Iai-do History

Almost all Iai schools were derived from a common mythological founder, named Jushin (or Shigenobu, HAYASHIZAKI Jinsuke, etc). Muso Shinden is also one of the successors of Jushin style. HAYASHIZAKI Shigenobu appeared circa 1560-1570, devised some forms of sword-drawing arts (i.e., Batto Jutsu, an alternative Japanese name of Iai) for the first time.

We would regard Iai as a dance, a sport, or a spiritual training, but until recently it has been a real technique for assassination, or defence from opponents, characterised by the sudden and quick manipulation of the sword. We know that today’s Iai styles have been modified a lot since it was first established. Also the commercial movies, TV shows, comics, dramas, and street performance could be the source of our confusion and misunderstanding.

You hear some times that the Japanese Martial Arts are based on manners and etiquettes, starting with respect and ending also with respect. But at least in the days of the Civil Wars, rudeness was a more preferable virtue than such politeness. The final winner, Shogun Ieyasu, ceased the civil war state of Japan by the middle of the 17th century. Some new styles of Iai arts were introduced and merged together.

In almost all cases the assassins supposed to be sent on a mission to the enemies’ house. The guest would make his best effort to persuade, disarm, or arrest the host.

It was of course a dangerous task. When the host would refuse or resist, the guest should use force to complete the mission, as well as to defend himself. These situations seem very common even in the peace period of Edo, so the arts of Iai would have still developed, or at least maintained. Some also liked to preserve and inherit the techniques in a style of the art.

The guest and host would be sitting and talking to each other face to face (the original meaning of “Iai” comes from this situation, “I” in “Iai” means sitting, and “ai” means facing). The sudden attack is sometimes effective when the opponents are relaxing or not facing directly, e.g. when bowing or saying goodbye…

The living style was also over formalized in the Edo period. The manner of daily life (known as “Ogasawara” style rooted from the former period of Muromachi) describing how to eat, drink, walk, enter and leave the room, open and close the door, sit down and stand up, became very common among Samurai’s. Even ordinary people started using the “Tatami” flooring in their houses and sitting on it in “Seiza” (formal sitting) pose.

Needless to say, this change affected the Iai styles. Older sitting pose is more relaxing and physically easy, but newer Iai styles adopted the “seiza” pose. It means we could distinguish original forms from the newly invented ones observing the sitting poses.
The name “Iai” may have occurred after Seiza sitting on the soft Tatami floor became popular in the Edo period.

Eishin (or HASAGAWA Hidenobu) was supposed to be a quite important reformer of Shigenobu style in the middle 18th century. Later, Omori style was introduced into Eishin style, which became a mixture of various styles, including sitting, standing, and Seiza forms. This was the direct ancestor of “Muso Shinden” and “Muso Jikiden” (or”Muso Jikiden Eishin”) styles. “Muso Shinden” and “Muso Jikiden” are quite similar.