Thread:Silver-Haired Seireitou/@comment-31312187-20150820220138/@comment-2089817-20150820230929

I'm not aware that I've made any rendition of Hiten Mitsurugi on this site, though perhaps I've just forgotten. At any rate, you could've just asked me on the One Piece site, I am active over there too. Anyways.

We have to first examine what Hiten Mitsurugi is, and what makes it different than slashing a sword around all willy-nilly. In essence, what makes it a swordsmanship style of its own. And to do this, we need to identify the key characteristics of the Hiten Mitsurugi style.


 * High Speed: It goes without saying that all sword styles, to some extent, require high degree of speed and precision. A slow sword doesn't do any good, but there is a difference between a sword meant to kill and a sword meant to disarm. But I'm going off on a tangent with that. Back to business. What sets Hiten Mitsurugi apart from normal swordsmanship is that it focuses so intensely on high-speed movement that it exclusively focuses on the fastest movements a swordsman can make. And that would be the moment that the swordsman first draws their sword from the sheath. Their entire body is concentrated and bound in such a way that the snap involved in that sheer moment of unsheathing produces a sword motion of such speed that it completely outclasses anything a normal sword swing can produce, simply because there is far more momentum and potential energy being built up in the moment prior to unsheathing. This is the key to what the Hiten Mitsurugi means when it says that it focuses on "high-speed movement". It focuses on the fastest motions a swordsman is capable of making. And therefore, it is predominately an Iaijutsu, or Battoujutsu, style.


 * Two Steps: According to Seijuro Hiko, the Hiten Mitsurugi style techniques are all composed of two steps so that the user is never off-guard. Consider that when you commit to an immensely fast motion like Iaijutsu, a follow-up technique is difficult to accomplish because you tend to put your everything into the unsheathing. The Hiten Mitsurugi style focuses on a "two-step method" in which each move is designed to have a natural succeeding motion to accompany it. This way, no matter the technique, the user is never caught off-guard in the aftermath of the initial technique. Case in point, there are two easy to spot examples of this. The first is the Soryusen. This technique is a fast unsheathing slash followed by the other hand swinging the sheath itself in the wake of the attack by making use of the momentum of the initial sword strike for power. If the opponent dodges or blocks the first attack, the second attack is designed to catch them in the wake of their movement. The second example is the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki. If the first slash should be dodged or missed, the immense force of the first blow causes a vacuum of air between the opponent and the user, drawing them in so that an even stronger follow-up slash can be performed to slash them apart. In conclusion, the Hiten Mitsurugi focuses on sword techniques that have two steps involved; an initial strike, usually some type of Iaijutsu, and a follow-up to ensure the initial attack's intended target is struck down.


 * Waist Rotation: Wasn't sure what to call this, but let's just go with waist rotation. The key of Hiten Mitsurugi is that its power is drawn from the rotation of the hips. Now, I wouldn't necessarily call this a unique aspect, since many martial arts draw upon the motion of their hips for power, but it's still worth mentioning. Hiten Mitsurugi almost exclusively focuses on hip rotation. Most people do not realize why the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki was so dangerous. It's because most battojutsu, especially in the series, is performed by unsheathing the sword from the side that is opposite what foot is in front. This is done to prevent a swordsman from accidentally cutting their leg in the unsheathing action. In the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki, the opposite is done. Kenshin normally draws the sword from his left side with his right foot out. There is minimal rotation of the hips during the unsheathing. But in the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki, he has his left foot in front instead. While this is all the more dangerous, it also means he must perform a very powerful rotation of the hips when unsheathing his sword. There is a lot more potential energy built up in that posture, meaning that Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki truly is fitting of Hiten Mitsurugi's "final attack".

So when we examine Hiten Mitsurugi, we have "High Speed", "Two Steps", and "Waist Rotation". When you create your sword style, you want to incorporate these three traits to make it anything like the Hiten Mitsurugi style. In simpler terms, when coming up with techniques, make them Iaijutsu or Battojutsu. And after coming up with a technique, add an additional step to the technique that serves as a follow-up to the first strike, which will satisfy the "Two Steps" requirement. And of course, since it is Iaijutsu, it will obviously possess "Waist Rotation", but in the chance that you add normal sword strikes as well, try to incorporate some form of waist turning when executing those techniques. So long as you find a way to incorporate those three traits, you will have a sword style similar to Hiten Mitsurugi.