Hello fellow practitioners.

Just to give you a bit of context, I practiced Musō Shinden-ryū for about five years before moving out in another country, where the only dojo available is teaching Musō Jikiden Eishin-ryū. I have been practicing there for almost two years now.

I apologize in advance if this topic was already posted on this subreddit, but could anyone recommend some good articles or videos where I could check how the techniques are performed in more details? It would be great to have some references just in case I need some kind of refresher, especially for more advanced techniques. Also, it would be interesting and easier as well to spot the small differences between the two schools this way.

The only ones I found yet were made by students, which is obviously better than nothing, but could also show some imperfection.

Thank you in advance for your replies, have a great day!

Hello fellow Redditors,I'm a Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryu Iaido practitioner planning a trip to Japan in April, visiting Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo. I'm looking to purchase a high-quality Iaito and/or Shinken while I'm there.I've received a few recommendations and wanted to share them with the group:

• Tokyo: Shobudo ((https://shop.shobudo.jp/)) - They offer a coupon, and I found a helpful video review on YouTube ((https://youtu.be/iC0gXdHE8Sw?si=x1TaHZa_MTLq57Vk))
• Osaka: Nipponto ((https://budo.nipponto.co.jp/))

While Tozando is often recommended, I'm hoping to explore some lesser-known, local, or family-owned shops. Can anyone suggest other reputable dealers or shops in these cities?

Additionally, I'd appreciate advice on what to expect when flying back to the US (California specifically) with a Iaito and/or Shinken. Are there any specific regulations, documentation, or precautions I should be aware of?

Thank you for your recommendations and guidance!

Edit: I'll make sure to follow all local laws and regulations regarding sword purchases and transportation.

I posted a question about knee pads for iai few days ago (https://www.reddit.com/r/iaido/s/CBW5eDtXEm), but forgot to ask one thing. I edited it in, but I quess no one saw the edit, so here's the follow up question.

Does anyone have experience with gel pads?

I also want to thank for all the links for the knee pads. I will look into all of them.

I have been practicing MSR based on a few seminairs I attended in the past and with videos. I mostly know the chuden. However, how can I formally practice if there’s no one that teaches MSR in my country?

Being accepted by a sensei from another country counts? How long or under what criteria I can be able to start teaching/leading sessions to start a training group?

Interesting blog post.
https://budobum.blogspot.com/2025/01/seitei-versus-koryu.html

I resumed my iaido practice a few months ago, and while I am passionate about my discipline, I feel a certain solitude related to my age. I am 26 years old and the only practitioner under 40 in my dojo. This was already the case in my previous dojo a few years ago—when I was 17, the age gap was even greater.

What I want to highlight is that, even though the other practitioners are very kind and supportive, there is still a barrier that I attribute to our age difference. In addition to their often advanced level of practice (most have been training for many years, and there is a low turnover rate), we don’t share the same topics of conversation, cultural references, or stage in life—I am finishing my studies, while many of them are approaching retirement or are already retired.

This leads me to question my practice: Did I start iaido too early? Am I at the right stage of my life to get the most out of iaido? I can understand how, for someone my age who is unfamiliar with the discipline, practicing iaido might seem quite absurd.

I would have loved to do what I did with tennis or running—wake up on the weekend, call a couple of friends, head to the dojo, train together for two or three hours (let’s say at least at shodan level), and then grab a meal together.

Am I the only one, among those who started iaido early, to feel this way?

Can you guys tell me what you think are the all around best kneepads for iai? I just started and bought a pair of KWON kneepads. They're not bad, but there is slight issue of them sliding sometimes. I can practise with them now, but I might buy a new pair sometimes later, so I want to know what are you guys using and/or recomending. I live in Finland, so it would help if the pads could be ordered from Eu area.

EDIT 1/2/2025!! Follow up question❗

Does anyone have experiences with gel pads?

Please share any tips and tricks you guys have for restoring the pleats in your cotton hakama.

I'm hoping to test this year and am wondering what advice, aside from practice more, you'd give to a new iaidoka. I study Muso Shinden Ryu and have done so since late 2023. I'm still learning the required kata for testing (1-8) and am using a borrowed iaito. We're hoping the one I ordered comes in on time, but if not I have permission to borrow my wife's iaito.

https://www.brooklynbattodo.com/reading/1-19-2025/so-you-want-to-learn-the-japanese-sword?fbclid=IwY2xjawIFCHdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHfXXN0b8BLxyj8U_bvRdjfQTYlXZrCFOS1QwwRUHPWWWRgCzr8_4Ff_XLg_aem_8xHt6tI5tZYn2ybVat6h1g

looks like a sock. actually made one from cotton (dimensions are way off, apparently), but i can use it on the iaito as-is. 🥴

Saw a post about kettlebells on here recently and now I’m curious to know what piece of training equipment outside your regular practice gives you the biggest bang for your buck in terms of carry over strength and conditioning benefits for your iaido training.

