Morning,
Yesterday I finally taught myself the 8 basic cuts while my kids were riding their bikes outside.
It’s *really* annoying to see teenagers completely whip your rear during practice…so I decided enough was enough.
As taken from USA Dojo:
The main cuts or thrusts that may be delivered in kendo are limited as follows:
- (1) oshomen – a downward cut aimed at the center of the forehead;
- (2) hidarimen – a diagonal cut to the left side of the face mask;
- (3) migimen – a diagonal cut to the right side of the face mask;
- (4) migido – a diagonal cut to the right side of the breastplate;
- (5) gyakudo – a diagonal cut to the left side of the breastplate;
- (6) kote – a cut at the right wrist or lower forearm;
- (7) hidari kote – a cut at the left wrist or lower forearm; and
- (8) tsuki – a thrust at the throat.
The neat thing about sword practice is it really does seem to build up your arm muscles. I really want to build muscle memory so I’m not so utterly devastated the next time I go up in sparring. Hey, perhaps I’ll be able to survive longer than 6 seconds! 
Barbara
ps – The Martial arts are quite cool! Check out: