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Who's Who in
Iaido
Fukui Torao
Ikeda Takashi Seiko
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Ancient Art of Drawing
Sword
History of Iaido
 (Andrej
Diamantstein)
Iaidō (居合道),
approximately "the way of mental presence and immediate reaction",
is a Japanese martial art associated with smooth, controlled
movements of drawing the sword from its scabbard, striking or
cutting an opponent, removing blood from the blade, and then
replacing the sword in the scabbard. Modern day iaidō exponents
typically use a blunted metal practice sword (iaitō) for practice,
especially among beginners, while many advanced practitioners use a
sharpened sword (shinken).
In the book "Bugei Ryuha
Daijiten" by Watatani Kiyoshi and Yamada Tadashi, Hayashizaki
Jinsuke (Minamoto no) Shigenobu is credited with establishing the
influence and popularity of iaidō, early in the sixteenth century.
However, around a century before his birth, the dynamic art of
iaijutsu had been developed by Iizasa Ienao, the founder of the
Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū.
Iaidō should not be confused with kendo or kenjutsu:
* Kendo teaching does not include
drawing and re-sheathing of a sword. The main weapon used in kendo,
a flexible bamboo sword (shinai), uses no scabbard. Kendo is
practiced with a partner in full contact training or in forms (kata)
practice.
* Kenjutsu is generally practiced with a partner, in the form of
predetermined routines, and often does include drawing or
resheathing of the sword.
Delineation from battōjutsu, literally meaning "technique of drawing
the sword" is more difficult: battōjutsu is the historical (ca. 15th
century) term encompassing both the practice of drawing the sword
and cutting (tameshigiri). The term iaijutsu (居合術) became prevalent
later (ca. 17th century), and the current term iaidō is due to the
general trend (stemming from gendai budō) to replace the suffix -jutsu
with -dō in Japanese martial arts in order to emphasize a
philosophical or spiritual component. In contemporary usage,
battōjutsu focuses on the techniques of cutting, with individual
practice that starts with the sword in the sheath.
Iaidō forms (kata) are performed individually against one or more
imaginary opponents. Some traditional iaido schools, however,
include kata performed in pairs. Some styles and schools also do not
practice tameshigiri, cutting techniques.
The primary emphasis in iaido is on the psychological state of being
present (居). The secondary emphasis is on drawing the sword and
responding to the sudden attack as quickly as possible (合). 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 iaido, is nukitsuke or the life of iai.
This is a very quick draw accomplished by drawing the sword out of
the saya by moving the saya back in saya biki. The blade may be
brought out of the saya and used in a quick nukitsuke slashing
motion.
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