iaido - sword art
Here is a demonstration of iaido, the Japanese sword art, by Tomas Ohlsson from our dojo Enighet, held in 2004 on a Samurai exhibition at a museum in Malmo, Sweden.
Tomas is very accomplished at iaido. He has won several medals in Swedish and European Iaido Championships. I was his first teacher of iaido, and I was quite proud to see him grow out of the need of my instructions.
I made the filming and the cutting. It looks like a two camera filming, but was actually shot at two separate demonstrations. Tomas repeated the demonstration every hour, so I filmed it twice, from different angles.
He changed his program somewhat between the shows,so some forms (kata) I only had from one angle.
He was doing several Seitei iai forms, and also some ko-ryu.
Here is my aikibatto and swordart website:
http://www.stenudd.com/aikibatto/
Here is my aikibatto book:
http://www.stenudd.com/aikibatto/aikibattobook.htm
Here is my aikido book:
http://www.stenudd.com/aikido/aikidobook.htm
Duration : 0:7:50
Posted on May 31st, 2007 |
Filed under: Portugal 2004
The balance of the …
The balance of the sword is important. A smooth curve to it, and a good balance, makes a heavy sword easier to handle. There is much more to be said about the matter, of course, but no room for it here.
I think this …
I think this iaidoka fellow use a very short sword (according his heigth) and for that reason it could be very easy to swing in that speed. anyway, is better doing right than doing fast, so never be worried to do slow, always considering the tempo in the kata of course. If you have the chance to see a Taikai (8th Dan tournament in Japan) you can see that the sensei do the kata no so fast but very perfect!!!
A katana should …
A katana should have its centre of gravity a couple of inches above the tsuba, I seem to recall. This makes for a blade that is fairly easily handled but can still cut well. If yours have its balance too far out on the blade it will feel awkward. Most display swords tend to be too front-heavy.
Having said that, I understand that there is a fad for slightly lighter swords in modern iaido, so you might have a point anyway.
Oh, and I agree with what you’ve all said.
The 8 dans are …
The 8 dans are usually quite old…
There is no point in hurrying to be fast. On the other hand, there is no special point to being slow. The original idea of iai and batto, was to draw the sword and strike, before the attacker completed the attack. Speed is part of it.
About sword length, there seems to be a growing fondness for very long swords. I compare it to the slowness ideal…
I understand the …
I understand the point of the speed of the kata.
Thank you for explained Aikidostenudd, just a last comment… here, mr Tomas Ohlson is puting the kisaki under the horizontal line when the kirioroshi begins.
Heres an good …
Heres an good example of mixing seitei with koryo. His every cut is made way below appropriate point, and so is his kaburi. Is´nit better to teach him koryo, than to make him guess and mix? Its not allowed to mix the two styles. Seitei is just practicing the motions. Koryo is the old style of iai. Its a must to separate those two. Everybody else have to, even the most prominent of practitioner.
Heres an good …
Heres an good example of mixing seitei with koryo. His every cut is made way below appropriate point, and so is his kaburi. Is´nit better to teach him koryo, than to make him guess and mix? Its not allowed to mix the two styles. Seitei is just practicing the motions. Koryo is the old style of iai. Its a must to separate those two. Everybody else have to, even the most prominent of practitioner.
Zordracc, you have …
Zordracc, you have little hesitation…
I would not say that Tomas was guessing. And “allowed” by whom? And koryu is not one style. And Seitei is not just practicing the motions. And Tomas knows to separate between different schools of iai, of course. And so on.
There is no way for …
There is no way for me to explain all this to you here, but if you do not know this, or do not believe what im saying is true, then its best to leave it at that.
But i have to make an correction here. Not every cut was to low, but at least 60% was, and that say some things about the teacher to the iaidoka.
And one thing, if you do any koryo (as he did) you have to greet to sword in koryostyle.
Thank you for reading!
When you join a …
When you join a dojo to practice this art, does the dojo have a means of procuring a blade for you? i.e. points you in the direction to buy the right blade? I know little about this, yet am eager to actually go out to practice it.
I am sure that your …
I am sure that your dojo can give you advice about what sword to buy. I recently posted some information about buying a sword on my aikibatto website. See the link in “About this video” to the right of this video clip.
Thanks, I looked it …
Thanks, I looked it through. Talk about insane prices!
Steady hands …
Nicely done.
Steady hands partner.
Do you go live …
Do you go live blade when you demonstrate?
very nice noto
very nice noto
Live blades are …
Live blades are rarely - if ever - used in iaido. They use what’s called an iaito, if memory serves. Don’t remember off the top of my head what the difference is.
Iaito usually have …
Iaito usually have blunted edges for safety, and the blades are usually a zinc alloy that is somewhat lighter than a regular steel blade.
not sure about him …
not sure about him but most people dont
apart from …
apart from tamishuri spelt wrong you use (shinkens live blade)
Ross, where are you …
Ross, where are you looking, and at what blades? theres a lot of functional blades at extremely reasonable prices, have a look at what it takes to make a blade and think about the prices…
Paul chens, bugeis, last legends, musashi’s etc.
But no dojo will recommend a shinken to a beginner, In my school my sensei didn’t even own one, one part of the philosophy I don’t aggree with really.
I wish you luck in finding a dojo without all the internal politics that can come with it sometimes.
This is some realy …
This is some realy nice iaido.
i myself train …
i myself train Iaido ZNKR and i gotta give an fellow Iaidoka some critic otherwise i would feel bad
i saw some misstakes like you are very fast slow down think about Hakuryoku and Johakyu.. show more felling more KI and you dip your sword in most of the katas. improve
tell that to Thomas …
tell that to Thomas please ^^
I think I just wait …
I think I just wait for you to show him
This is top quality …
This is top quality. I’ve learnt a few sword forms as part of my jujitsu training. It’s a really hard area to even be reasonable at. Loved the vid.