Kibo no Tani Musō Shindenryū Iaido Dojo

Within the JSKI there exists a group of our karate‐]ka, training in Muso Shinden Ryu Iaido. This is because some of our members feel that the art of the Japanese Sword has a definite role to play in their martial art training, as the sword was seen as the soul of the samurai and was therefore a sacred and very respectable weapon. This approach was greatly influenced by their involvement with Abe Keigo sensei who is not only one of the most senior Shotokan karateka alive, but is also a master swordsman. Iaido is a way of defending and attacking with a Japanese sword (katana) and is mostly performed in kata in which attack and defence are prescribed. Because of the danger of injuries, iaido is mostly practised with an imaginary opponent.

Musō Shindenryū is an iaijutsu koryū, which traces its roots back to Hayashizaki Minamoto no Shigenobu (1546 ‐] 1621). At the age of 21 he went to a Shinto shrine and stayed there for 100 days. According to a vision he received in a dream, he developed the batto‐]techniques, where one draws the sword and strikes with a single motion. He called his style Shimmei Muso Ryu. This was the first systematized iai school, although similar fast‐]draw techniques were already used in some of the older schools of kenjutsu. Later, his students named the style Shin Muso Hayashizaki Ryu. It is believed that Hayashizaki himself stressed the spiritual side of training. There is a temple, Hayashizaki‐]Iai‐]Jinja, dedicated to him.

With this foundation of spiritual practice, Musō Shinden‐]ryū as we know it today was born in the early 1900's, founded by Nakayama Hakudō 1869 ‐] 1958, last sōke of the Shimomura branch of Hasegawa Eishinryū. Nakayama Sensei was a man who had dedicated his life to the study of kendo and iai, and he came to the conclusion that the classical arts should be reinterpreted and opened to the general public in order for them to survive in the changing world. He formulated the Musō Shinden‐]ryū katas, initially 10, now 12, seitei kata, using techniques from Omori Ryu and Eishin Ryu. He stressed the importance of sword training, no longer as just a practical art, but as a method of improving oneself. He perceived that the sword was no longer a tool for simply cutting down your enemy, but also a tool for cutting the ego. Something we firmly believe in, in the JSKAGB.