Iaido

Respect due to the sword (To-ne-rei) before and after practice

Iaido The way/art of drawing the sword.

Iaido is a sword-based Japanese martial art that trains the motions associated with drawing a sword (刀) from its scabbard or saya, striking or cutting an opponent, removing blood from the blade, and then replacing the sword in the scabbard or saya. This is all performed with smooth, controlled movements. Modern day iaido exponents typically use bokkens for practice and for begginers and for the more advanced the shinken (sharpened sword).

Iaido may be confused with kendo (剣道), kenjutsu and battōjutsu (抜刀術 battōjutsu). While all four activities teach the use of the Japanese sword, the latter two are training methods that fall under a much broader training in koryu bujutsu. They differ in focus and methodology.

Kendo, as an art, does not include drawing and re-sheathing since the shinai uses no scabbard. Kendo includes more dynamic, sporting aspect. Kendo is practiced in pairs with full contact sparring, therefore a flexible bamboo sword and protective armor are needed.

Kenjutsu is executed in the form of kata but usually in pairs, and often does not include drawing or resheathing the sword.

Battojutsu focuses on cutting technique.

Furthermore, iaido is performed individually against one or more imaginary opponents in pre-arranged situations (kata) and with a metal blade. Contrasted with battōjutsu, iaido does not include cutting techniques per se (furthermore, some styles and schools discourage tameshigiri).

However, these differences are only a matter of a school's focus on training methods since many traditional iaido schools include kata done in pairs and a number of kenjutsu schools also practice solo kata starting with sheathed swords and battojutsu schools usually practice kata individually, that start with the sword in the sheath.

The primary emphasis in Iaido, is on the psychological state of being present. The secondary emphasis is on drawing the sword and responding to the sudden attack as quickly as possible. Starting positions can be from combative postures or from everyday sitting or standing positions. The ability to react quickly from different starting positions was considered essential for a samurai (侍).

A very important part of iai, sometimes called the 'life of iai', is nukitsuke. This is a very quick draw accomplished by drawing the sword out of the saya (鞘) (scabbard) while drawing the saya itself back (saya biki). The blade can be brought out of the scabbard and used in a slashing motion very quickly using nukitsuke.

Contents

1 History
2 Styles of iaido
3 Seitei Iaido
4 Main classical styles of iaido
5 Modern iaijutsu
6 See also
7 External links
8 Suggested Reading

History

The Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu included iaijutsu in its curriculum in 15th century, and first schools dedicated exclusively to sword drawing appeared some time during the late 16th or early 17th century. Most modern schools consider a samurai called Hayashizaki Jinsuke Minamoto no Shigenobu (1546-1621) as the originator of iaido. Not much is known about his life, and some scholars doubt his existence as a historical figure. The two largest schools of iaido that are practised today, Muso Shinden-ryu (夢想神伝流) and Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryu (無雙直傳英信流), both claim a lineage starting with Hayashizaki Jinsuke Shigenobu (林崎甚助重信).

While not a hard and fast rule, frequently the word iaido is used to refer to the modern self improvement oriented form taught by the All Japan Kendo Federation (AJKF) and other iaido associations while iaijutsu is used for the older, combative techniques of the koryu. The word iaido itself was coined by Nakayama Hakudo (1873?-1958) in early 20th century. Before that various other names like battō, battōjutsu, or saya no uchi were used instead.

Styles of iaido

The term "iaido" can include many styles of Japanese swordsmanship, "all of which subscribe to non-combative aims and purposes."

Seitei Iaido

The iaido of the All Japan Kendo Federation (AJKF) or Zen Nippon Kendo Renmei.

An Iaido Division was formed within The AJKF in 1956. In 1969, the AJKF introduced the Seitei Gata curriculum of seven kata (techniques or forms) for iaido (全日本剣道連盟居合). These seitei gata, or seitei iaido, were drawn from or based on several of the major traditional sword schools, including Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryu and Muso Shinden-ryu and Hoki Ryu.

In 1981 three more kata were added and then two more in 2000, thus increasing the seitei iaido (seitei gata) curriculum to the current twelve.

These twelve seitei gata are now standardised for the tuition, promotion and propagation of iaido and as a result, seitei iaido has since become the most widely recognised form of iaido in Japan and the rest of the world.

Main classical styles of iaido

The two main classical styles (koryu) of iaido practiced worldwide are Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryu and Muso Shinden-ryu. They resemble each other quite strongly because they branched off from one style sometime in the 18th century, under Oguro Motouemon Kiyakatsu sensei. After Oguro, there came into being two branches that were formed on philosophical differences between two students of Oguro: The Shimomura-ha and Tanimura-ha (branches), the former being headed by Maysuyori Teisuke Hisanari and the latter by Matsuyoshi Teisuke (Shinsuke) Hisanari, who became the 12th grandmaster,

These two branches would co-exist for many years until Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu officially came into being in the early 20th century through the initiative of Oe Masamichi Shikei, the 17th headmaster of the Jikiden Eishin Ryu. Oe would bring together the Tanimura-ha, Hasegawa Eishin Ryu and the Omori Ryu to form what is today's Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu.

The Shimomura-ha held its own headmasters and philosophy for many years but would eventually fade away. The last Shimomura-ha (claimed) headmaster, Nakayama Hakudo who is considered the 16th, created a new iai-art called Muso Shinden Battojutsu that was heavily influenced by his Shimomura-ha training, but also took elements from other iai-arts. Nakayama Hakudo is not known to have taught the "pure" Shimomura-ha teachings in its complete form to any of his students and thus it can be argued that Shimomura-ha no longer exists as a separate entity, even though elements of it remain in what would later become the modern Muso Shinden-ryu.

One of the differences between the two schools can be seen in the noto (sheathing the katana back in the saya). In Muso Shinden, noto is done on the horizontal plane, the blade parallel to the floor. In Jikiden, the blade is perpendicular to the floor in a more or less vertical plane.

There are several branches of Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryū (MJER) that are practised today. Different Iaido organisations generally recognise different people as their sōke. One person who is considered to be a sōke is Miura Takeyuki Hidefusa, who holds a 9th Dan in MJER. The All Japan Iaido Federation (Dai Nippon Iaido Renmei) recognises Ajisai Hirai (9th Dan Hanshi) as the 22nd sōke of MJER.

There are several lines of transmission extant for Muso Shinden-ryu also. One of them claims Mitsuzuka Takeshi as the sōke, second one (those who are affiliated with Nippon Iaido Kyokai) regard Takada Gakudō as their head teacher.

In the All Japan Kendo Federation (AJKF) or Zen Nippon Kendo Renmei, one of the largest federations both in Japan and outside Japan, there are two lines representing the Muso school. The current sōke for Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryū is Fukui Torao (21st master), and the last sōke for Muso Shinden-ryū was Nakayama Hakudo with no official successor.

Modern iaijutsu

A newer style of iaijutsu is Toyama-ryu battōjutsu. This is a style originating in the late 19th century, and taught primarily to officers in the Second World War. It is different from the older styles primarily in that all techniques are performed from a standing position. Toyama Ryu has itself been the basis of another modern Ryu: Nakamura Ryu (created by Nakamura Taizaburo; incorporating Noto and Kamae from older Koryu, notably Omori Ryu). It can not be said that the traditional schools are superior to the modern schools, or vice versa, as it has been a long time since swordsmen of differing schools have competed using 'Shinken' (sharp/live blades).

Iaido is used in Soul Calibur III by Setsuka (though described as Battoujutsu), Guilty Gear by Johnny, and Devil May Cry 3 by Vergil .