Tameshigiri- The Japanese Art of Test Cutting

This practice was popularized in the Edo period (17th century) for testing the quality of Japanese swords.[1] It continues to the present day, but has
evolved into a martial art which focuses on demonstrating the practitioner's skill with a sword.

During the Edo period, materials used to test swords were wara (rice straw), goza (the top layer of tatami mats), bamboo, and thin steel sheets.
Swords were occasionally tested on convicted criminals from ankle cuts, to whole diagonal cuts from shoulder to opposite hip. Older swords can still
be found today that have inscriptions on their nakago (tang) that say things such as, "5 bodies with Ryu Guruma (hip cut)". Such an inscription, known
as a tameshi-mei or saidan-mei (cutting signature) would add greatly to a sword's value.
4 typical cuts: downward diagonal (Kesa-giri), upward diagonal (Kiri-age or Gyaku-kesa), horizontal (Yoko or Tsuihei), and straight downward (Jodan-
giri, Happonme, Makko-giri, Shinchoku-giri or Dottan-giri).
To be able to cut consecutive times on one target, or to cut multiple targets while moving, requires that one be a very skilled swordsman.
Targets today are typically made from goza, or rolled tatami omote, the top layer of the traditional Japanese floor covering, either bundled or rolled into
a cylindrical shape. They may be soaked in water to add density to the material. This density is to approximate that of flesh. Green bamboo is used to
approximate bone.
Once the goza target is in this cylindrical shape, it has a vertical grain pattern when stood vertically on a target stand, or horizontally when placed on a
horizontal target stand (dotton or dodan). This direction of the grain affects the difficulty of the cut.
The difficulty of cuts is a combination of the target material hardness, the direction of the grain of the target (if any), the quality of the sword, the angle
of the blade (hasuji) on impact, and the angle of the swing of the sword (tachisuji).
Easiest is downward diagonal, next is upward diagonal, next is straight downward and most difficult is horizontal. This only applies to vertically
standing tatami.
While tatami omote, green bamboo, and especially meat are the preferred cutting targets, other substances are commonly used due to being cheaper,
and much easier to obtain: pool noodles, various gourds (pumpkins, squash, etc.), water-filled plastic bottles, soaked newspaper rolls, synthetic
targets or wet clay.
Pros & Cons of Tameshigiri Practice

Pros:
1. Helps develop cutting skills through actual practice. No point swimming on dry land as Bruce Lee would say.
2. Teaches one to cut through instead of at.
3. Teaches one to have intent behind every cut.
4. Teaches one to cut with technique, not with shoulder/arm muscles.
5. Helps gauge your swing and for one to determine distance of a cut.
Cons:
1. In order to make a cut, form too often gets abandoned. Over swing, dropping the point, off balance, too much force…
Thoughts from Famous Swordsmen

Takano Sasaburo – Helmet Cutting

Cutting rolled up straw mats (巻藁, makiwara) is just like a silly game for children. Tameshigiri in the past was
done on iron helmets.

Suemonogiri (据物切, the cutting of placed objects) is rather difficult, so the helmet was stuffed with warm cooked
rice, which also made the helmet warm. If there had been nothing inside the helmet, the sword would simply have
broken.

It should also be noted that silk is very difficult to cut. If the silk is soaked in warm water, it becomes even more
difficult to cut.

Nakayama Hakudo – Tameshigiri for Maturing One’s Iai

Tameshigiri is something that should be done after many long years of iai training, once one has reached a certain
level of proficiency. Tameshigiri allows one to adapt the iai kata to real cutting practice. In other words, iai should
be the core, and the application of the kata in tameshigiri should be secondary. However, today many people totally
ignore the preservation of correct sword methodology and technique and merely cut things. As a result, tameshigiri
has unfortunately come to be thought of as an independent practice. Thus, the most important points of sword
technique, such as the three separate classifications of hasuji, are being forgotten. To put it another way, every kind
of battō uses the sword blade in a different way. There is no absolutely fixed way of doing things. Even in a single
kata, at first you may cut with the first two or three sun (寸, approx. 3.03cm) of the blade, then the second cut may
be with the central portion of the blade. Understanding this distinction is essential.
Of course, the way the blade is used changes depending on the target and your distance from it. There are times
when you must cut with the base of the blade, times when you must use the centre and times when you must use the
tip. If sufficient consideration is not given to these points, the sword methodology will be incorrect.

I want you to be aware that tameshigiri in iaido is something that occurs at the very highest levels. Therefore in
combination with normal iai kata training, I have incorporated mizugiri (水切り) – the practice of cutting standing
water without raising a splash – into my standing iai kata. The last three or four sun of the blade are used to cut. The
cut is made straight downwards, and not a single drop of water should be splashed up.

The next kind of tameshigiri is yukizumi (雪積み), which trains horizontal cutting. For this, snow is packed tightly
into a mound less than one shaku (30.3cm) in height, and then used as a target for nukiuchi practice with the central
portion of the blade.

The next type is waragiri (藁切り), which uses stacked rolls of straw mats. Each mat should be between 5 and
7 sun (15.2-21.2cm) in thickness and at each level another mat should be added, up to a maximum of six mats. This
type of tameshigiri can be included in standing kata, using the part of the blade between the centre and the tip.
Depending on the ryuha and kata, the straw can be replaced with other objects such as bamboo, wooden planks,
standing trees and living things.
After exploring this kind of cutting sufficiently, you can begin to practise the highest level of
tameshigiri: usumonogiri (薄物切り, lit. the cutting of very thin material). For this, a single sheet of paper is placed
on a wooden board. The aim of this technique is to cut the paper without leaving a scratch on the wood. This is the
ultimate level of technique – a method of studying hand control and the ability to stop a cut. To perfect the ability to
do this with a nukiuchi technique requires an almost unreachable level of skill. It is something close to the ideal
way of cutting.

Taking waragiri as an example, even if you cut dozens of times in a row without pause, you should maintain
perfect spacing for every cut, and preserve a layer of straw beneath each cut. You should cut through one or two
rolls of straw without touching the roll beneath. When cutting horizontally you should be able to cut through a roll
and back again without a single piece falling. Every cut you leave in the straw should be perpendicular and smooth.

As another example, you should cut planks of wood perfectly horizontally or vertically regardless of how the grain
runs.\

In addition, there are many kinds of techniques that involve cutting bamboo hung from the ceiling by paper or
thread without breaking the thread or tearing the paper, or cutting bamboo thrown in the air into three pieces.
However these are a kind of trick; they are just cutting techniques, and cannot be called tameshigiri. In my opinion
these do not serve any purpose.

I have never succeeded in making a single satisfactory cut. Today when I practise dōshonibangiri (同所二番切り,
lit. a second cut in the same place) – where a single cut is made halfway through the target, and a second cut is
made in precisely the same place to cleanly complete the cut – it is only a poor imitation of the real thing. Thirteen
of my direct students are hanshi, and thirty-six are kyōshi, but I have not once given them permission to do public
displays of tameshigiri. Perhaps in the future there will be someone to whom I will grant permission, but currently
[1956] there is no-one whom I can foresee earning it.
Cutting Patterns