Changing styles?

[Scully]

Evening all, it appears i've been met with a delemour, see my sensei wants me to do kenjutsu, tatsumi ryu, but the syllabus has parts me tatsumi iaido which would clash with my eishan ryu iaido. So i'm not sure what do, continue both (which i believe I can do) or leave eishan ryu and do only tatsumi ryu. I quite aol eishan ryu and the people i learn with, but if i do tatsumi ryu i can do kenjutsu iaido naginata bo and a bit of yari in the same style. what do the wise minds of my fellow iaidoka think? Regards

[Aden]

Tatsumi Ryu! If I lived in Melbourne I would be stalking Keeley (sp?) sensei till he let me join...

But I would still do my SMR jo / Tamiya iai / Kendo / ZNKR iai / ZNKR jo, just reducing the time spent on each to make space in the training calendar......

Aden

[Kokoro777]

Variety is the spice of life.

[Peter West]

Variety is the spice of life.

but solutions are not so strong. How much time do you have? Do you have time for all those weapons, and trying to maintain 2 styles? If so fine, but I think at some time you might need to choose, because there is only so far you can go if you don't make a bigger commitment.
Maybe now is too soon to choose, but be aware that some time you might need to.

If the style is similar, grip, cutting, postures etc, then it might never become a problem, but if such fundamentals as cutting shape, grip, etc are quite different it might be easier/better/preferable to stick to only one.

[ryoma]

Sure, if you have infinite time on your hands...
I came to the conclusion it's best for me to stick to ONE thing only. And that's Iai.
I do some side trips (in form of seminars) into Muso Shinto Ryu Jo as one Menkyo Kaiden is in Switzerland (P. Krieger). But I see it only as a supplement to Iai and I will never come far as my main focus is Iai. It can teach you so much....
And if you get bored with "just one weapon"... train harder with this weapon, train harder on the small details, train harder on reishiki, etc.

But hey, that's just me.

[Kokoro777]

It's only a hobby, not a career option or something important like choosing a bride from the Internet! Try it and in the unlikely event you like it as much as your present art, then worry. If you like it more, switch, if you like it less, stick to your original art.

[Kim Taylor]

Sword styles are still rare enough that some folks feel a pressure to support as many as they can, but students should be a bit selfish. As has been stated, if you can progress in both, go ahead. If you find you are stalled out in both, choose one.

Kim.

[satsumaruma]

Do both. Then leave them both and set up your own style called "Tatsumi-eishin ryu" and promote yourself to soke after a year.

You wouldn't be the first!!!

[yamakage]

Just to share my personal experience...

I've found that cross training in multiple arts has had a synergistic effect on my overall training. Even between seemingly disparate styles I've found core technical components of one style can support and enforce the others, and vice versa. Without question, some compartmentalization is required when there is a significant variation in tenouchi, kamae, ashisabaki, etc. However, if you already have a strong foundation in one style, then I'm of the opinion that integrating Tatsumi Ryu into your practice will not have as much of a detrimental effect as you might think. On the contrary, you might find that some aspects of that training may be congruent to what you are already doing, and you may even find your Eishin Ryu improves as a consequence.

[Kokoro777]

If you think about it, those of us in the UK and training under the BKA practise two schools of swordsmanship already: Seitei and our Koryu school. In my last training session I actually mixed up parts of Seitei and Koryu because they are so similar, so this confusion element isn't anything unusual to a person practising multiple arts. I'm thinking of trying something like Wing Chung too, so let's hope I don't inadvertently incorporate any of those moves into my Iai-it could be messy!

[rottunpunk]

If you feel you can do both, and want to carry on with jikiden and have the means to do so then do both
It is only you who can decide if you need to concentrate on one or have the time and ability to do both

not so many weapons, but i do niten and jikiden.
I just try hard not to mix the two, even if some things do cover both, i treat them like different animals.

How many people on here do kendo, iai AND jodo?
same principle

[satsumaruma]

If you think about it, those of us in the UK and training under the BKA practise two schools of swordsmanship already: Seitei and our Koryu school. In my last training session I actually mixed up parts of Seitei and Koryu because they are so similar, so this confusion element isn't anything unusual to a person practising multiple arts. I'm thinking of trying something like Wing Chung too, so let's hope I don't inadvertently incorporate any of those moves into my Iai-it could be messy!

Hi Anil,

I see where you are coming from but I don't really see Seitei and koryu as different. To me iai is iai and the feeling i put into whichever kata I do is the same. Seitei does seem to have more technical points than koryu but provided you do those points it is up to you how it works.

For example. Lets take you and me. We are roughly the same height but our builds are different. So even when we do seitei our iaido will look different. The same points will be in place but it will from the reference points we call 'us'. Now let us throw Jack James into the mix or Daniel Silk. Both quite tall and slim and youthful. Will there seitei look the same as mine or yours even if we all do it correctly? I suspect it won't. This isnt about it being wrong or different, just that we are all different beings and seitei is able to accommodate that.

Koryu is no different really. Yes, it seems to be less defined but it still has points that need to be adhered to. Please assume that because they often have a plethora of kai-waza that you can do what you wish; you simply cannot.

Could write more on this but wifey has shouted dinner and the dog is licking it's lips.

[Kokoro777]

Hi Anil,

I see where you are coming from but I don't really see Seitei and koryu as different. To me iai is iai and the feeling i put into whichever kata I do is the same. Seitei does seem to have more technical points than koryu but provided you do those points it is up to you how it works.

For example. Lets take you and me. We are roughly the same height but our builds are different. So even when we do seitei our iaido will look different. The same points will be in place but it will from the reference points we call 'us'. Now let us throw Jack James into the mix or Daniel Silk. Both quite tall and slim and youthful. Will there seitei look the same as mine or yours even if we all do it correctly? I suspect it won't. This isnt about it being wrong or different, just that we are all different beings and seitei is able to accommodate that.

Koryu is no different really. Yes, it seems to be less defined but it still has points that need to be adhered to. Please assume that because they often have a plethora of kai-waza that you can do what you wish; you simply cannot.

Could write more on this but wifey has shouted dinner and the dog is licking it's lips.

I regularly told that Seitie and Koryu are 'the same thing really', but I have so little experience of Koryu that it's hard for me to see this. They seems so different in the freedom the latter allows the practioner And the very prescriptive form that Seitei take, which I personally find comforting!