will use, and was not harmful. If they enter into a high energy pattern of motions, and lose control of the sword, or are not aware of their surroundings, they will not have practice of first being aware of the sword, where it is, what to do to regain awareness of it, and they will move, perhaps reflexively, without being confident that it is a safe motion. If the student starts to fall, they will attempt to regain their balance reflexively, but merely blank out what is going on with the sword, because they have no reflexive memory of handling a live blade. Instead, it was ok for them to move randomly, wildly, or intentionally onto the sword, because it was not a real one, and it is likely they will hit something, someone, or perhaps even themselves. The student who first practiced being aware of the sword, and then never learned a motion until they were aware of the sword for each motion, will always reflexively move in a way that controls the sword, brings the sword under control, and is aware of the surroundings that the sword must not interact with. Also, when they learn forms, rather than learning muscle memory (spinal memory is more appropriate, spinal memory is the root of reflex) that is roughly similar to a striking posture, they will be aware of the posture it will require to strike, and they will learn the form using known preparative postures, and striking motions that they have experienced cutting with. Their forms will be effective from the first day they learn them, and they will always learn them is such a way that the first thought on their mind at all times is the risk of the blade, because at all times during practice, the most important thing was to be aware of the risk of the sword. Only once enough time has passed for them to be able to practice using dummy swords while still being able to be aware of it as though it were so dangerous, would they move from using the sword, to using a dummy sword.

having said all of this, one thing is true. Very often, if not almost always, the student will try to begin learning swordsmanship without owning a sword. They will attend classes to learn martial arts without actually owning a sword, and this will be the norm, the publicly acceptable way in every region, and if classes are the intent, the more affordable way to take the class. This person will potentially advance very far down the learning curve of forms before they have the opportunity to possess a real sword. While it is true that it is possible to achieve mastery in this way, perhaps this still is the less desirable way to approach mastery, and it would actually be more desirable to start with merely encountering a sword, and learning how to safely hold it without performing any martial arts at all. In this case, this person would be at a severe disadvantage, because they will learn out of order. They will learn master level martial arts before they learn rudimentary handling. They will need to relearn everything they have ever learned as they acquire rudimentary handling skills. This would not be the way to begin military training, it would simply be a way try and gain some advantage over others for when military training becomes available, so that military training is more valuable. They would still be at the very beginning when they first handle a sword. 

Even in the Roman days, and before that, people trained with wooden weapons first. It's good to develop the muscle memory first.

But I'll toss you an olive branch, I didn't practice formally with a sword before cutting with one either (though I did spare a lot with wooden weapons without instruction before this). Many don't. You don't have to, no one is gonna force you to get proper instruction first . But just keep in mind that most who have had proper instruction will frown upon it. That's just how it is. You don't get proper instruction, it's gonna make people a little nervous for your safety or the safety of those around you.

I've seen quite a bit of injuries happen to people using swords, even in real life. But you're an adult, you can do what you want. But if you ever find yourself making a thread about the dangers of sword use and showing us an injury, don't blame us if we think "I told you so"

We're not trying to disparage you. Plenty of people have the common sense not to get hurt, even without instruction. But a lot of people get hurt even with instruction and every person sent to an ER because of improper sword use will make politicians more likely to put laws in order, regarding sword ownership of it gets out of hand

Edit: think of it as a warning label from the community, like a jar of peanuts that say "warning: contains peanuts". Its kind of just mandatory for us to say it to people without instruction. If it bugs you, lie to us lol. Or ignore us. We cant do anything

Thanks for the video. It has good points clearly demonstrated. I’m sure some will benefit from it as surely as I’m sure you are going to get more controversy than you planned on. If your challenge is accepted my money is on you. 😁

I may be getting senile but I didn't see where tsmspace claimed self-taught is better than teacher-taught.

I'm not a katana guy at all, but in the video, I found it interesting that you direct attacks simply by shifting the back of the handle rather than moving the arms to one side or another. Very efficient. I can see how the technique could also be used to feint to one side and quickly attack the other.

That's the secret to it at the end of the day - and anybody can do it.  The moves are very basic and easy to learn, but it takes years to actually master.  The sword motions are fluid, gentle like a butterfly, but bites like a tiger. When it's done correctly, the sword doesn't matter.  You no longer are even thinking of the blade, only the motion of your own hands.  It's hard to explain, but when I spar or practice, the sword doesn't exist to me and I'm writing things in the air with my hands and my mind- almost like a wizard casting a spell, so to speak. 

it's always hard with analogies, because if I have some mental framework or limitations on where I feel the analogy is adequate, someone else will always approach the analogy from an angle where they see it's different. So anyway you don't need to tiptoe around that one with me. 

as for practicing with wood sticks and without a sword,, these things are just as valuable as any school will suggest, but generally a natural progression will take you to this after a certain amount of experience with actual handling. So, going back to the self taught student from another commenter, the self taught student WILL eventually go around trying to use a wooden stand in, or just their hands, it will be something that everyone progresses to,,, but when they do this there will already be a lot they understand about their posture that someone just learning forms without practical handling experience will not. The posture of operating a sword is very different from simply moving in a similar fashion. 

Good idea, treeslicer. I should get a better set of clothes. I was thinking about starting a school in the local shopping mall and a nice set of impressive duds is just the thing to make people think that I know what I'm doing.

Or I could say that I'm trying to be humble like a first time student because in all the years of training I've only learned that I know nothing.

I'll let you pick which one.  

Choose the middle path, a good but unadorned iaido set in dark indigo cotton, that's obviously seen the inside of a washing machine before, and with a haori to give a sense of balanced gravity without being too weighty (there's a pun in there, too ).