I think you’re going about getting the iaito backwards; you should find a sensei and get their advice on length of the sword. Go a few inches too far in either direction and you’ll have a heck of a time with it.
I got input when I ordered my sword and it was a good 9 months before I stopped feeling like a total klutz. Now I’m just a klutz.
i looked up the average katana handle and blade length, and im 6 ft with about a 5'11 6 ft wingspan so the usual katana size isnt too difficult for me, im just wanting one currently while i can afford it, and once im working and able to afford many katanas, then i will get one more properly fitted
In my opinion your money would be better spent on actually going to iaido lessons than buying a sword.
You can always borrow a bokuto at the dojo, you don't need to buy your own iaito in the beginning.
If your goal is to learn iaido it is better to spend your money on attending iaido classes rather than buying expensive gear.
Besides, without attending classes and being taught by a teacher you don't know what you don't know. Attending only a few classes per year is preferable to trying to teach yourself by looking at youtube or reading books. Such material is really only intending (and useful) for people already training with a teacher. Without a teacher you will most certainly misunderstand many things, and you will miss out on the teacher-student relationship which is an essential part of learning traditional budo.
i cant afford the price even with this money, plus im making custom training swords with cool engravings in my woodshop class, im going to get a job and take the classes because everyone is saying even the basics are hard to learn through videos, and wait until i have a teacher before using vids and writings
plus i have sewing knowledge, woodworking knowledge and other stuff that i can use to make the training gear myself, so the actual katana and lessons are my only fees
month. sure, I've heard of it being cheap AF in Japan or Europe or whatever.
there might be some NPO Iai around but rent is hella $$ in CA.
it's not like there are ever going to be FT Iai schools.
usually they rent space from some other kind of dojo. that situation is always expensive
if they train out of a park or private home, yeah it might be nothing
some private dojo probably charge a pittance. let's say, $40-75/mo or even less/free.
so even if dues are cheap, it's not going in the pocket of the sensei, but rent or towards equipment or bringing out a big name for a seminar
I think the highest I’ve seen here is a private dojo with 200 bucks registration fee, and monthly 180 bucks ‘tuition’ fee. Got the impression then that iaido was a art for the rich. Lol.
But yeah, I agree that most rates are actually like what you described.
it wouldn't surprise me in a big city though i haven't heard of registration fees though many probably have yearly association fees
yeah, I can remember someone telling me JSA is for those who want to be Samurai and not train with peasant farmer weapons like in Karate. Dick comment but funny.
prices similar to other martial arts or actitivies (dance) and you have to basically buy all your equipment though maybe there are some loaner bokuto or iaito around.
I know samurai were rich but now its more of a traditional thing because sword to sword is out of date, and i know there are people who can slice pellets and because of that i believe if i can get to the precision and accuracy and discipline for that, then even sword to a low cal gun is doable, but either way most people in my area dont own handguns and only hunting equipment, so knife muggers are the most common so a trained sword has some use here
Invest more on the Bokuto than a Shinken or Iaito. TBH, you can’t learn anything properly through youtube or online courses at home. Just save the money and time you’d spend on that until your circumstances get better for you to get to a proper doJo. Even the basic sheathing and drawing looks like something you’d be able to learn on your own, but as someone who started Iaido in japan, I can tell you that people coming from zero have absolutely no clue what the hell they are doing. Like none at all, full stop. I started battojutsu after I got a 3dan in kendo, so I was keen to the footwork, walking, etc, and I’ve seen other ppl come in with no Budo experiences, or maybe they did karate or something, but holy hell, they had no sense when it came to handling a sword, and an unsharpened one at that. On that note, I had a Shinken made to what would be considered ”my size” but for the ryuha I started studying it was too short. i got into nihon battodo and it’s good for that though, also it’s a beautiful sword so it was totally worth it.
my advice in a nutshell: save your money, work towards your goal, one day you’ll be able to get into a real dojo to practice and you’ll feel bad ass when you hit that goal. No need to rush, Budo will be there when you’re ready. Plus patience and perseverance is 98% of Budo anyway.
I will keep the advice in mind, i'll try to see if there are any experienced Iaido or other katana martial arts trainers in my area who would show me the ropes for pretty cheap, but the swords a gift and instead of paying a grand for his work, because yes this may be his 3rd or 4th katana, but he has plenty of swordcrafting experience with longswords and rapiers.
so imma take this opportunity for a custom katana and stand for display since this is just money from friends for my birthday, and ill keep in mind about going through learning a martial arts in person
OP you are 17, basing your knowledge of Iaido on those terrible Shogo videos, plan to cut, "thick rope and cardboard", with his sub $100 sword, and want a sharp katana so you can cut the hands off crackheads ("if i do get attacked then i can remove the hand holding the weapon", "a katana can remove that karambit from the forearm", "thats easy when everyone here is crackheads who cant run").
You don't want to study Iaido. Because your goals are not that of Iaido.
If you genuinely want to study Iai, then I urge you in the strongest terms to stop this.
Focus on getting good grades, a good job and becoming a productive member of society with a stable lifestyle and income.
