Mindfulness was just another buzzword for me before I started practicing Iaido. Iaido is a Japanese sword art. When you begin, you may be practicing with a wooden sword, a bokken. Then gradually you progress to a metal practice sword, an Iato. An Iato mimics the structure, length, and partial heft of a real sword, but is not sharp.
And no, Iaido is not just a swing it around, slash ’em up festival of combat. Your opponent is literally yourself. Your mindfulness, agility, awareness of your environment, and bodily poise are all elements that make up a successful Kata. It has sometimes been described as a cerebral martial art.
I started at age fifty and progressed through the ranks. Over fifteen years, I progressed to the level of San Dan ( third degree black belt). At the San Dan level, you begin to approach passage into the sensei ranks ( teacher) with fourth Dan. In preparation for this, you are encouraged to acquire an actual samurai sharp steel blade.
An actual Japanese blade is a work of art. And no, I am not talking about some cheap “dojo banger” purchased off the internet for fifty bucks. They are called shinken, which roughly translates to spirit blades, but mainly in English we’d say “live blade”. The blades are exquisitely sharp and will cut you on any short inattention. And they’ll cut deep.
The transition to the live blade was reasonably easy for me. But then, part of the practice of Iaido from the beginning is a respect for the blade, extreme situational awareness, and mindfulness.
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Oddly enough Lou, I find this very fascinating! I would think it should be more cerebral than strength. Discipline is another word that comes to mind when undertaking something like this. WOW!
Glad you liked it. My arthritis has limitd my practice but I still practice some kata every week. It helps maintain my flexibility and fights off the arthritis/
Happy new year
Mindfulness is especially important where danger exists, and my life has shown me that can be anywhere.
And that is the lesson in Iaido as well. A samurai walking peacefully down the street, and suddenly you are attacked. You don’t get ready for it. You are already prepared for its eventuality/
My big lesson this year…
Hey…just in case you meet a drunken samurai on the street when You go to the clinic. You’ll know what to do! Bonzai!
🤺
ooh… I am so intrigued by this! I don’t think there’s anything like this near me but I’m going to to look!
I don’t know where you are, but frequently Kendo dojos also teach Iaido because they are allied arts. If you are serious, you might contact our parent organization https://www.auskf.org/home (all united states kendo federation) they may be able to point you to a dojo.
Respect. As it should be.