The important thing here for you to know that the dōjō is a special place. If you have a religious reason and you cannot have one, that’s fine. Now if you don't have one at your dōjō, that is fine. I am sharing general ideas so this might not apply to some dōjō. Traditional dōjō enshrines the martial gods. The shinzen literally means the god front. Usually, we have shinzen, which means a shrine, at a dōjō.
I listed the rules in the page 13 of “ Kendo Guide For Beginners”. If it's your culture doesn’t accept some of the rules or if your religion doesn't accept them, you simply cannot follow them. If that is the case, don't worry about the rules so much. That means some rules may not culturally appropriate to you. Obviously, the rules of the dōjō are of Japanese culture. You take your shoes off before you get into the dōjōĪt least, I want you to do the things above.Once you get into a dōjō, even if it is a gym, you should change your mindset. It is a place where you “discipline the human character through the application of the principles of the katana”. You don’t act as if you are at your living room. That is because you are at a special place, where you train your physical and mental strengths. You should act in a certain way when you are at a dōjō. In this lesson, I would like to go over some rules of dōjō. Iaido classes are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30 to 6:20 pm and on Saturdays from 9:30 to 10:30 am.If you have a copy of Kendo Guide For Beginners, please go to page 12 and read “The Meaning of Dōjō”. Next, students practice on their own under the instructor's supervision. These are followed by group training where kata are demonstrated by the instructor and are performed together with the students.
Each Iaido class starts with warm up exercises that include a variety of drawing (nukitsuke), cutting (kiritsuke), cleaning (chiburi) and resheathing (notto) sword techniques. For this reason, more and more people turn to the demanding practice of Iaido.Īt Toronto Aikikai we study and practice the curriculum of the Muso Shinden Ryu style of Iaido as established by Mitsunari Kanai Shihan. It is through this unification that the sword is transformed from a simple implement into a tool for spiritual development. Through the precise movements of the kata, the practitioner seeks to engage his entire being, to unify intention, action, and sword. Iaido's true value reveals itself in the inner battle it promotes within the self to cut away all redundancies. The development of internal aspects such as concentration, focus, imagination and a calm spirit are direct byproducts resulting from the practice of the art. This flurry of activity takes just a few seconds to unfold, but reflects extensive practice to master the basics, to grasp and incorporate fine details, to develop coordination, precision and power, to maintain balance both in stillness and in motion, to perfect the timing and flow of the forms while executing them gracefully yet without losing their lethal quality. The sword is then resheathed in a controlled manner, and calm returns. Next, and in the mind of the practitioner, a hapless imaginary opponent falls lifeless, and his imaginary blood is shaken off the blade. Silence and a pause filled with total awareness are the echo of the cut. Suddenly the blade is drawn and in an uninterrupted single motion slices through the air.
In a typical basic kata, the Iaido practitioner sits or stands quietly with full poise and in deep concentration. These kata evolved from battlefield techniques of feudal Japan and were codified in the 16th century by Jinsuke Hayashizaki who is widely recognized as the founder of the art. There is no contact in Iaido - it is performed solo and helps develop mental discipline and physical skills through the practice and perfection of forms called kata, consisting of sequences of movements executed against one or multiple imagined opponents. Iaido focuses on methods of drawing and cutting with the sword. Iaido (pronounced ee-eye-do) is the traditional Japanese martial art of swordsmanship.