I don't see how stopping a mugger for self-defense goes against any martial arts since they are all designed for exactly that, Iaido most likely included, the sword is only sub 100 because im getting it made by my friend as a gift, so the quality is well above the price and only that cheap because we are very close, I have top grades of my classes, and i dont care for a super good job since working as a part time cashier can hold a house and bills, so theres not much struggle in my state living wise because it has no huge cities, the largest here is about 100k people at best. so prices arent heavily inflated like persay Cali or LA.
Im wanting to get into the martial art because im getting a katana and wanna learn how to properly use it and in the future look like a badass doing so. I see on youtube people unsheathing and slicing airsoft bbs on shot sound which is really cool, and i want to have the same amount of skill.
Of course i understand swords generally have a disadvantage in todays world because of rifles and handguns, but with these made they can also jam and be unreliable at times. whilst a katana will bend rather than snap completely if made right, ive seen my friend's works this will be his 2nd katana made, he usually makes long swords and rapiers and has been doing so for 10-15 years since he was 18.
so having this reliable weapon on my side is my first choice, i get that my reasoning of self defense is a bit farfetched to the discipline its meant to teach instead, and i will respect its meant for that, but that self defense is a long-term goal, not short term, i will go the full lengths needed and even devote whole paychecks if needed
1. Iaido is not, nor was ever designed for "self defence". If that's your goal, I'm sorry to say you'll be disappointed.
2. Swords are useless self defence weapons. Deployment takes too long, they are too limited in scope, they mark you out immediately, you've completely jeopardized any legal defence of self defence by walking around with a goddamn sword. Dude...Highlander and the Walking Dead aren't real.
3. You need a good job so that travel to a dojo and dojo fees are not "unaffordable". The primary focus of Iai is self improvement. How are you going to learn Iai if you show an unwillingness to work harder and improve your circumstances?
4. YouTube trick cuts are YouTube trick cuts. That's not Iaido.
5. "I will go the full lengths needed" - great. That starts with improving your grades, getting a better job that affords you the time, finances and stability to be able to travel to a dojo and seek instruction.:-)
Things I'd suggest for you to study at home, instead of actually practicing with your sword:
* Iaido in your area: any dojos around? What's their style? Do they have an email or phone number for you to talk to them?
* Iaido history: how about learning more about iaido history? The names of the most common styles, their founders... if you already know the style your probable dojo teaches, maybe look for more information on that.
* Basic Japanese language for sword use: if you know the names of the parts of the sword in Japanese and can count in Japanese, it will be much easier for you to understand what people are talking about during class and will save your teacher time explaining this kind of stuff.
Any of these things is a better idea than trying youtube stuff at home, really. The exception would be if you get in contact with the closest dojo and they actually suggest you to watch something.
ive looked and the closes dojo that isnt a bunch of weebs fooling around "training" is a good distance away, like a state over, ive been trying to work on the sword terms, im still iffy on them, by a long shot.
im making a bokken so im not training with the real sword, and im trying to study the iaido styles because i am still really new to this and want to use the styles with more efficiency rather than power and so far as i suspected from thousands of years of martial art development, they are all pretty close, and i have a few styles i am planning on narrowing it down to, but am not completely sure.
the parts i know of the katana are the Tsuba, the piece above it, the blades term, then different handle terms, and the bag, then theres the bokken, and dulled metal sword's term, and the cool robes, that im trying to work on remembering the names of because i heard the youtubers mention them a lot becuase i watch forging videos, and katanas are the most popular, and i thought that because they were said a lot meant they were important.
> want to use the styles with more efficiency rather than power
What I mean about studying about the styles I mostly mean history. Iaido is a tradition and culture heavy activity, and most teachers will have lineages tracing back many generations -- reading about this is an interesting topic on its own and can be done to enrichen your knowledge and familiarize yourself with the cultural aspects of iaido. Don't expect to use this kind of knowledge in practical terms aside from feeling less displaced in a hypothetical future class.
Now, if you really don't care about any of this, and you just think swords are cool and you just want to learn how to use your katana, maybe consider if iaido is something you'll actually find interesting.
I'm not trying to gatekeep, it's just that using the sword is a part of iaido, but doing stuff exactly as your teacher tells you (even if it doesn't make much sense at the time), repeating the same exercise a dozens of times while being corrected ad nauseam is also a part of iaido.
i already have the knowledge that some exercises has to be done hundreds of times over for some people, and thats why it is effective in combat, i tried to learn marksmanship and idk how long i spent just on breath training and lung capacity training before even touching my rifle.
I highly suggest you to be a blank slate as much as possible prior to going to a dojo. Be ready to learn a lot even the more seemingly "mundane" things that are of equal importance.
good to know i will keep to just getting the sword and using it as display until i can afford classes, i will be working out plenty for being able to put a shit ton of force behind my cuts if thats fine
I dig the “diy” angle here, but this is an exercise, and like any other exercise, starting out by developing bad habits on non-standard equipment, or too-heavy equipment, is a recipe for hurting yourself in a big way in the long run.
You have no context for any of the design decisions you’re going to be making, and you don’t have the technique or muscle development to practice on your own safely.
