Whistling Blades!

**Kokoro777** · 15th February 2010, 11:35 PM

Why can't I get my Iaito blade to make that satisfying whistle as I cut through the air? I know that its not an aim and it should come with time, but it seems everyone else in my club has no difficulty eliciting that delightful sound from their blades-even beginners!

My technique is commensurate with the time I've been practising (going for ikkyu at Darlington next) and I'm pleased with my progress, I'm mindful of 'kirite' and 'tenouchi' when cutting, I have good upper body strength etc, but all I manage is an occasional 'whoosh' whereas everyone else in my club can get a pleasing whistle! Its annoying and I hate them all! The only observations I've made are that I never, ever let my sword dip below the horizontal when cutting kiriotoshi (I think I'm right in thinking it shouldn't? In fact I'm a little anal about not allowing to do so), whereas the 'jolly whistlers' in my club do, and the 'hi' of my sword extends into the tsuka whereas the members of the not-so-elite 'Whistling Club' tend to stop a few inches before the tsuka. Could these be factors?

My instructor has no problem making my sword whistle, but he can make an empty packet of crisps whistle!

**1stdan** · 15th February 2010, 11:43 PM

I always head the "whistle" or swoos sound didn't neccesarily mean anything. Its nice to hear but i think you can cut properly without getting it. I have also heard that it means you are not relaxed and are trying to force the blade thru the air. I imagine some where between the two lies the truth.

**Harry Jones** · 16th February 2010, 12:44 AM

My hair bush makes a awesome whistle when I cut with it! Give it a go and it will put all the big swishes into perspective.

That said there are a couple of reasons you might not be getting a nice swish in comparison to your dojo mates.
1. You might not be cutting exactly straight with the sword at 90o to the floor. try shifting the rotation of the sword in your hands by 1mm in either direction. Once you have the correct angle it should swish even if you cut really slowly (which is a cool trick in my book)
2. The other people in your dojo may just be stronger/cutting harder than you. You can get a swish out of a flagpole if you swing it hard enough.
3. Your sword might not be very swishy in itself, demanding absolute perfection of angle before it will oblige. Hence why your sensei can get it to swish and not you.

Don't worry, I think it was just before my 1 dan grading that my sword first whistled. Hang on in there.

Harry

**ArcticBlizzard** · 16th February 2010, 12:54 AM

Originally Posted by Kokoro777

Why can't I get my Iaito blade to make that satisfying whistle as I cut through the air? I know that its not an aim and it should come with time, but it seems everyone else in my club has no difficulty eliciting that delightful sound from their blades-even beginners!
My instructor has no problem making my sword whistle, but he can make an empty packet of crisps whistle!

You're not alone!
When I make straight cuts my blade nearly makes no sound at all, my diagonal cuts however have a really nice sound, my sensei (all 3 of them but at different times) tried out my sword.
First sensei: Ahhhhhhhhhh I see, it actually does work (about 2 months ago)
Second Senei: This is a really nice sword, take care of it. (about a month ago)
Third sensei: Well it's not the sword it's your technique, but it's not an easy sword to swing, you have to guide it in the exact right straight line and don't tilt it. (two weeks ago)

I thought my technique was ok, but even a 0.5 cm (it was actually an even smaller adjustment) adjustment made the sound appear and it had a totally different feel when making a cut. I had to make 3 very minor adjustments and suddenly the sound I was hoping for appeared, only for about 4 swing and it disappeared again but I did find out what I was doing wrong and can work on it.
The problems: my left foot, hips and grip(I blame kendo) after some minor tweaking by my sensei I had some decent swings

So it's up to me know to improve my technique and although it might be a blade that needs a little bit more guidance it's up to me to give it just that what it needs and make a proper cut. My technique shouldn't be "ok" it should be a lot better than "ok" and luckily I've got many years left to achieve that.

**Kokoro777** · 16th February 2010, 01:45 AM

That's for the suggestions, everyone. I shall do a little empirical work now and report back. Interestingly, I do get a whistle with Ochiburi.

**Kokoro777** · 16th February 2010, 01:58 AM

I'm confused now.

