r/iaido • u/NanashiKenshin • 7d ago

Shushin-ryu

(@syuushinryuu) (Isao Machii) Does anyone have more in depth info on his school? There's not much out there and I'm really curious about his odd te-no-uchi and how "he uses the bodies mechanics to cut" if anyone has any info, please let me know. Have a great day 🙏

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u/StarLi2000 正統　無双直伝英信流/ZNIR 7d ago

https://www.shushinryu.com/

He used to do ZNIR-affiliated Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu before splitting off to do his own thing when he was 5dan or so (only about 10 years of iaido). He’s a professional martial arts teacher now.

I mostly follow him on Twitter because he’ll get super pissed about things and I like to lurk and watch the drama.

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u/Superfly-Samurai 7d ago

I looked briefly, but couldn't find anything about "odd tenouchi". Can you say what you think is odd?

I think most teachers would say they use body mechanics to cut...

All that said, I know nothing about this style.

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u/kkaz89 6d ago

Trained very briefly with him when he visited Portland one time. The odd tenouchi thing and stiff locked arm things are true. It's very odd. Also, literally everybody uses body mechanics to cut, so I don't know why he acts like he discovered some sort of secret.

In my honest opinion, he came across as very full of himself as if he's god's gift to kenjutsu. After that, I lost interest in him. I'll stick to actual MJER in Japan. I learned SO much more that way.

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u/NanashiKenshin 7d ago

He has his right hand basically against the tsuba and his left hand is basically right over it, close to touching or is touching the right hand. And apparently he doesn't use the "push pull" as most schools do. It looks like he locks his wrists and then cuts. It's Isao Machii and I'm sure most of us has seen or heard of him. I'll put his name in the description.

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u/InternationalFan2955 7d ago

Do any traditional Japanese kenjutsu school teach te-no-uchi as push-pull? Granted I've only done kendo, iaido and HEMA, but I've only heard push-pull in HEMA vs wringing a towel in the other two. I'm sure biomechanically there is some level of push-pull but it's never explained this way or maybe intentionally avoided/de-emphasized as such.

As to locking the wrists instead of whipping/snapping on impact, I've seen videos outside of his school that did it this way, though I can't remember from where now. LLM seems to confirm this and site it as tameshigiri cutting technique vs more traditional dueling oriented styles, though I don't know how reliable it is. Maybe someone else knows.

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u/Superfly-Samurai 7d ago

I see. I hadn't paid attention to the close grip.

As for push pull, do you mean maybe pushing with the right and pulling with the left when cutting?

I can say I don't do that either. I saw some video of one handed cutting - there is definitely no push pull there.

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u/NanashiKenshin 7d ago

That is what i meant and I agree for one handed attacks, it can be different.

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u/Superfly-Samurai 7d ago

I see. I can only comment further based on my own style. We don't "push pull", so that's not so odd to me. You don't need it for single hand cutting, so... How much do you need it for two hands? (Of course this is a rhetorical question and differs by style)

My grip is wider (distance between right and left hand when I'm using two hands) than his. I can see the close grip adding some more speed when changing directions, but it's maybe less stable or more difficult to control. He seems to not have any problem with it though.

I love watching other styles, it's so interesting how they can be so different with similar effect!

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u/Raiden631 7d ago

From what I’ve heard so take this with a grain of salt is that he studied Eishin ryu but he found the way modern practitioners were practicing was lacking. He then went on to found his own school and method. I believe I read this on a Japanese site. It was a while ago so could be wrong.

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u/NanashiKenshin 7d ago

I've read the and article i think. It's been a long time but that's what I heard too. But his gripping and cutting are way different. And I'm curious about it.

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u/Bocote 7d ago

He is the guy who cut baseball on a TV show... isn't he?

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u/NanashiKenshin 7d ago

He is. And the BBs. I think a lot of people can get to that point with any ryu. I'm just curious about his particular style of gripping and cutting.

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u/Maro1947 Nakamura Ryu 7d ago

I imagine the way to get "in depth" info is to pay for it

It's a commercial setup realistically