After a lapse of a surprising number of years, today I was in fact chopping some firewood. If anyone doesn't know why this is mentioned in a blog focused on martial arts, I recommend watching the classic Japanese movie, "The Seven Samurai". (A search of youtube does not bring up a clip of the scene I have in mind, unfortunately.)
However, I can explain: in the movie, one of the samurai is first encountered chopping wood. He is splitting each log with one blow of the axe and a kiai. In my family, we have always used certain tasks as kinds of training, especially with tools like axes, hatchets or machetes. This includes chopping wood, or clearing small trees and brush, with single strikes when possible. Similar to the karate practice of breaking boards, if you do it right, with good coordination of your ki, etc., you barely even feel the wood you cut through.
There are some lessons to be learned from chopping wood, and the tool used, that is, the axe. It can be symbolic of focus. Consider: why does a sharp edge cut better than blunt edge? The edge is where all the energy is focused, and a sharp edge is focuses energy very tightly, where bluntness diffuses it. When chopping wood, that is only the beginning of the story: after the edge has cut into the end of the log, the wedge shape of the blade transfers energy sideways, pushing the two edges of the cut apart. If you have struck properly, and assuming that the wood doesn't have major knots or gnarls in the grain, the two halves of the log seem to leap apart as the axe passes between them.
For the aikidoka using ken, and I would presume for other sword arts as well, the right method for splitting wood is only a slight adaptation from certain of the suburi (basic weapon exercises of fundamental movements), and from tanren uchi (striking either a tire or a bundle of sticks with the wooden sword) practice. Like with the tanren uchi, one of the keys is settling the hips as part of the strike: this is important in fully harnessing and coordinating the body's ki.
Since I had not chopped wood for years, I experimented a little to rediscover the best method I could. I found (and only then remembered having been taught) that it was best not to raise the axe overhead (as would be reminiscent of the first sword suburi in aikido), but to ready for a strike by bringing the axe around the body, keeping the blade low, reminiscent of a variation of the arm motion in the fifth suburi, though not to the extent of covering the head; and then the axe is pulled straight over and down from back to front. For some reason my aim was better when I did this, rather than raising the axe straight from front to back; in any case, it is more energy-efficient to only lift the blade in one direction, instead of both. In addition, there is some subtle effect in allowing you to feel the weight of the blade and to some extent moving the handle around it, rather than fighting the weight by lifting it back. Meanwhile, lifting the blade from the back to the front for the strike is necessary because in that case you want that energy that is produced, for your strike, whereas there is no benefit in essentially swinging the back of the axe blade (or if you are using a double-bitted axe, the other blade edge!) toward your spine and having to fight that weight. You maintain more control with the other method. These principles can all be applied to taijutsu (body techniques).
Now, while chopping wood and similar work can be good training, I would strongly warn anyone who isn't experienced at using an axe to first get someone to show you how to do it safely. Don't forget that axes have been used in battle as much as for chopping firewood, and if you make a mistake, you could cripple or kill yourself in an instant. This doesn't mean that anyone should be afraid, it just means to be careful; and learn from someone who knows how to do it properly. I started chopping firewood as a child, but I was taught good technique right from the start by my father, who is both martial artist and skilled user of many traditional tools. (And yes, even as a child, I could usually split a log with one strike, owing to the good technique I was taught.)
As always, the general principle remains to try to be aware of the energy (of body and tool), and to try to remain in control of it, use it in the right way for the circumstances. For example, sometimes the axe does not go all the way through the log, either due to some flaw in your strike, or perhaps more likely due to the structure of the piece of wood, holding the two sides together. At the point, you have to decide which strike to do next. One can remove the axe from the log and try again (I would only recommend that if the axe feels at all loose, in which case it is mandatory); otherwise you have the choice to swing the axe, embedded in the log, to come down on the chopping block either with the edge upward, which adds the weight and momentum of the log to your strength and speed, or with the edge downward.
For most aikidoka, I would really recommend sticking with the tanren uchi, unless of course you or family or friends need firewood. ;) But for those who may try chopping wood, there can be nice training (shuugyou) value in it. Again, watch the Seven Samurai and see how the samurai does it. (There are other good lessons to be learned by another thing or two he does in the scene, not directly connected with the wood-chopping...)
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