To boost our Halloween spirit in a year that we cannot go out to trick or treat, we decided to do Pumpkin Tameshigiri! Tameshigiri (試し切り) means "test cut", a practice popularized in the Edo period for testing the quality of Japanese swords, and one often practiced on condemned criminals, truly a ghoulish prospect!

The Kata performed in this video is called ‘Inazuma’ 稲妻 (lightning) and is one of 15 Kata which make up the Shoden section of the ‘Enshin Ryu Iai Kenpo’.  The draw is called ‘Dogiri Batto’ and the cut is through the liver. It is said that to receive this cut is like being struck by lightning! What do you think?