The Origin, Development and Evolution of ICHI NO TACHI A1

鹿島新當流一之太刀
Kashima Shintō-ryū ICHI-NO-TACHI

掬い切り 返す斜之太刀 一文字
破るは鹿島 一之太刀成り。

Sukui kiri kaesu sha-no-tachi ichimonji
Yaburu wa Kashima Ichi-no-tachi nari.

Slash-cutting upwards,
Return—diagonal sword,
The horizontal,
The break-cut is Kashima’s
Ichi-no-tachi technique.

掬い切り 返す斜の太刀 破の太刀は
略な方法 一の太刀成り。

Sukui kiri, kaesu sha-no-tachi, ha-no-tachi wa
Ryaku na hōhō Ichi-no-tachi nari.

Slash-cutting upwards,
Return—diagonal sword,
The breaking-cut is
A simplified form of the
Ichi-no-tachi method.


鹿島神流一之太刀
Kashima Shinryū ICHI-NO-TACHI

“The centerpiece of Matsumoto[ Bizen-no-kami]’s swordsmanship was the concept of ichi-no-tachi. ... To perform ichi-no-tachi the swordsman enters his opponent's striking range, drawing an attack, which he makes no attempt to block or otherwise divert. Instead, he steps inside—through, not around—and past the blow, to deliver a decisive stroke of his own.” [Karl Friday, Legacies of the Sword, (University of HawaiI Press, 1997), p. 27]

“The method of performing techniques used by Matsumoto Bizen-no-kami ... at the time when he developed Kashima Ichi no Tachi consisted of upper-body evasion and footwork evasion performed not just as a single action, but also performed at the same time as the attack. This method of evasion in a single action consists of the bodily movement expressed by the technical term "serikomi" (競り込み,literally, "to squeeze in").” [Seki Humitake, Hassun no Nobegane, Correctly Transmitted Kashima-Shinryû, www.kashima-shinryu.jp/English/i_historical_fact.html, translated by William M. Bradford]

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