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The emphasis is on drawing the sword and attacking as quickly as possible. Starting positions can be from combative postures or from everyday sitting or standing positions. Practitioners could expect a surprise attack at any time, and the ability to react quickly from an everyday starting position was considered essential.
The Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu included iaijutsu in its curriculum in 15th century, and first schools dedicated exclusively to sword drawing appeared some time during the late 16th or early 17th century. Most modern schools consider a samurai called Hayashizaki Jinsuke Minamoto no Shigenobu ( 1546- 1621) as the originator of iaido. Not much is known about his life, and some scholars doubt his existence as a historical figure. The two largest schools of iaido that are practised today, Muso Shinden Ryu and Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu , both claim a lineage starting with Hayashizaki.
While not a hard and fast rule, frequently the word iaido is used to refer to the modern self improvement oriented form taught by the All Japan Kendo Federation (AJKF) and other iaido associations while iaijutsu is used for the older, combative techniques of the koryu. The word iaido itself was coined by Nakayama Hakudo in early 20th century. Before that various other names like batto, battojutsu, or saya no uchi were used instead.
The most important part of Iai, sometimes called the 'life of iai', is nukitsuke. This is a very quick draw accomplished by drawing the sword out of the saya (scabbard) while drawing the saya itself back. The blade can be brought out of the scabbard and used in a slashing motion very quickly using nukitsuke.
The two main classical styles ( koryu) of iaido practiced worldwide are Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu and Muso Shinden Ryu. They resemble each other quite strongly because they branched off from one style sometime in the 17th century.
There are several branches of Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu that are practised today. One people who is considered to be a headmaster is Miura Takeyuki Hirefusa, who holds a 9th dan in MJER.
There are several lines of transmission extant for Muso Shinden Ryu also. One of them claims Mitsuzuka Takeshi as the headmaster, second one (those who are affiliated with Nippon Iaido Kyokai) regard Takada Gakudo as their head teacher.
A newer style of iaijutsu is Toyama Ryu battojutsu. This is a style originating in the late 19th century, and taught primarily to officers in the Second World War. It is different from the older styles in the sense that it favors quick and sudden, rather than smooth and deliberate, movements. Neither the older styles nor Toyama ryu can be said to be more effective.
See also: kenjutsuKenjutsu ( Japanese: ) is a classical Japanese martial art, a koryu budo. There are many different schools, with the objective to teach efficient use of the Japanese sword in combat. The practice largely done in the form of kata, and also by actual cuttin, kendoKendo is the martial art of Japanese swordsmanship, developed in the 16th century to unify a large number of different techniques. Since 1975 the concept of Kendo has been stated as "to discipline the human character through the application of the princip