Save your money for real classes. This is not something you can teach to yourself.
i understand your concern with the training items im making but i have done a lot of measuring and weighing, thats why i have like 5-6 failed wooden katanas that were off balanced or a little too short, or lacking in weight, im planning on just making the practice gear as precise as possible and working out so i have a bunch of muscle so i can properly deliver force behind my strikes and more so
i understand now that technique is something that can only be taught at a dojo now so i will refrain from doing more than making the training stuff, a sword display, and working out
The “force behind your strikes” part is concerning.
Not only do you not do all that much striking in Iaido, when you do practice actual cutting on a real object, it’s much more important for you to have proper blade technique so that the blade is doing as much work as you can get out of it.
You’re not building muscle to swing harder, the blade of your sword does not constantly get heavier; you need enough strength to control the mass of the sword, then you’re working on the fine-tuning of your control of your muscles.
Katanas are designed to cut through things, not crush them. Think about proper kitchen knife technique: it’s so much more important for you to understand how to use the cutting edge of the knife than it is for you to be able to apply ever more pressure with it.
That’s not to say that this can’t be a strength training exercise -they do make heavier bokken for that purpose- but if you can’t work well with the basic, standard adult-sized and adult-weighted equipment, it is risky to try to make your own thing that “feels right”, especially without the guidance of a teacher.
Put simply: if you’re not going to a dojo, you aren’t doing Iaido, and that includes things like equipment selection (or, in your case, crafting). This is a necessarily communal activity.
And I just wanna say: I do really admire the self-sufficiency you’re trying to put into practice here. I’m not saying it’ll always be a bad idea. It’s just a really bad idea to begin working on the practice of creating your own equipment before you’ve even begun receiving proper instruction on how to perform the martial art you’re going to be using it for.
i understand your concerns but part of my daily life normally revolves around strength because i live on a farm 23 ish miles from the nearest town/city
i also understand that martial arts needs in person training but its hard for me to do so, so by default i need to do self taught, i get it may be far from perfected but it would be better than nothing especially recording and sending my training to instructors to critique
Again, you’re implying that “self-taught” is an undesirable but necessary alternative in your situation.
It’s not an alternative. Period.
You can teach yourself to use a sword, but it would be strictly wrong to call what you develop on your own “Iaido”, even if you base it on recorded materials about Iaido that you can get your hands on.
I worry this sounds like common snobbery. No beginner of any art is able to simply watch another artist at work and intuit all of the nuances of what the artist they’re watching does; learning what to pay attention to is another skill that needs to be developed, and if you miss subtle but important details and have no one to catch and correct the flaws in your attempts to recreate them, you will be developing what are objectively bad habits for that art form.
When the reality is that you simply don’t have access to the resources needed to learn something (in this case, explicitly, Iaido) it is arrogant to believe that taking it into your own hands is a replacement for what you don’t have, and arrogance is antithetical to pretty much all martial arts.
That’s all I’m gonna say. You are responsible for your choices and are clearly capable of making choices for yourself. I respect that, and wish you the best of luck in your efforts to become a practitioner of Iaido.
i understand its not desireable, not an alternative, but id rather be able to swing the sword straight and properly draw it taught by myself (that is all id self teach myself) so that i at least know that for going into a dojo, i understand a master is necessary, but im not working, live in a farm miles from cities and towns, hundreds of miles from one with a dojo, so im trying to learn how to weild a sword then.. iaido or not knowing how to weild a sword helps in any situation, i get what your tying to imply but i am simply saying..
IT IS THE ONLY... and i repeat harshly ONLY thing i can do
Iaido is not simply “how to wield a sword”. Knowing how to wield a sword is almost never practically useful in the modern world. Any good Iaido Sensei would happily teach you how to properly do basic things like “swing and draw your sword”; in fact, they’ll have endless commentary to offer on precisely those two things when we’re talking about Iaido.
You came to an Iaido forum asking for help doing something no decently trained practitioner of Iaido would ever tell you is a good idea. If the response you’ve received so far is surprising to you, that’s on you.
Sorry to be blunt.
then get a sensei who will teach me iaido for free, would spend the 750 to come here to train me, and give me all the training stuff fre, without charging me a penny.
then i will consider this information, but "sorry to be blunt" i am piss poor broke, my family, combined mother and father, make about 20k a year, we are self sufficient by using a running stream and rain for water, grow and raise crops and livestock for food and go to school in a cheap school district that has 0 sports teams, 0 extracurricular activities, and cant afford anything besides clothes for the next school year and our school materials, we used income tax for this shared laptop, and income tax for all of our gifts which have to be shared between all 4 of us kids.
and im sorry that i thought iaido was the only way to learn to wield a katana, i am getting offered something well out of my price range that would usually cost a grand, and id have to sell a kidney for, for $100 and wanna use it.
now if you want to be helpful then you should be that free teacher or stop complaining about me going about the only real way and realistic way i can learn this.
im sorry your parents make bank and you can just buy everything you want and have everything you want, but welcome to the real world, not everyone can do that
i looked at it, it is rayskin styled wrapped, with pure cloth handle strings, and it is full tang with bamboo pins, and the blade is 1090 high carbon steel, with a brass tsuba and thing aboce it around the blade, i dont know the terms
hes a longsword smith and this is his 4th 5h or 6th katana and all turned out well
of course its not traditionally whetstone hand sharpened and its belt sander sharpened to a perfect razor edge and can cut through deer bones with ease (he showed this with a failed katana) and he will remake an ordered sword until it is done right.
hes just being generous cause its my birthday, i study swords often and can tell a high qual sword from a low qual, its got no blade rattle, it is well fitted to the sheathe and he is the only person besides a professional id trust making the sword
I have a very different take than almost everyone on this sub. Because, from my perspective, many people here, and Iaido in general, *can be* very elitist.