In other words, if you could only have access to one single piece of equipment to train with outside of your iaido training, what would it be? Kettlebell? Bands? I’ve been considering a weighted mace for conditioning purposes, but I’m not sure if something else might be a better option.

I have been training in kendo and iaido for a few years, and some people in my family, teachers I work with at school, graduate school colleagues, friends, etc., are bothered by what they call an excessive dedication to martial arts and having to cancel commitments because of training, competitions, seminars, etc. I would like to know if this happens to you as well, those who train.

Hello i will be in Mumbai (India) next week anybody know where there are shop or markets where i can find Iaito

Onegai Shimasu,

I've been browsing different shops and manufacturers to get a sense of the price range and options for my eventual Iaito purchase/order. I was very surprised to find out a basic custom Igarashi Iaito at Nosyudo starts at 61 600 yen.

But the more premium Okuden Noshu starts at 97 900 yen.

Could someone explain to me the difference here?

At first I thought there's no way the extra options come close to the 35 000 yen difference but then I actually tried to create the same blade on both types and the Igarashi came back only 5000 yen cheaper in the end. So is it only the wider range of options "free of charge"? No difference in the quality of the blade etc.?

A follow-up question: both blades have an option for the blade for extra fee (2200 yen) that has this description: *Please select this option if you place importance on sound quality.

Could anyone elaborate on that?

What kind of overlap is there between Iaido and Japanese jujutsu? What specific moves have a lot of overlap (judo could probably be included here as well). Anyone who has trained both have you found any useful carry over from one to the other?

Looking for a Iaido/Kenjutsu Dojo in the GTA

Hello!

I’m not sure if this is the best place to ask but I’m looking for a Iaido/Kenjutsu Dojo in the GTA. I am an absolute beginner and want to try this hobby.

Does anyone have any recommendations in the GTA? I have a car and so can drive to the smaller cities in the GTA.

I am looking for Iaido/Kenjutsu and not Kendo lessons however a dojo that provides both is okay too.

Thank you so much!

Hi All,

Following on from this thread, I would just like to say that I had my first Iaido lesson.

Now the sessions on the four week intro course are an hour a session (1 session a week), however this hour went fast. Ok, we did the normal health & safety, intros with each other, and the brief history of the art and the association, then we jumped right into the practice.

Now (pls excuse the terminology as I've haven't gotten to grips with them), but we practiced the downward cut/slice. A block against the downward cut, and an evasion against a downward cut.

It was interesting (in a good way), I could see similarities between this and other weapons we've had training in (escrima sticks, bo, sai, etc), however there are alot of differences as well. I definitely can see me continuing with this after the intro course, provided there is enough people interested in continuing.

I will be asking a few questions, so pls be patient with me while I ask them :)

Hi all,

I've just started Battado and I've been doing strength workouts but take care not to be too bulky. I noticed muscle tension isn't always a good thing in this art. I wanted to know your thoughts on strength workouts I could do more in line with Japanese swordsmanship.

I want to try iaido, but I'm concerned there'd be issues if I wear hair covering. Do you or do you know of anyone who does? Is it acceptable? I prefer not expose my hair at all.

Almost three years ago I started my iai journey. I was at a low point In my life and was looking for more and something to get me out the house and meet new people. By chance I came across an ad for a local Kendo beginner course. It was fun and run by some truly great people but as someone who had no previous martial arts experience or athletic ability it was pretty tough. I wasn’t unfit just was using muscles I never used before 😂. Also some of the wrist hits caused me issues and being my own boss injuries was too much of a risk.

So just before I was about to give it up, the local teacher said a iaido practitioner was in town for a few months and if anyone was interested he would do some lessons. I decided to give it a go the idea of swinging a real sword around was interesting to me.

I did a few lessons with the guy and I really enjoyed it. I was absolutely horrible and could barely get up from seiza to swing a sword down. The guy teaching me is incredible, you meet a lot of people in your life but you only meet a few that have that special charisma and character. He’s also incredibly knowledgeable about the art. Speaks Japanese, lived and trained there and spent his life in the martial arts. Breaks down reasonings for everything in such detail. He’d never trained people before but the way he trains is like he’s been doing forever. I’d hate for him to read this because it would just boost his ego 😂 but it’s well deserved. He’s a good man.

