Back in the days when I started kendo, heavy emphasis was placed on the “shibori action” on completion of each cut. If you don’t know, shiboru is the verb meaning to wring out a cloth or napkin. When you visit a Japanese restaurant or coffee shop you are greeted with an oshibori; a hot or cold, depending on season, damp cloth to wipe your hands and face.
In kendo, shibori is the action of turning both hands out in a wringing action on the point of cutting as part of tenouchi. Interestingly I have not seen shibori taught or demonstrated by any of the leading Japanese kendo teachers for many years. In fact the only mentions that I have heard of shibori have been disparaging.
Some time ago I witnessed a kata demonstration where one of the participants squeezed so hard that the tsuka of the kata sword disintegrated and the blade disappeared in the direction of the audience, fortunately without collateral damage. This could on many levels be described as overkill.
Clearly shibori is out of fashion in modern kendo. My guess as to why, is not that the concept is fundamentally wrong; or that the fault lies with those who originally taught this method, but it is more likely that at some stage, someone saw an exaggerated demonstration and passed it on as the “the way to do it”. As I understand it, shibori should be made by slightly turning out both hands at the point of tenouchi. Where it appears to have gone wrong, is that many people over emphasised the movement, almost turning the palms of the hands from facing up to facing directly down. This stops the forward motion of the shinai on or before it reaches the target.
Chiba sensei teaches us to cut through the men to the level of the opponent’s chin and to gently squeeze with the little and ring fingers at this point. In so doing we continue the cut with the flexibility to hit the men cleanly on top of the datotsu bui rather than choke the shinai’s movement and strike the mengane.
In my own, somewhat surreal imagination I equate the shibori action as that of someone trying to choke a chicken. This may well have a place in the preparation of Kagoshima’s favourite breakfast food, but it is not a necessary part of modern kendo. Then again my view of shibori is based on the information I received rather than the probably more subtle instruction that was originally passed on by the sensei who deemed this an integral part of every technique.
As I understand, in 1912 Takano Saburo Sensei in his book “Kendo” gave us an instruction on how to hold a shinai by referring “chakin shibori” “…holding a shinai like an egg, slightly (‘yaya’ in Japanese) squeeze like ‘chakin shibori.” Geoff is right. During the course of teaching, I suppose that “chakin (a cloth used in the tea ceremony) shibori” unfortunately changed to “zokin (dustcloth) shibori.” Yes, when you squeeze a dustcloth, you squeeze very hard while a tea ceremony cloth is lightly and gently squeezed (supposedly) in the manner of the tea ceremony. I am not an expert on the ceremony but I can assume there is nothing we do “hard” in the ceremony.
Probably, it was easier to teach tenoichi by referring “zokin shibori” rather than “chakin shibori” as there were supposedly not many people who were familiar to the tea ceremony but zokin was everywhere throughout Japan and I used to do “zokin shibori” when I had to clean our dojo with friends…we used to compete in cleaning!
In any case, slightly / gently is the right way when you hit and release it right away…
I meant Takano “Sasaburo” sensei.
I heard of that method when I started kendo about 11 years ago. But recently I either heard or read (don’t remember the source) that method nowdays is more so for younger children because they don’t generate as much power as adults. Some of the methods that might seem “out of date” I think (not 100% sure) might be also in part to “modern” equipment versus “old school” equipment. I’m sure the kendo equipment created even in the 1950s is slightly different from current equipment. Maybe a longer or thicker tsuka or even the kote are probably larger requiring more tenouchi.
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I believe, as Geoff said, shiburi is a movement you do when your tenouchi is correct as the final part of the downward swing of the shinai (I know that you didn’t said exactly this, Geoff).
When I started to practice kendo, six years ago, I was thought the way Geoff mentioned and the results were exactly the same (I stopped before hitting, or the hits were too weak). My tsuka(s) were always turned.
I believe that the old method could possibly lead to misconception (as I did), but nowadays shiburi is very important to a short and strong men (well, my hits aren’t that good, but in these few months I improved a lot).
PS: I usually don’t instruct novices to do shiburi.
I think the problem with shibori is as with the example you mentioned in your article. If people are shown something with any emphasis they tend to overdo it and these things can be passed on and gain momentum.
If you perform a cut enough times your body arms and hands will, with time, economize the movement and with the correct grip shibori will occur naturally in controlling the sword (or shinai).
Consciously, unnaturally twisting anything can possibly cause long term bad habits to develop which may even turn into physical problems with elbows, wrists and shoulders due to unnecessarily excessive twisting forces created by over emphasis.
I only show people how to correctly grip and swing.
Dear Geoff Sensei,
Could you describe the details of pressure done by both hands when doing the cut (from furikaburi to the cutting motion)?
I’m a bit confused about the timing of ‘shibori’.
Thanks, sensei!
I am on my way to referee at the 15WKC and will try to do justice to your question when I get back next week.
Mike – In my view you do not need to do a lot. Given that you are holding the shinai lightly with little, middle and index fingers and that you keep an even swing up and down with relaxed shoulders and elbows, you should not change the pressure in your hands until the point of impact or even slightly past it. (Chiba sensei suggests hitting men with the feeling of extending the cut down to your opponents chin). As you hit, just squeeze gently with the same three fingers of each hand that are holding the shinai, keeping your arms at the correct height of the target.
Thanks for the reply, Geoff Sensei!
I want to ask a little more for clarification. My sensei told me that to start the downswing, I have to squeeze my left pinky a little bit. Is that true? Or should I maintain the laxness of my arm and then squeeze just at the moment of impact?
I have been taught to keep a relaxed grip until the point of impact, but doing it the other way should not cause problems if the rest of your arm is relaxed.
All is not lost so far as this technique is concerned, there are still some who practice it. In fact, when I started kendo (only two years ago) i was taught it in the first five minutes in my brief introduction to how to hold a shinai. This was actually at a university club session, so I can’t be absolutely certain if it originally came from our sensei or has been passed down through generations of club members, but our sensei does practice it. We teach it to all our new members. When done correctly it can be highly effective, particularly when combined with the bottom finger squeezing. I think what has been mentioned by others about having to have a light touch is important. I was actually rather shocked to hear that it is not widely taught, having always been taught it I assumed everyone knew about it.
This is something that was taught in our university club as well! At the start of every practice we would wipe the floors with wet cloth, so the wringing motion became a natural habit for us.