I was happily browsing through the new Official Guide for Kendo Instruction; nodding sagely at the explanations of things I knew, when I reached the section on yuko datotsu. Having refereed internationally on many occasions and attended all the regional referee training courses, I like to think that I have a fairly clear idea of what constitutes ippon. My confidence started to waiver a little when I read the description of yuko datotsu for nito, particularly the explanation of ippon for the shoto.
Forgive me if I do not give the exact quote, as I am travelling without the book at the moment, but to score with the shoto the daito must be holding down the opponent’s shinai whilst the arm holding the daito (the long one) is fully extended. Now just to clarify this point, it means that the opponent’s shinai is being suppressed at a distance equating to the length of the arm plus a 38 shinai when you strike with the shoto (the little one). Now I am very far from being a nito expert. I have never tried it and have no intention to do so, but if I am not missing something, the rule makes it impossible to score with the shoto unless the player has a two metre arm or a telescopic kodachi.
I wrote about nito before http://wp.me/stBQt-nito and mentioned that I have never seen ippon given to a kodachi strike. I have also heard a variety of explanations from referee instructors and shinpancho about the difficulty of making yuko datotsu with the kodachi, because nito is “different from mainstream kendo”, but this makes it patently clear that the shoto is not meant for scoring with.
kendoinfo.net 
Sensei, surely the daito arm can be fully extended to the side or at a downward angle whilst pressing the opponent’s shinai down?
I’ve never seen a shoto ippon in person but once i saw a video of an Korean tournament where a guy hit a kaeshi do with the shoto (he uses the daito in ledf hand to block and the shoto to hit) and it was fully awarded by all the shimpans
I’m trying to find the video
Maybe there was some misunderstanding in the translation.
Or maybe you can hold the opponent shinai with the middle part of yours.
i think the actual wording is the shoto arm must be full extended not the daito arm.
The exact wording reads “In the case of nito, to award a yuko-datotsu scored with the shoto it is required that the daito is used to suppress the opponent’s shinai with the arm fully extended.” It could be a slight translation confusion, but at first read it sounds like you need a long arm.
Nito nito nito. I think serious study/experimentation of it is ok for people with a lot of experience… as long as they go chudan->jodan and become proficient in both (the path Toda sensei took). Might take maybe 20 or so years to get to that point, maybe longer maybe faster. After that if people want to investigate it then I think its cool…. but they are probably at the point where shiai is a minor part of their kendo anyway, if a part at all (as it should be for adults). In that case, there is no conundrum anymore.
Although I understand the rationale behind the reasoning, I am glad some nito practitioners decide to ignore it. It reminds me of the story of fujimoto Kaoru, who took up nito against the advice of his teacher and ended up as a finalist agaisnt a general’s son in front of the emporor (and was allegedly barred victory for doctrine over actual skill justifications) .
While i will never question that a certain level of mastery of the basics is mandatory to take up nito (or jodan for that matter), it is not some etude for experiment but an actual ‘do’ to follow, at least as demanding in learning and perseverance to achieve a good form.
Final point, jodan and nito are as different as jodan is to chudan in my opinion. While it is true that toda sensei followed a remarkable path mastering all three forms, kendo is not a pokemon…
When I attended the Nito Seminar in the US last year the visiting Musashi Kai sensei’s instructions were translated that in order to score ippon with the shoto, you must ‘be in control’ of your opponents shinai with your daito. I’m sure that leaves much up for interpretation, but that is what we were told. I could see the difficulty in having your arm fully extended with the daito and striking with the shoto.
I practiced with Musashi-kai tokyo for a half year. to score a ippon with the shoto is possible, but very difficult. you need to suppress the shinai of your opponent with your daito, and the arm with the shoto needs to be fully extended. anyway, most shinpan wont score a ippon for shoto strikes.
greetings,
Manu
Could you not be holding your opponents shinai down close to them, almost tsuba to tsuba maybe?
We have a member of our dojo who has practiced kendo since the early 1970’s. He learned Nito from his sensei, who, at the time, was old, and practiced nito during the pre-war era in Japan.
He told me that his sensei taught him that it was considered “extremely rude” to even try to score with the kodachi, and as such, it is something he has never practiced.
Of course, when you take away this possibility, it increases the difficulty to score, but he was told that ” nito is not an easy path, is not widely accepted, and therefore requires that a person who takes this path be expecially strong in every aspect of his character and skill”.