Iai-do
Encyclopedia : I : IA : IAI : Iai-do
Iai was originally developed in feudal Japan, and primarily was concerned with dealing calmly and quickly to a series of potential situations such as surprise attacks, ambush and assault by multiple opponents. The iaidoka would calmly react to whatever situation he was placed in, draw his katana, deal with the threat and then resheath his sword with dignity and continue on his way.
Developed in conjunction with kenjutsu, classed as combat once the sword had left the saya, the two styles naturally complemented each other. Due to the warlike atmosphere in that particular period of Japanese history, hundreds, perhaps more than a thousands of Iai ryu came into being. Swordsmen were even engaging in single combat as late as 1868.
With the end of the Second World War, many arts replaced the suffix 'jutsu' with the suffix 'do', in order to allow the continuation of the art despite the occupation of the nation by the Allies. Today, the sword arts of the samurai have evolved into two main and highly specialised categories, Iaido and Kendo. Although perhaps overly simplified, the commonly accepted view is that Iaido is often seen as a meditative art, and is concerned purely with drawing the sword in series of officially sanctioned kata, and kendo has evolved into a major sport across the world, with defined target areas, a pointing system in addition to kata.
Obviously the practical applications of iai today are limited, as sword combat is more or less limited to the silver screen. However, the ability to meet any situation with a calm attitude, to move gracefully and with balance have many applications within our increasingly interesting world.
It should be noted that although the myriad of ryu that existed with Japan have shrunk massively, for almost every school remaining and martial arts association in existence, there is a different way of viewing the art. As such, this description may differ to other sources.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.