The difference between tameshigiri and back yard cutting

Here's a great example of proper tameshigiri, the man in the video has a good stance and his focus is on the target. You can also tell that he is thinking about distance in relation to his target; ie. he doesn't want to get cut in order to make a cut.



This second video, while impressive, is not proper tameshigiri. There's not a whole lot of thought going into body position in relation to the cut, and everyone is using a wide stance instead of a proper hamni. It could be because they are attempting to cut with a temple size sword (one that is made for a shrine, not too be used), but I don't know. Regardless, you can really tell the difference between the two examples.