I tried a few swings in a bedroom in my house and got a good whistle without even trying-cutting like I always do! I took a few swings with the sword obviously angled to the direction of flight and got very little sound and progressively straightened it up with each cut, until I got the loudest sound which was with the blade cutting directly downward at 90 degrees to the direction of cut. So could my perceived lack of whistle be down to the size of the room I'm cutting in? Is a smaller room reflecting the sound back at me so I can hear it and the large dojo dissipating it? Perhaps I was making bigging cuts than I do usually in my bedroom? I can feel more experimentation coming up...!

**Are2** · 16th February 2010, 02:05 AM

That might be one factor. I always hear the whooshes of the people to the side of me better than my own when training in an open space (and I know my iaito is a noisy beast).

**pgsmith** · 16th February 2010, 02:13 AM

Its nice to hear but i think you can cut properly without getting it.

That is not a true statement. The answer lies in knowing just what it is that produces the sound (tachi kaze is one name for it). As it was explained to me by one of our aerodynamics engineering students, the bo hi that are cut into the sword cause a vortex in the air that is flowing over the blade. When the air is flowing in equal measure, it creates a larger vortex at the mune, and the resulting low pressure causes a whistling sound. If the air is flowing unevenly, the whistling sound is diminished, or stopped completely. When you don't hear the tachi kaze, that means one of two things ... either your tip speed is too slow, or your hasuji is poor. Usually it is caused by hasuji as the speed does not need to be very high. The most common reason I've seen for poor hasuji is too much right hand. When you 'push' the sword with your right hand rather than 'pulling' with your left, it is much more difficult to maintain good hasuji.
If you cannot get a good sound with every cut, when you try to cut a target your sword will either bind or scoop, rather than cut cleanly through.

**Brian Pettett** · 16th February 2010, 02:37 AM

Originally Posted by pgsmith

When you don't hear the tachi kaze, that means one of two things ... either your tip speed is too slow, or your hasuji is poor. Usually it is caused by hasuji as the speed does not need to be very high.

In a quiet enough room, I can produce tachikaze at almost glacially-slow speeds. I think it really does boil down to having the proper hasuji. As for speed, perhaps the point at which the kissaki is accelerated has more to do with it than the overall speed itself.

**Harry Jones** · 16th February 2010, 02:50 AM

I would suggest you are more tense in the dojo thus throwing your grip out ever so slightly.
In my experience my iai feels wonderful when I'm practicing in my own, so released and I'm in control of my own timing.
Big noisy demo and blah.....
However I think you are probably correct in thinking that the acoustics in the dojo play a part.
Harry

**Peter West** · 16th February 2010, 02:53 AM

There are many issues here, some have been mentioned, but additionally:
1. The acoustics of your dojo, it may be that when you are behind the sword it is not as loud as when you stand the other side, so you hear other people, but but not yourself
2. The shape of the hi: some do not make such strong sound as others
3. You mention your upper body strength, if you are using upper body strength you are probably slowing the kissaki down and losing the sound
4. The sword may not be set correctly in the tsuka, resulting in misaligned hasuji, even with perfect grip
5. you just aint done enough iaido yet

The sound of every sword is different, you have to find your sword's sound. The same sword in the hands of 2 different people will be different because of the shape of their body, arm length, shibori timing and so on. So not only do you have to find the sound of the sword, but the sound you make with your sword.

Most important, forget it, concentrate on something else. The frustration of not getting a sound will most likely end up in getting too obsessed with power and speed. Big and smoothe is always the first priority.

**Martch** · 16th February 2010, 02:55 AM

Have you tried changing the batteries?

**chidokan** · 16th February 2010, 04:14 AM

The sound is not for you to hear, it's for your instructor, who can then use it as part of a judgement on your current cutting ability. As Peter says, forget about it, it is the least of your worries at your level...

**ShadowRaven** · 16th February 2010, 04:19 AM

Maybe the pea is stuck. tap it a few times.

My own iaito is nearly sillent. Of course it has no hi to speak of so that's to be expected. My cheap wallhanger actually makes a better sound.