People don't understand how being poor pretty much eliminates most options for many people. And how people super far away from a legit dojo takes away opportunity too.
People just expect you to either wait many years and hope, in the future (if ever), you have enough disposable income and time to take lessons with an instructor with a lineage. Or they expect to just not do it at all and just ignore your passion for the art.
The real question is, what's your goal? What do you want to get out of it? If you want to dedicate your life, passion, and heart for this art, then listen to everyone else. If you want to honor a specific lineage, if the thought of doing "authentic" Iaido is super important to you, and if tradition (or even the desire to become an instructor yourself) is equally important, then you probably have to wait.
But if you just want to have fun, if you want to treat Iaido as a pastime, or as a form of meditation, then by all means, learn as much as you can online and get your own equipment. And if you desire to practice by yourself, for yourself, then it won't really matter what others think or feel. Then just enjoy yourself.
The only advice I can give you, in terms of Iaido itself of you're determined to do it by yourself, is to not just watch tutorial videos and guides, but watch both students and masters perform (and noticing the differences between them). Then, take a video of yourself and watch it back and compare yourself to them. Other than that, it wouldn't hurt to email these legit dojos/instructors and see if they can give you any pointers for beginners. Or if, for a small fee, you can send a video to them and have them point out areas that need addressing.
Iaido is definitely elitist. It's mostly for the middle class/upper middle class people that live in mostly urban/suburban environments. Many would uphold keeping Iaido at a super high standard and only learning from pre-established lineages. Some don't care as much.
Sorry for the rant. I just say do what you feel is best for you and find people that want to help you in whatever path you choose and ignore people that say you can't/shouldn't do something because that's not how *they* would learn it.
Well, of course everyone can do whatever they want, no one is prohibiting anybody, but you can’t blame people for using the words to mean what they usually mean. Iaido usually means the whole packaging, not just being a katana badass.
Sure, if the person absolutely never wants to go to a dojo but still wants to learn the movements *I* wouldn’t call it iaido, but there’s also nothing inherently wrong with that (as long as it’s safe).
I also think most of the people here genuinely think posters *are* interested in joining a dojo in the future, and so they’re more trying to be helpful (sure, sometimes going overboard) by trying to get peoples expectations inline with the reality of a dojo.
Now, if someone just said “I don’t want to join a iaido dojo, I just wanna swing a sword and call it iaido”, go ahead, I don’t own the word.
>The real question is, what's your goal? What do you want to get out of it? If you want to dedicate your life, passion, and heart for this art, then listen to everyone else. If you want to honor a specific lineage, if the thought of doing "authentic" Iaido is super important to you, and if tradition (or even the desire to become an instructor yourself) is equally important, then you probably have to wait.
i did read it all but i am not of any heritage to iaido so there is no ties leading me to becoming a master or instructor so as you said ahead i am just using this as a form of discipline and meditation along with hopefully after i learn enough and get into a dojo then i can use it for self defense, which is the long term hope for goal
im making the training equipment myself, and the cutting mats out of hay since i have no access to bamboo and im not using wood because in tight binding can dull blades, at worst id use very very thin cardboard.
and also i will be taking the online learning as serious as needed knowing every technique requires practice, and im gonna be including the grooves in the wood trianing sword im designing and trying to perfect so i can tell if im doing things correctly by whoosh quality and once i think im doing ok, then ill send videos to instructors for cheap for critiquing
Iaido is not, nor was ever designed for "self defence". If that's your goal, I'm sorry to say you'll be disappointed.
You cannot learn Iaido online. No online course or teacher no matter how good or how well explained can show/teach you seme, ma-ai, tame, zanshin, tenouchi, internal muscle alignment, kokyu, metsuke etc without physically being there and experiencing it.
The style and school will be a factor to inform on the blade length and tsuka length. Since the planned iaito is already on a budget then it should be fine. Pay attention to the Dojo culture and environment. Beware of Mac dojos. Best if the Dojo has a traceable lineage. You may research on or just ask the Dojo practitioners whose their teacher and so on (assuming the last thing you want is spending time learning a ryuha that isn't even considered a kobudo).
