# The Swordlady in motion



## Swordlady (Jun 20, 2005)

My dojo recently participated in an annual Sword Fest held in Malvern, PA. Here are a couple clips of me at the Sword Fest for your perusal (or amusement). Right-click the following links for download; they are in mpeg format.

Solo kata (17.7 MB)

Tameshigiri (3.95 MB)

I tried tameshigiri (Japanese test cutting) for the first time that day, so please don't be too hard on me.


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## Bob Hubbard (Jun 20, 2005)

Look good to me. 

Thank you for sharing.


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## Rick Wade (Jun 20, 2005)

Kaith Rustaz said:
			
		

> Look good to me.
> 
> Thank you for sharing.



I agree that was very good.  I don't know a whole lot about traditional weapons; however, it was definately pleasing to the eye.

V/R

Rick


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## Bester (Jun 20, 2005)

Thank you. :asian:


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## Cryozombie (Jun 20, 2005)

I enjoyed both clips, I hope my technique is 1/2 that good someday.


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## shesulsa (Jun 20, 2005)

Thank you very much for posting the clips, Swordlady! I enjoyed watching them.


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## Jmh7331 (Jun 20, 2005)

Great clips, thanks for sharing.  Where in Malvern was that?  I work in Malvern.  I wish I knew of the demo.  What type of wood (I'm assuming wood, I have no idea) are you cutting thru?  

PS - I love the Heineken truck driving past, great touch!  :ultracool


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## BlackCatBonz (Jun 20, 2005)

that was awesome swordlady.....keep up the good work!!


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## arnisador (Jun 20, 2005)

Cool! I studied iaido for a while and loved it.


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## evenflow1121 (Jun 20, 2005)

I cant download it for some reason


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## Swordlady (Jun 20, 2005)

Jmh7331 said:
			
		

> Great clips, thanks for sharing. Where in Malvern was that? I work in Malvern. I wish I knew of the demo. What type of wood (I'm assuming wood, I have no idea) are you cutting thru?
> 
> PS - I love the Heineken truck driving past, great touch! :ultracool


It was held in Burke Park.  Here's the webpage with the info about Sword Fest: http://www.mafcenter.com/swordfest2005.htm

It was the second annual Sword Fest; the first one was last year.

I wasn't cutting through wood.  They are straw mats - called tatami - soaked in water.  Tatami omote is used in traditional Japanese test cutting, since it is no longer politically correct to practice test cutting on convicted criminals.  ;-) You can read more about tatami omote here: http://www.tameshigiri.com/Omote.html


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## Swordlady (Jun 20, 2005)

evenflow1121 said:
			
		

> I cant download it for some reason


Hmm...that's odd...the links are working for me.  Are you using a Broadband connection?


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## Bob Hubbard (Jun 20, 2005)

evenflow1121 said:
			
		

> I cant download it for some reason


 Files are in MPG format.  What viewer software (OS, etc) are you running?


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## Jmh7331 (Jun 21, 2005)

Thanks for the sight, very interesting.  I hope to catch it next year.


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## bdparsons (Jun 21, 2005)

Thank you for taking the time to post the clips. Very nice.

Respects,
Bill Parsons
Triangle Kenpo Institute


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## Franc0 (Jun 21, 2005)

Nice clips Swordlady  :asian: 

Franco


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## Gemini (Jun 21, 2005)

Enjoyed the videos. Thank you. May I ask what sword you use for cutting?


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## The Kai (Jun 21, 2005)

Very nice clips

Thanks for putting them out there


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## Swordlady (Jun 21, 2005)

Gemini said:
			
		

> Enjoyed the videos. Thank you. May I ask what sword you use for cutting?


It was a Last Legend Dragon katana (borrowed from a fellow student).


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## The Kai (Jun 21, 2005)

The angle and "Cleanness" of the cutting look great

How long have you worked the sword?

Todd


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## Don Roley (Jun 22, 2005)

Is the _noto_ you did standard? It looks a bit unusual to my eye. And I have to keep my reputation up as a pain in the posterior by pointing out that the last draw seemed to be almost in two stages. (But I bet you already know that. It is a lot harder to do it than spot it.)


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## The Kai (Jun 22, 2005)

I figured the humidity sometimes causes the sheath to "stick"


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## MisterMike (Jun 22, 2005)

Very interesting. I always enjoy seeing different kata. I have done similar MJER kata and noticed slight differences in the chiburi and noto, which to me, are just as important in expressing the beauty of the art. Good work!


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## Swordlady (Jun 22, 2005)

Don Roley said:
			
		

> Is the _noto_ you did standard? It looks a bit unusual to my eye. And I have to keep my reputation up as a pain in the posterior by pointing out that the last draw seemed to be almost in two stages. (But I bet you already know that. It is a lot harder to do it than spot it.)


As The Kai pointed out, the blade was a bit stuck to the saya. I was using a new iaito, and the blade got a little stuck a couple times.

Todd: I've been studying Yagyu Shinkage Ryu for the past six months. I actually started nine years ago, but my sensei moved to New Jersey. I finally caught up with him last December. I have about a year's worth of training, including my brief stint back in 1996.


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## Kempogeek (Jun 22, 2005)

Really enjoyed the tameshigiri clip. Unfortunately i couldn't load the other clip. According to Web Tv, it had too much information for it to use. I guess too many MBs for its system. Boy I can't wait to upgrade to a notebook. Anyway, I did dabble in Iaido as part of my training in Kosho Ryu Kempo and enjoyed it alot. I hope to continue when I return to my training later this year. Hopefully by then I can move from a practice wooden bokken to a real one, not to mention purchasing the proper attire. Continued success and good luck......Steve


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