Iaido - Drawing The Japanese Sword

Hi all!

As many people never heared of IAIDO, I thought it would be a nice idea to introduce it to you.

In short Iaido is a martial art for drawing the japanese Sword. As japanese Swords (Katana) a extremely dangerous weapons, all practitioners are using blunt edges swords. Everything on the sword is identical to a "real sharp edged" sword, except the blade. This makes Iaido a very safe art.

In practice we do not only "draw and sheath" the sword. We perform so called Kata.
Kata are complex patterns of movements.
In contrast to iaido, Kendo emphasis on sparring using a bamboo sword, which means full contact. In Iaido we never fight against someone else. We "fight against" ourselfs. All Iaido Katas are derived from real Sword fighting back in the Samurai age in Japan.
One important fact about Iaido techniques is, that they were designed to defeat the enemy quickly, unsheathing the sword and cutting in one motion. I started to pratice Iaido when I lived in Japan, and when I came back I luckily found a club in my city

I will add more information soon

Some pics of my Sword, which is a custom made sword (made in japan !)