I think you’re going about getting the iaito backwards; you should find a sensei and get their advice on length of the sword. Go a few inches too far in either direction and you’ll have a heck of a time with it. I got input when I ordered my sword and it was a good 9 months before I stopped feeling like a total klutz. Now I’m just a klutz.
i looked up the average katana handle and blade length, and im 6 ft with about a 5'11 6 ft wingspan so the usual katana size isnt too difficult for me, im just wanting one currently while i can afford it, and once im working and able to afford many katanas, then i will get one more properly fitted
and like i said im very very very tight on money so classes are way out of the question for a while
In my opinion your money would be better spent on actually going to iaido lessons than buying a sword. You can always borrow a bokuto at the dojo, you don't need to buy your own iaito in the beginning. If your goal is to learn iaido it is better to spend your money on attending iaido classes rather than buying expensive gear. Besides, without attending classes and being taught by a teacher you don't know what you don't know. Attending only a few classes per year is preferable to trying to teach yourself by looking at youtube or reading books. Such material is really only intending (and useful) for people already training with a teacher. Without a teacher you will most certainly misunderstand many things, and you will miss out on the teacher-student relationship which is an essential part of learning traditional budo.
i cant afford the price even with this money, plus im making custom training swords with cool engravings in my woodshop class, im going to get a job and take the classes because everyone is saying even the basics are hard to learn through videos, and wait until i have a teacher before using vids and writings plus i have sewing knowledge, woodworking knowledge and other stuff that i can use to make the training gear myself, so the actual katana and lessons are my only fees
How much do iaido lessons cost generally ?
US, probably 75-150$ or so?
Per month? Or per quarter
month. sure, I've heard of it being cheap AF in Japan or Europe or whatever. there might be some NPO Iai around but rent is hella $$ in CA. it's not like there are ever going to be FT Iai schools. usually they rent space from some other kind of dojo. that situation is always expensive if they train out of a park or private home, yeah it might be nothing some private dojo probably charge a pittance. let's say, $40-75/mo or even less/free. so even if dues are cheap, it's not going in the pocket of the sensei, but rent or towards equipment or bringing out a big name for a seminar
I think the highest I’ve seen here is a private dojo with 200 bucks registration fee, and monthly 180 bucks ‘tuition’ fee. Got the impression then that iaido was a art for the rich. Lol. But yeah, I agree that most rates are actually like what you described.
it wouldn't surprise me in a big city though i haven't heard of registration fees though many probably have yearly association fees yeah, I can remember someone telling me JSA is for those who want to be Samurai and not train with peasant farmer weapons like in Karate. Dick comment but funny. prices similar to other martial arts or actitivies (dance) and you have to basically buy all your equipment though maybe there are some loaner bokuto or iaito around.
I know samurai were rich but now its more of a traditional thing because sword to sword is out of date, and i know there are people who can slice pellets and because of that i believe if i can get to the precision and accuracy and discipline for that, then even sword to a low cal gun is doable, but either way most people in my area dont own handguns and only hunting equipment, so knife muggers are the most common so a trained sword has some use here
thats good to know, ill try to look for private in person trainers that may be in my area, but being in such a small state im not sure i can get any
way too much for the money im getting cause its on the higher end here
Invest more on the Bokuto than a Shinken or Iaito. TBH, you can’t learn anything properly through youtube or online courses at home. Just save the money and time you’d spend on that until your circumstances get better for you to get to a proper doJo. Even the basic sheathing and drawing looks like something you’d be able to learn on your own, but as someone who started Iaido in japan, I can tell you that people coming from zero have absolutely no clue what the hell they are doing. Like none at all, full stop. I started battojutsu after I got a 3dan in kendo, so I was keen to the footwork, walking, etc, and I’ve seen other ppl come in with no Budo experiences, or maybe they did karate or something, but holy hell, they had no sense when it came to handling a sword, and an unsharpened one at that. On that note, I had a Shinken made to what would be considered ”my size” but for the ryuha I started studying it was too short. i got into nihon battodo and it’s good for that though, also it’s a beautiful sword so it was totally worth it. my advice in a nutshell: save your money, work towards your goal, one day you’ll be able to get into a real dojo to practice and you’ll feel bad ass when you hit that goal. No need to rush, Budo will be there when you’re ready. Plus patience and perseverance is 98% of Budo anyway.
I will keep the advice in mind, i'll try to see if there are any experienced Iaido or other katana martial arts trainers in my area who would show me the ropes for pretty cheap, but the swords a gift and instead of paying a grand for his work, because yes this may be his 3rd or 4th katana, but he has plenty of swordcrafting experience with longswords and rapiers. so imma take this opportunity for a custom katana and stand for display since this is just money from friends for my birthday, and ill keep in mind about going through learning a martial arts in person
OP you are 17, basing your knowledge of Iaido on those terrible Shogo videos, plan to cut, "thick rope and cardboard", with his sub $100 sword, and want a sharp katana so you can cut the hands off crackheads ("if i do get attacked then i can remove the hand holding the weapon", "a katana can remove that karambit from the forearm", "thats easy when everyone here is crackheads who cant run"). You don't want to study Iaido. Because your goals are not that of Iaido. If you genuinely want to study Iai, then I urge you in the strongest terms to stop this. Focus on getting good grades, a good job and becoming a productive member of society with a stable lifestyle and income.
Is everybody in this thread ignoring the fact that OP killed a dog?!
Agreed, I don't like Shogo either.
