Iaido: drawing the sword, kata and schools

Iaido develops the handling of the Japanese sword through kata: prescribed sequences performed in imagined encounters. A sequence may begin seated or standing and includes drawing, using and resheathing the sword. Practitioners coordinate posture, gaze, breathing and movement, usually performing alone rather than exchanging live sword blows with a partner.

In Mae, the first All Japan Kendo Federation (AJKF) form, the sequence begins seated. Drawing is combined with a horizontal cut, or nukitsuke, followed by a two-handed downward cut. Chiburi represents shaking blood from the blade, and nōtō returns it to the scabbard. Zanshin carries posture and attention beyond the cutting action: the performance does not end at the instant of a cut.

The AJKF manual places Mae in a seated encounter with an opponent in front. The practitioner senses hostile intent and takes the initiative, continuing from the drawing cut into a forward downward cut. That imagined opponent links the starting orientation to the sequence; the horizontal draw is not an isolated display. Chiburi and resheathing belong to the same performance, with attention sustained through the ending. This describes the form’s prescribed situation, rather than an exchange with an actual opponent.

Practitioners commonly wear a training jacket and pleated trousers called hakama, with the scabbard secured by a belt, without the protective armour used for kendō sparring. Practice may use an unsharpened imitation sword; experienced practitioners also use a live blade. Kendō commonly pairs bamboo swords with armour for exchanges, while iaido kata place particular attention on the sheathed starting state, drawing and resheathing.

Fukui Prefecture’s Kendo Federation records an iaido seminar held at Echizen City Budokan on 12 May 2024, taught by two instructors from Ishikawa. With many beginners present, instruction started with basics such as holding the sword, then covered points to observe in the twelve AJKF forms, with teaching adjusted to participants’ experience. This completed event shows differentiated instruction within one seminar. The report does not measure how much each person mastered or establish a syllabus followed by every dōjō.

Iai traditions commonly regard the Sengoku-period swordsman Hayashizaki Jinsuke Shigenobu as an important founder. Schools including Tamiya-ryū, Hōki-ryū and Hasegawa Eishin-ryū developed different forms and methods of transmission. Accounts of Hayashizaki’s life include variant dates and stories of divine instruction. Present-day lineage records provide one way to understand these traditions of transmission.

The sword-wearing prohibition of 1876 disrupted iai schools. The Dai Nippon Butoku Kai, founded in 1895, provided a new institutional setting for martial arts. In the first half of the twentieth century, Nakayama Hakudō studied iai transmitted in Tosa and developed his research and teaching into the foundation of Musō Shinden-ryū. Transmission continued through modern teaching and demonstration as well as inherited forms.

The National Iaido Federation’s school introduction describes Nakayama Hakudō studying under Hosokawa Yoshimasa, drawing the initial curriculum from Ōmori-ryū and the middle curriculum from Hasegawa Eishin-ryū, and developing seated and standing work into the advanced inner teachings. These are different levels within the curriculum. The account makes reorganisation concrete: inherited material was arranged within one school’s teaching structure. It remains an organisation’s description of a particular school, rather than a curriculum shared by all iai traditions.

Postwar martial arts passed through restrictions and institutional rebuilding. The All Japan Iaido Federation was founded in 1954 and established five Tōhō forms in 1956 as a common framework across schools. Iaido also entered the All Japan Kendo Federation’s activities in 1956. The National Iaido Federation was founded in 1976. School transmission and federation-wide teaching thus form overlapping organisational relationships.

The first All Japan Iaido Championships in 1966 introduced refereed competition. To provide a shared basis for training and evaluation across schools, the AJKF established seven forms in 1969, added three in 1980 and two in 2000, making twelve. Some forms begin seated, either in seiza or in iaihiza, a posture with the left knee down and right knee raised; others begin standing. This shared curriculum exists alongside study of classical schools.

Competitors perform kata separately rather than attacking each other. At the 2024 All Japan tournament, each performed five forms within six minutes: two classical-school forms followed by three designated AJKF forms. Three referees assessed matters including etiquette, technique, posture and attitude, signalling their decisions with flags. Speed is only one part of the performance; accuracy and control also matter.

The AJKF’s published iaido rules require both practical and written assessment for first through third dan. Practical criteria include correct clothing and etiquette, drawing and cutting, chiburi and its angle, and resheathing. Five examiners assess these grades, with at least three agreeing for a pass. The question is whether the performance meets the relevant grade’s requirements, rather than which of two competitors should receive a winning flag. Higher grades have additional criteria and different arrangements; this panel size and set of criteria do not apply to every rank.

Federations also assess progress through grading performances, with ranks and teaching titles organised within their own systems. The assessment system itself requires oversight. In a 2018 statement, the AJKF acknowledged two substantiated cases of improper money transfers concerning title and rank examinations, described disciplinary action and pledged further reform.