Iaido Tora-Ryu

Iaido is an ancient, classical, mystical, philosophical, and traditional art. It can be said that it is the art that goes hand in hand with Japanese culture, because since the beginning of the clan wars in Japan, the use of the Katana or Daito was very popular and indispensable for the defense of the individual.
We can define Iaido in its maximum expression as:
THE ART OF PERFECTING THE INDIVIDUAL TO REACH ENLIGHTENMENT THROUGH THE CORRECT HANDLING OF THE JAPANESE SWORD. It is generally defined as "The art of quickly unsheathing the Japanese sword".
The Samurai had the necessity to use his sword to defend himself against one or more adversaries, for which he had to be accurate in drawing and responding immediately to his personal defense.
Iaido was originally known as Iaijutsu, since it was an art of war and in which an individual would be left lifeless after an encounter with another adversary, we are talking about this Jutsu 400 years ago in the XIV century approximately. It is attributed as the founder of Iaido to Master SHIGENOBU HAYASHIZAKI between the years 1560 to 1570.

About the author

This article was written by Ligia Sosa, one of our in-house Budo historians dedicated to research and document the different ways Japanese Martial Arts came to America.