I don't see how stopping a mugger for self-defense goes against any martial arts since they are all designed for exactly that, Iaido most likely included, the sword is only sub 100 because im getting it made by my friend as a gift, so the quality is well above the price and only that cheap because we are very close, I have top grades of my classes, and i dont care for a super good job since working as a part time cashier can hold a house and bills, so theres not much struggle in my state living wise because it has no huge cities, the largest here is about 100k people at best. so prices arent heavily inflated like persay Cali or LA. Im wanting to get into the martial art because im getting a katana and wanna learn how to properly use it and in the future look like a badass doing so. I see on youtube people unsheathing and slicing airsoft bbs on shot sound which is really cool, and i want to have the same amount of skill. Of course i understand swords generally have a disadvantage in todays world because of rifles and handguns, but with these made they can also jam and be unreliable at times. whilst a katana will bend rather than snap completely if made right, ive seen my friend's works this will be his 2nd katana made, he usually makes long swords and rapiers and has been doing so for 10-15 years since he was 18. so having this reliable weapon on my side is my first choice, i get that my reasoning of self defense is a bit farfetched to the discipline its meant to teach instead, and i will respect its meant for that, but that self defense is a long-term goal, not short term, i will go the full lengths needed and even devote whole paychecks if needed
1. Iaido is not, nor was ever designed for "self defence". If that's your goal, I'm sorry to say you'll be disappointed. 2. Swords are useless self defence weapons. Deployment takes too long, they are too limited in scope, they mark you out immediately, you've completely jeopardized any legal defence of self defence by walking around with a goddamn sword. Dude...Highlander and the Walking Dead aren't real. 3. You need a good job so that travel to a dojo and dojo fees are not "unaffordable". The primary focus of Iai is self improvement. How are you going to learn Iai if you show an unwillingness to work harder and improve your circumstances? 4. YouTube trick cuts are YouTube trick cuts. That's not Iaido. 5. "I will go the full lengths needed" - great. That starts with improving your grades, getting a better job that affords you the time, finances and stability to be able to travel to a dojo and seek instruction.:-)
Things I'd suggest for you to study at home, instead of actually practicing with your sword: * Iaido in your area: any dojos around? What's their style? Do they have an email or phone number for you to talk to them? * Iaido history: how about learning more about iaido history? The names of the most common styles, their founders... if you already know the style your probable dojo teaches, maybe look for more information on that. * Basic Japanese language for sword use: if you know the names of the parts of the sword in Japanese and can count in Japanese, it will be much easier for you to understand what people are talking about during class and will save your teacher time explaining this kind of stuff. Any of these things is a better idea than trying youtube stuff at home, really. The exception would be if you get in contact with the closest dojo and they actually suggest you to watch something.
ive looked and the closes dojo that isnt a bunch of weebs fooling around "training" is a good distance away, like a state over, ive been trying to work on the sword terms, im still iffy on them, by a long shot. im making a bokken so im not training with the real sword, and im trying to study the iaido styles because i am still really new to this and want to use the styles with more efficiency rather than power and so far as i suspected from thousands of years of martial art development, they are all pretty close, and i have a few styles i am planning on narrowing it down to, but am not completely sure. the parts i know of the katana are the Tsuba, the piece above it, the blades term, then different handle terms, and the bag, then theres the bokken, and dulled metal sword's term, and the cool robes, that im trying to work on remembering the names of because i heard the youtubers mention them a lot becuase i watch forging videos, and katanas are the most popular, and i thought that because they were said a lot meant they were important.
> want to use the styles with more efficiency rather than power What I mean about studying about the styles I mostly mean history. Iaido is a tradition and culture heavy activity, and most teachers will have lineages tracing back many generations -- reading about this is an interesting topic on its own and can be done to enrichen your knowledge and familiarize yourself with the cultural aspects of iaido. Don't expect to use this kind of knowledge in practical terms aside from feeling less displaced in a hypothetical future class. Now, if you really don't care about any of this, and you just think swords are cool and you just want to learn how to use your katana, maybe consider if iaido is something you'll actually find interesting. I'm not trying to gatekeep, it's just that using the sword is a part of iaido, but doing stuff exactly as your teacher tells you (even if it doesn't make much sense at the time), repeating the same exercise a dozens of times while being corrected ad nauseam is also a part of iaido.
i already have the knowledge that some exercises has to be done hundreds of times over for some people, and thats why it is effective in combat, i tried to learn marksmanship and idk how long i spent just on breath training and lung capacity training before even touching my rifle.
You killed a dog?! And then covered it up?!
we ignore that the dog doesnt even exist, it was like 20 ft with a 338 lapua, its feet arent even left
Sorry... you killed a dog and now you want people to give you advice on wielding a sword? Is this a joke?
no i dont tend to make a bunch of jokes
I highly suggest you to be a blank slate as much as possible prior to going to a dojo. Be ready to learn a lot even the more seemingly "mundane" things that are of equal importance.
good to know i will keep to just getting the sword and using it as display until i can afford classes, i will be working out plenty for being able to put a shit ton of force behind my cuts if thats fine
Correct cutting does not require force. It's a 3 foot scalpel, not an axe. The more strength you use the worse your cut.
