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** Saturdays with Iai
The complete Schedule of the new year practice will be published after September opening, as well as the calendar of the Saturday Iaido Class.
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Download the PDF of the practice's week schedule. Year 2007/2008.
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IAIDO and Muso Shinden Ryu
(Abstracts from the book of Malcolm T. Shewan, Iai, the Art of Japanese Swordsmanship, © Ed. E.I.F. Cannes 1983)
"The sword is perhaps not the most ancient weapon of Japan, but it was the most sophisticated one, and for a number of centuries occupied the central and most important position in the martial training of the Bushi".
"Most historians agree that the first appearance of the shape and style of the blade which we call the Nippon-To took place somewhere n the early 8th century. This development is legendarily attributed to a smith by the name of Amakuni who lived in the province of Yamato".
Malcolm Tiki Shewan - Photo EIF
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"The Nippon-To is called the soul of the Bushi. It was the symbol of everything that he represented and he was never without it: he lived by it, and he died by it. Further it allied his whole being, in the most intimate way possible, to the question of life and death. He was faced with the necessity of transcending the ordinary concept of life and death and this state of mind was called "Seishi O Choetsu". It was this internal struggle which brought about a change of inner attitude and this gave to the sword a double purpose: the external one of cutting down that which opposed the will of its owner himself, and the internal one of cutting through the Ego of the owner himself, and thus enabling him to attain a spiritual awakening. In this way the sword came to symbolise moral qualities such as Loyalty, Self-sacrifice, Honour, Sincerity, Justice and Courage.
The use of the sword was initiated under two principal headings: KENJUTSU and IAIJUTSU".
"Kenjutsu is the method of handling a sword once it is drawn and out of the scabbard". "laijutsu is, specifically, the art of drawing the sword and making an effective cut, in one and the same motion". "The development of lai, or Batto-jutsu, is generally attributed today to Hayashizaki Jinsuke Shigenobu, but the fact that he lived in the late 16th. and early 17th. century would make it seem inordinately late for the discovery of such an important technical advantage. It is safer to conclude that lai had already been in existence for an indeterminate period of time, prior to Hayashizaki Jinsuke, and that it developed in conjunction with the various styles of Kenjutsu ; and that it was Jinsuke who became its principal innovator and his efforts in this field made the real value of the quick-draw known on a wider scale than ever before".
Karl Heinz Reiter - Carisolo 2005
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"It was not until 20th century that the term laido came into use and that its practice came to be considered as a discipline its own right, among other Budo". "There exists a basic difference in that, in the practice of lai-jutsu, the important point was to develop combat effectiveness above all else, while in the practice of lai-do, the spiritual and moral development of the individual comes first, and, theoretically, effectiveness is secondary. Otake Risuke, in his book on the Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu, defines lai-jutsu: "lai-Jutsu is an art with which to kill an enemy". Many people today ignore this reminder about the origins of the art and content themselves with the execution of beautiful, but too often, empty "figures".
"The discipline of lai-do was introduced by certain individuals who understood that the sword and the art of drawing the sword could become instruments by which the spiritual development of a man might be undertaken. t is in this way that the concept of Seishi Tanren, or literally, forging of the spirit, introduces a situation where by the technical methods required to attain the spiritual enlightenment of the individual may or may not be the same as those dictated by the necessity for combat effectiveness. The attainment of one method is no guarantee of the attainment of the second, but neither does one exclude the other. Because of this fact, the student of laido, must somehow bring together within himself, through proper understanding, the seemingly opposite aspects of this martial art as a means of defeating and adversary on the one hand, and as a way to spiritual development on the other".
The Muso Shinden Ryu
"The founder of what is today known as the Muso Shinden Ryu, was a man named Hojo Jinsuke Shigenobu, or, Hayashizaki Jinsuke Shigenobu. His life is rather obscure, and many stories have been invented concerning this man. We know that he was born in the province of Sagami (Shoshu) somewhere in the middle of the 16th century. It is not known just exactly how good a swordsman he actually was, but he did study swordsmanship intensively from about 1596-1601, and, thereafter, devised a series of lai techniques which he called Batto-Jutsu. His style came to be known by various different names : Junpaku Den, Hayashizaki Ryu, Shin Muso Hayashizaki Ryu, Shigenobu Ryu, etc. The exact techniques that he taught remain as obscure as his own life,but it is more or less agreed that they must have been relatively simple, practical, and highly combative, in their essence". "Under his pioneering influence, many different schools of Iai emerged".
"After his death, the tradition of the Shinmuso Hayashizaki Ryu was carried on by Tamiya Taira-no-Hyoe Narimasa who, it is said, was teacher to Tokugawa leyasu, Hidetada and lemitsu (The Tokugawa Shogunate during Edo Period - TN). Tamiya Narimasa was followed by:
- Nagano Murakusai Kinro, 3rd Sokei;
- Momo Gumbei Mitsushige, 4th Sokei;
- Arikawa Shozaemon Munetsugu, 5th Sokei;
- Manno Danuemon Nobusada, 6th Sokei.
The seventh Sokei was Hasegawa Chikara no Suke Eishin. He studied Hayashizaki Ryu under Nobusada, in Edo, during the Kyoho period (1716-1735), and he gained the reputation of being an exceptionally highly skilled swordsman. It is said that he transformed many techniques, and that it was he, who devised the style, where techniques were performed with the cutting-edge upwards in the obi. He took his style back to the province of Tosa and called it Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu, and there it was preserved up until modern times.
The 9th Sokei Hayashi Rokudayu Morimasa was a vassal of Yamanouchi Toyomasa, 4th Hanshu (chief of a province), and while living in Edo, he studied Eishin Ryu lai under the 8th Sokei Arai Seitatsu. He also studied Shinkage Ryu under the direction of Omori Rokuro Saemon Masamitsu. This man had devised a method of lai, which was praticed from the seiza position (Zashiki), and he taught it to Hayashi Morimasa, who later incorporated it into Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu. This is what is known today as Shoden Omori Ryu.
After the 11th Sokei, there is a split in the teachings, and two branches were created the Shimomura branch (Shimomura-ha) and the Tanimura branch (Tanimura- ha). The 16th Sokei of the Shimomura-ha, was Nakayama Hakudo Sensei. He studied Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu in the province of Tosa, under the direction of Hosokawa Yoshimasa, 15th, Sokei of the Shimomura-ha, as well as, with Morimoto Tokumi, 17th Sokei of Tanimura-ha. In 1933 he adopted the name Muso Shinden Ryu Batto-Jutsu for his teachings, and they steadily grew in popularity, thanks to his own unceasing efforts and the steady devotion of his disciples".
The European Iai Federation
http://www.fei-iai.ch/ |
