I read up on kendou enough to get a basic understanding of the practice fights between Touga and Saionji. We see several, and they all start from the same positions. There are two in episode 9, one in episode 35, and one in the epilog. In the episode 35 duel, Saionji sees that Touga has lost confidence, we hear the bamboo swords strike each other repeatedly, and we aren’t shown the outcome. In the other three, Touga wins quickly.
In a regulation match, the combatants wear protective equipment to prevent injuries. Even these light bamboo shinai can be dangerous. I have to add: I wouldn’t want to fight in such a dimly-lit space.
Touga stands in the chuudan no kamae or middle stance, which (I read) is the most basic position. It is meant to balance offence and defense—you can choose to strike or to stop the opponent’s strike and counter. His sword is at a steeper angle than it is supposed to be. He is supposed to be highly skilled. Maybe it’s a sensible variation based on Touga’s knowledge of Saionji’s style; he knows the strike that is coming. Or it could be an inaccuracy in the art. The hand and foot positions look OK as far as I can tell (not very far).
Saionji is in the joudan no kamae or high stance, the most aggressive standard position. The sword is in position to strike immediately, and out of position to deflect any enemy attack. It fits with his violent and aggressive personality. He’s in a standard left-foot-forward variant of the stance, and the sword is angled too far backward. It explains why his strike is too slow. His body angle and foot positions look roughly right to me. The art is not detailed enough for a close comparison with the descriptions and pictures I turned up, at least not at my low level of knowledge.
I think the duel at the start of episode 9 shows the most detail: Touga waits for Saionji’s strike, then lunges forward under it to strike first. In a real sword fight, they would both be seriously injured, but in a stylized match like this it is a win for Touga. It seems to show that Touga is much better than Saionji. Saionji starts from a position meant to give him a faster first strike, and moves first, but Touga reacts in time. The actual strokes are not animated, and the sound seems to be an abstract representation of a very brief combat rather than its literal noises. It’s unclear whether Touga deflects Saionji’s sword before his strike. From the positions they end up in, it looks as though Touga is simply faster. But the flashback duel later in the episode is different: Touga knocks Saionji’s sword from his hand. So maybe Touga does use the defensive potential of his initial stance.
Jay Scott <jay@satirist.org>
first posted 12 November 2023
updated 26 January 2024