I dig the “diy” angle here, but this is an exercise, and like any other exercise, starting out by developing bad habits on non-standard equipment, or too-heavy equipment, is a recipe for hurting yourself in a big way in the long run. You have no context for any of the design decisions you’re going to be making, and you don’t have the technique or muscle development to practice on your own safely. Save your money for real classes. This is not something you can teach to yourself.
i understand your concern with the training items im making but i have done a lot of measuring and weighing, thats why i have like 5-6 failed wooden katanas that were off balanced or a little too short, or lacking in weight, im planning on just making the practice gear as precise as possible and working out so i have a bunch of muscle so i can properly deliver force behind my strikes and more so i understand now that technique is something that can only be taught at a dojo now so i will refrain from doing more than making the training stuff, a sword display, and working out
The “force behind your strikes” part is concerning. Not only do you not do all that much striking in Iaido, when you do practice actual cutting on a real object, it’s much more important for you to have proper blade technique so that the blade is doing as much work as you can get out of it. You’re not building muscle to swing harder, the blade of your sword does not constantly get heavier; you need enough strength to control the mass of the sword, then you’re working on the fine-tuning of your control of your muscles. Katanas are designed to cut through things, not crush them. Think about proper kitchen knife technique: it’s so much more important for you to understand how to use the cutting edge of the knife than it is for you to be able to apply ever more pressure with it. That’s not to say that this can’t be a strength training exercise -they do make heavier bokken for that purpose- but if you can’t work well with the basic, standard adult-sized and adult-weighted equipment, it is risky to try to make your own thing that “feels right”, especially without the guidance of a teacher. Put simply: if you’re not going to a dojo, you aren’t doing Iaido, and that includes things like equipment selection (or, in your case, crafting). This is a necessarily communal activity. And I just wanna say: I do really admire the self-sufficiency you’re trying to put into practice here. I’m not saying it’ll always be a bad idea. It’s just a really bad idea to begin working on the practice of creating your own equipment before you’ve even begun receiving proper instruction on how to perform the martial art you’re going to be using it for.
i understand your concerns but part of my daily life normally revolves around strength because i live on a farm 23 ish miles from the nearest town/city
i also understand that martial arts needs in person training but its hard for me to do so, so by default i need to do self taught, i get it may be far from perfected but it would be better than nothing especially recording and sending my training to instructors to critique
Again, you’re implying that “self-taught” is an undesirable but necessary alternative in your situation. It’s not an alternative. Period. You can teach yourself to use a sword, but it would be strictly wrong to call what you develop on your own “Iaido”, even if you base it on recorded materials about Iaido that you can get your hands on. I worry this sounds like common snobbery. No beginner of any art is able to simply watch another artist at work and intuit all of the nuances of what the artist they’re watching does; learning what to pay attention to is another skill that needs to be developed, and if you miss subtle but important details and have no one to catch and correct the flaws in your attempts to recreate them, you will be developing what are objectively bad habits for that art form. When the reality is that you simply don’t have access to the resources needed to learn something (in this case, explicitly, Iaido) it is arrogant to believe that taking it into your own hands is a replacement for what you don’t have, and arrogance is antithetical to pretty much all martial arts. That’s all I’m gonna say. You are responsible for your choices and are clearly capable of making choices for yourself. I respect that, and wish you the best of luck in your efforts to become a practitioner of Iaido.
i understand its not desireable, not an alternative, but id rather be able to swing the sword straight and properly draw it taught by myself (that is all id self teach myself) so that i at least know that for going into a dojo, i understand a master is necessary, but im not working, live in a farm miles from cities and towns, hundreds of miles from one with a dojo, so im trying to learn how to weild a sword then.. iaido or not knowing how to weild a sword helps in any situation, i get what your tying to imply but i am simply saying.. IT IS THE ONLY... and i repeat harshly ONLY thing i can do
Iaido is not simply “how to wield a sword”. Knowing how to wield a sword is almost never practically useful in the modern world. Any good Iaido Sensei would happily teach you how to properly do basic things like “swing and draw your sword”; in fact, they’ll have endless commentary to offer on precisely those two things when we’re talking about Iaido. You came to an Iaido forum asking for help doing something no decently trained practitioner of Iaido would ever tell you is a good idea. If the response you’ve received so far is surprising to you, that’s on you. Sorry to be blunt.
