Thousand Cut Drill

Last night was the thousand cut drill.

The thousand cut drill is something we started doing in my Iaijustu class three years ago.  I am not sure if this is a Japanese tradition per se or simply something that my sensei has adopted, but at the first class of every year we do a minimum of 1000 cuts.

In one sense it sounds a little more daunting than it is.  We do not worry so much about form as we do about completion.  We break up the monotony bu doing different sorts of exercises:  200 kirioroshi, 100 one-handed kirioroshi (right and hand left hand), and portions of some katas (tatsumaki, happogiri).  We are not on a particular speed as well (other than trying to get the thousand cuts in) so in one sense there is relaxation.

On the other hand it can be a little hard.  I started out feeling pretty good for the first 600 or so.  The one-handed ones are the worst, most interestingly the right hand (almost every cut we do involves either right and left or just right so there is little rest).  The katas are not quite as bad although by that point you are pretty tired just in general - although I have to admit that today I am feeling pretty good, certainly better than I felt last year at this time.

Our final count was 1170 - and that should have been enough for me.  But when sensei announced the number my very first reaction was "What?  Can we not do another 30 and hit 1200?" even though we were 150 beyond last year (which is probably the right attitude to have).

But done is done.

The other thing that occurred is that sensei asked us to make an effort to practice iaijustu every single day for the year, even if it is just a single kata before bed.  It is something of challenged - I have to admit that I am not always the best student of iai  and have been known to skip a day because I am tired - which is really saying I am lazy.  Fair enough - every day it is.

And thus, the New Year has truly arrived.