, often translated roughly as the "art of mental presence and immediate reaction", is the Japanese martial art of drawing the sword. At least one author makes the distinction that, strictly speaking, iaijutsu consists exclusively of the portion of combat where the sword is drawn, and that any further techniques are technically classified as
kenjutsu, meaning "the art of the sword", is a term for classical Japanese sword arts , in particular those which predate the Meiji Restoration...
.
It is unclear exactly when the term "iaijutsu" first came into use, or when exactly drawing the
katanaA Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. These are categorised in several types according to size and method of manufacture...
from its scabbard first became practiced as a discrete martial art.
Discussion
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, often translated roughly as the "art of mental presence and immediate reaction", is the Japanese martial art of drawing the sword. At least one author makes the distinction that, strictly speaking, iaijutsu consists exclusively of the portion of combat where the sword is drawn, and that any further techniques are technically classified as
kenjutsu, meaning "the art of the sword", is a term for classical Japanese sword arts , in particular those which predate the Meiji Restoration...
.
History
It is unclear exactly when the term "iaijutsu" first came into use, or when exactly drawing the
katanaA Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. These are categorised in several types according to size and method of manufacture...
from its scabbard first became practiced as a discrete martial art. Hayashizaki Jinsuke Shigenobu (c.1546–c.1621), the founder of
Musō Shinden-ryūis a iaijutsu koryū founded by Nakayama Hakudō , last sōke of the Shimomura branch of Hasegawa Eishin-ryū. It is to Musō Shinden-ryū and its curriculum that most persons refer to by the term "iaidō", as this term was coined and popularized by Nakayama....
, is generally credited with the invention of iaijutsu, but this is contrary to the account of Iizasa Chōisai Ienao (c.1387–c.1488), who devised a system of drawing the sword and founded the
Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryūis one of the oldest extant Japanese martial arts, and an exemplar of koryū bujutsu. The Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū was founded by Iizasa Ienao, born 1387 in Iizasa village , who was living near Katori Shrine at the time...
100 years earlier.
Nevertheless, Hayashizaki is still given enormous credit as an exponent of iaijutsu, having through his teaching influenced the founding of over 200 schools of swordsmanship.
Practice
Iaijutsu was developed for the specific combative purpose of defending oneself, not on the battlefield, but in everyday life. A central feature of iaijutsu is, therefore, drawing the sword from several traditional sitting postures, including
seiza Seiza is the Japanese term for the traditional formal way of sitting in Japan.-Form:To sit seiza-style, one first kneels on the floor, folding one's legs underneath one's thighs, while resting the buttocks on the heels...
,
iai-goshi, and
tate-hiza. Techniques from a standing posture (
tachi-ai) are also studied. Additionally, with the emphasis upon defense during daily life, it was also generally assumed that combatants would be armed with a katana worn "edge-up" and thrust through a sash around the waist, and that combatants would be fighting unarmored. These assumptions result in a drastically different approach to combat than when combatants are armored and fighting on the battlefield.