Bujinkan Tsugiri

The tsugiri [divine straight sword] is one of the historical training tools that we explore in our Bujinkan training.

Characteristically the tsugiri is a long double edged sword with a long handle and a pommel that can be used with one or two hands. Different compared to a katana, or tachi, the tsugiri is from the earliest day of Japanese swordsmanship when warriors used the ken [ken = long sword].

As such historically, all records of the sword in terms to kata or waza no longer exist, haven been lost to time.

So why study with such a historical sword, and what would that movement look like?

Taijutsu.

The aim of the tsugiri is that one does not use kata or waza, but the movement of the body [taijutsu], along with the principals of the ken combined. 

It is not something one can *learn*, it is only something that can be expressed.

So how does one *learn* it?

Isshi soden, heart-to-heart transmission.

Once one has a base of taihenjutsu and correct movement, being exposed to the tsugiri, the movement of it used by a warrior who is able to express shin-gi-tai, that feeling is passed on from warrior to warrior, continuing in the Bujinkan today as the present expression.

Don't learn tsugiri, experience it.

At our dojo we practice with the tsugiri as a way to explore natural movement, placing the sword in hand do you use it as a *sword*, or do you express natural movement with it as an extension of your body?