Fighting with two shinai is
seldom seen in kendo nowadays. There has been a period when it was popular, but
it remains a minority now, difficult both to wield and to judge properly. First
of all, in the Nippon Kendō Kata, there are seven techniques with the tachi,
and three with the kodachi,
but none for the simultaneous use of the two swords. As two-sword fighting
remained a rare phenomenon in kenjutsu, it didn't bloom to spectacular
popularity in kendo either. The kata were chosen from the most representative
techniques that would illustrate good posture, proper interval and cutting
technique, and there was no place for scarcely used two-sword techniques.
At
the beginning of the Shōwa period however, nitō kendo was popular in the students competitions. At that time, there was a
sole focus on victory, by any means, among the students, and the reason many of
them took nitō was to secure the win of the match against the opponent,
by confusing him and putting him in a difficult spot, because not many competitors
knew how to fight against someone wielding two shinai. As a result, the
schools and universities began to train their students in nitō, to be
able to confront a dual wielding opponent. The fixation on victory by using
tactics that were unexpected by the opponent was so strong, that in 1930, nitō
was banned in student matches. Since the students were only using two shinai
as a means for obtaining victory, and were preoccupied by winning the match
only, they were neglecting the mental and spiritual development that
accompanies the practice of kendo. The ban was lifted in 1991, per the efforts
of the All-Japan Student Kendo Federation, which feared that nitō kendo
would become extinct, with so few opportunities to learn and practice it.
From
the rules perspective, nitō kendo experienced a slow and lengthy
development. One-handed techniques were not approved in official matches until
1919, but they remained frowned upon and to be generally avoided. The criteria
for the length and weight of the two shinai were only established in
1943, and they have been revised to accommodate the women practice of nitō as
well. With
being subjected to regulations similar to sports disciplines, nitō kendo
could now become a viable choice in official competitions as well. However, it
remains a minority in today's kendo. The validity of the strikes is difficult
to judge, and the strikes with the short shinai are generally not
considered valid. Although there is a stipulation about
the short shinai in the rules and regulations regarding matches and
referees, it is somewhat vague and hard to judge. Because of this, the majority of nitō practitioners
only use the short shinai for defense.
Difficulties in nitō kendo
popularity growth
The development of nitō kendo to a
large scale has been hindered by historical reasons, such as the student ban
and the late and difficult to judge regulations. But even today, there aren't many
practitioners, and it's generally regarded as a negative deviation from the traditional
chūdan stance. There are many obstacles for someone wanting to use nitō,
such as the scarcity of two-sword fighting
instructors, the general negative view on nitō, and the skill
requirements of effective usage. Because nitō uses the long shinai in
a jōdan stance and the short one in a chūdan stance, it is
necessary to develop physical muscles that would allow one to efficiently wield
the weapons in each arm. Being also a more complex way of fighting, it isn't
suitable for beginners, but more to practitioners that have already spent some
years training in chūdan. Going straight to nitō is heavily frowned
upon. Nishikubo Hiromichi, an influential kendo practitioner and politician of
the Shōwa era, took a more radical view
and considered all one-handed techniques should be banned. He
argued that using one-handed techniques impede the accumulation of the spirit
and that one should not begin training with wielding a sword in one hand, but
progress through training normally, until reaching a level where one-handed
techniques can be used properly. He also criticized the motion of only swinging
the sword without following up with the body, and compared it to a general that
orders his soldiers ahead, but remains behind. Even though nitō is also
a product, albeit a smaller one, of traditional swordsmanship, the fact that
it's being considered more as a negative deviation from the ittō chūdan
stance than as an individual style can be attributed to the reputation it had
among the students at the beginning of the Shōwa era, and to the fact that it
may encourage bad habits for practitioners that aren't sufficiently skilled in ittō
chūdan beforehand.
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