It would be difficult for the swordsman using either of these two postures to go quickly into action in an emergency. Seiza, the formal kneeling-sitting posture, is a "dead" posture which is regarded by the warrior as less combatively efficient.The seated posture, tate-hiza, does not permit all-around mobility.Two other postures are not used in iaijutsu because they possessed technical issues that would place their users at a disadvantage: The second is the standing posture named tachi-ai.The first technique is the low crouching posture named iai-goshi. Draeger, iaijutsu is a combative art and, therefore, the warrior considered only two starting positions in the execution of a sword-drawing technique: Iaijutsu is extant today, but there also exists a modern form for drawing the Japanese sword called iaido, a term which first appeared in 1932.Īccording to Donn F. In this connection it is believed that kenjutsu, which deals with the art of swordsmanship as it is performed with an unsheathed sword, is the preceding form of iaijutsu. The earliest reliable documentation to prove that the bushi practiced swordsmanship in a systematic manner is dated in the 15th century. It was with the general widespread use of the curved sword mounted and worn as a katana that classical Japanese swordsmanship for infantry applications really begins. By the end of the Kamakura period the tachi was superseded by a shorter weapon in a new form, called katana. The nature of the bushi's combative deployment, mounted as he was on horseback, required the classical warrior to reach out for his enemy, who might either be similarly mounted or otherwise ground-deployed.ĭuring the Kamakura period (1185–1333) the Japanese sword smiths achieved the highest level of technical excellence and because the war between two influential families, the Minamoto and the Taira, made it possible to test and evaluate swords under the severest of conditions. Around the curved long sword the bushi built a mystique of fantastic dimensions, one that still influences Japanese culture today. : 8 It evolved from and gained ascendancy over its straight-bladed prototype because years of battlefield experience proved that the curved form of sword was better suited to the needs of the bushi than the straight-bladed kind. In its curved form, the sword is known to the Japanese as tachi in the eighth century. The development of Japanese swordsmanship as a component system of classical bujutsu created by and for professional warriors ( bushi), begins only with the invention and widespread use of the Japanese sword, the curved, single-cutting-edged long sword. : 4 The Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) and the Nihon Shoki (History of Japan), ancient texts on early Japanese history and myth that were compiled in the eighth century A.D., describe iron swords and swordsmanship that pre-date recorded history, attributed to the mythological age of the gods ( kami). History Īrchaeological excavations dated the oldest sword in Japan from at least as early as second century B.C. 1488), founder of the school Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū. The term 'iaijutsu' was first verified in connection with Iizasa Chōisai Ienao (c. The Japanese sword has existed since the Nara period (710–794), where techniques to draw the sword have been practiced under other names than 'iaijutsu'. It is also unclear when techniques to draw katana from the scabbard were first practiced as a dedicated form of exercise. Historically, it is unclear when the term "iaijutsu" originated. : 14, 50 The formulation of iaijutsu as a component system of classical bujutsu was made less for the dynamic situations of the battlefield than for the relatively static applications of the warrior's daily life off the field of battle. Iaijutsu technique may be used aggressively to wage a premeditated surprise attack against an unsuspecting enemy. Iaijutsu is a combative sword-drawing art but not necessarily an aggressive art because iaijutsu is also a counterattack-oriented art. This art of drawing the Japanese sword, katana, is one of the Japanese koryū martial art disciplines in the education of the classical warrior ( bushi). Iaijutsu ( 居合術) is a combative quick-draw sword technique. Combative quick-draw sword technique Iaijutsu
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