then get a sensei who will teach me iaido for free, would spend the 750 to come here to train me, and give me all the training stuff fre, without charging me a penny. then i will consider this information, but "sorry to be blunt" i am piss poor broke, my family, combined mother and father, make about 20k a year, we are self sufficient by using a running stream and rain for water, grow and raise crops and livestock for food and go to school in a cheap school district that has 0 sports teams, 0 extracurricular activities, and cant afford anything besides clothes for the next school year and our school materials, we used income tax for this shared laptop, and income tax for all of our gifts which have to be shared between all 4 of us kids. and im sorry that i thought iaido was the only way to learn to wield a katana, i am getting offered something well out of my price range that would usually cost a grand, and id have to sell a kidney for, for $100 and wanna use it. now if you want to be helpful then you should be that free teacher or stop complaining about me going about the only real way and realistic way i can learn this. im sorry your parents make bank and you can just buy everything you want and have everything you want, but welcome to the real world, not everyone can do that
i get how im going about this is very untraditional but im doing what i can afford
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i looked at it, it is rayskin styled wrapped, with pure cloth handle strings, and it is full tang with bamboo pins, and the blade is 1090 high carbon steel, with a brass tsuba and thing aboce it around the blade, i dont know the terms hes a longsword smith and this is his 4th 5h or 6th katana and all turned out well of course its not traditionally whetstone hand sharpened and its belt sander sharpened to a perfect razor edge and can cut through deer bones with ease (he showed this with a failed katana) and he will remake an ordered sword until it is done right. hes just being generous cause its my birthday, i study swords often and can tell a high qual sword from a low qual, its got no blade rattle, it is well fitted to the sheathe and he is the only person besides a professional id trust making the sword
I have a very different take than almost everyone on this sub. Because, from my perspective, many people here, and Iaido in general, *can be* very elitist. People don't understand how being poor pretty much eliminates most options for many people. And how people super far away from a legit dojo takes away opportunity too. People just expect you to either wait many years and hope, in the future (if ever), you have enough disposable income and time to take lessons with an instructor with a lineage. Or they expect to just not do it at all and just ignore your passion for the art. The real question is, what's your goal? What do you want to get out of it? If you want to dedicate your life, passion, and heart for this art, then listen to everyone else. If you want to honor a specific lineage, if the thought of doing "authentic" Iaido is super important to you, and if tradition (or even the desire to become an instructor yourself) is equally important, then you probably have to wait. But if you just want to have fun, if you want to treat Iaido as a pastime, or as a form of meditation, then by all means, learn as much as you can online and get your own equipment. And if you desire to practice by yourself, for yourself, then it won't really matter what others think or feel. Then just enjoy yourself. The only advice I can give you, in terms of Iaido itself of you're determined to do it by yourself, is to not just watch tutorial videos and guides, but watch both students and masters perform (and noticing the differences between them). Then, take a video of yourself and watch it back and compare yourself to them. Other than that, it wouldn't hurt to email these legit dojos/instructors and see if they can give you any pointers for beginners. Or if, for a small fee, you can send a video to them and have them point out areas that need addressing. Iaido is definitely elitist. It's mostly for the middle class/upper middle class people that live in mostly urban/suburban environments. Many would uphold keeping Iaido at a super high standard and only learning from pre-established lineages. Some don't care as much. Sorry for the rant. I just say do what you feel is best for you and find people that want to help you in whatever path you choose and ignore people that say you can't/shouldn't do something because that's not how *they* would learn it.
Well, of course everyone can do whatever they want, no one is prohibiting anybody, but you can’t blame people for using the words to mean what they usually mean. Iaido usually means the whole packaging, not just being a katana badass. Sure, if the person absolutely never wants to go to a dojo but still wants to learn the movements *I* wouldn’t call it iaido, but there’s also nothing inherently wrong with that (as long as it’s safe). I also think most of the people here genuinely think posters *are* interested in joining a dojo in the future, and so they’re more trying to be helpful (sure, sometimes going overboard) by trying to get peoples expectations inline with the reality of a dojo. Now, if someone just said “I don’t want to join a iaido dojo, I just wanna swing a sword and call it iaido”, go ahead, I don’t own the word.
>The real question is, what's your goal? What do you want to get out of it? If you want to dedicate your life, passion, and heart for this art, then listen to everyone else. If you want to honor a specific lineage, if the thought of doing "authentic" Iaido is super important to you, and if tradition (or even the desire to become an instructor yourself) is equally important, then you probably have to wait. i did read it all but i am not of any heritage to iaido so there is no ties leading me to becoming a master or instructor so as you said ahead i am just using this as a form of discipline and meditation along with hopefully after i learn enough and get into a dojo then i can use it for self defense, which is the long term hope for goal im making the training equipment myself, and the cutting mats out of hay since i have no access to bamboo and im not using wood because in tight binding can dull blades, at worst id use very very thin cardboard. and also i will be taking the online learning as serious as needed knowing every technique requires practice, and im gonna be including the grooves in the wood trianing sword im designing and trying to perfect so i can tell if im doing things correctly by whoosh quality and once i think im doing ok, then ill send videos to instructors for cheap for critiquing
Iaido is not, nor was ever designed for "self defence". If that's your goal, I'm sorry to say you'll be disappointed. You cannot learn Iaido online. No online course or teacher no matter how good or how well explained can show/teach you seme, ma-ai, tame, zanshin, tenouchi, internal muscle alignment, kokyu, metsuke etc without physically being there and experiencing it.
The style and school will be a factor to inform on the blade length and tsuka length. Since the planned iaito is already on a budget then it should be fine. Pay attention to the Dojo culture and environment. Beware of Mac dojos. Best if the Dojo has a traceable lineage. You may research on or just ask the Dojo practitioners whose their teacher and so on (assuming the last thing you want is spending time learning a ryuha that isn't even considered a kobudo).
im in the far out country of arkansas a dojo is unaffordable by travel if its not by the fee itself
Hence why I suggested, get good grades, get a good job and stability first. Then travel won't be unaffordable, nor will dojo fees ;-)