Unfortunately after about 3 months of training with him he’s contract was up and he was heading back home. So I was left with no local trainer. I really didn’t want to stop but it come up maybe he could do some zoom lessons with me. He’s was pretty reluctant at first as you all know iaido has so many nuances and the foot work and sword cut angles. It’s not a martial art that should be learned by webcam.

So I continued and did weekly lessons he ended up enjoying training so much himself he started his own dojo where he lived and has around 13 students now.

I eventually had to travel for grading as there was no local grading. In fact the closest grading was 3000km away! I traveled and passed my first grading. Not a huge difficulty I know now but at the time I was absolutely shitting myself. Never been so frightened in my life doing that in front of so many people.

I know Initially I think politics side of iaido higher Dans did not like the idea of me being trained by webcam because it’s pretty much unheard of. I think over time I have dispelled some of that stigma as over the years I kept grading and at least attended a couple of training seminars each year. I’m always nice to the higher grades and especially appreciate them also imparting their knowledge to help improve my techniques.

I’m definitely behind because of the way I train but I just kept persisting and training and finally I got to a point I didn’t honestly think I would reach.

I’ve finally been graded as Shodan. I know it’s still baby steps in the grand scheme of iai and it’s something you can forever grow. I’m just so proud of myself for getting to this point. Yes kinda bit of self pat on the back 😂 but I’m just happy and I’m happy that I found iaido and made some amazing friends and met the most amazing and dedicated people.

Sorry about the wall of text 😂 I just wanted to tell someone.

Hello dear practitionners !

I'm writing here because as a beginner i'm not used to wearing hakama yet, so i'm quite curious about the thing.

I personnally struggle with tying it correctly, since it's either too lose and it slips down, or too tight and i can't perform sayabiki correctly. (I think my hakama may be one size too big, since I'm quite tall but don't have long legs, I maybe should have got a slightly shorter one, I need to tie my obi above my hip so i don't trip over the hakama). Do fellow pracitionners of MSR/MJER, where we need to be able to move the saya freely have a way of correcting this problem ? I know some of my senpais use a special way where they tuck the top of the front side of the hakama in the obi so they're not hemmed in their sayabiki, but i forgot to ask them how they do it and i didn't see anything about that method online.

I found several ways of tying on YouTube and i was wondering if Aikido practitionners are wearing it differently ? since their hakama is slightly different from the kendoo and iaido ones. I found several interesting and fancy method of tying on YouTube, mostly done by aikidokas, so i was wondering.

I'm looking forward for your answers !

Hello everyone,

I recently got my new Nosyudo Iaito, which has a clear Saya and slides and slips quite a bit with my current Obi.

did anyone encounter this problem? I found a "Stretch Obi" in the Tozando shop which is always expensive ^^", does anyone use it?

I'm 32 years old and I train kendo, jodo and iaido. I also trained taekwondo as a child, and it was my first martial art. Currently, my kendo, jodo and iaido dojo shares the gym with a taekwondo dojang. The TKD master invited me back, and a kendo colleague of mine is going to start TKD there. However, I have a genetic problem with my hip and I'm afraid that if I return to training, in addition to not being able to train TKD properly due to the hip problem, it could interfere with my iaido training, which takes place on Wednesdays, since which would be two consecutive training sessions (TKD and iaido). What do you think?

When is himo extension necessary? I'm a pretty big guy, 185cm and 270lbs, although I wear 38-40" jeans I know that my chest is 50" and actual waist is 44.5" from the last time I bought suit where they take your measurement the waist as opposed to the oddball jeans sizing where jeans "waists" are 2-4" smaller for marketing and because most people wear them at the hips.

Anyways, I'm buying my first hakama after having started Iaido recently, and my question is whether or not I should just assume that I will need himo extensions? On the Tozando site when you choose to add extensions to their Tetron hakama it asks for your waist measurement and mine isn't even on the drop down. Their max selectable waist 41.5". Is that correlating to the untrue jeans measurement in which case I'm safely a 40" or is it real waist measurement, which is what I would assume given where one ties a hakama and that means I can't even select the right size?

Is all of this not even an issue because I can just tie the standard himo differently as I've read on the kendo sub? Am I better off just buying the proper size for my height and having a tailor add extensions later if its necessary?

Thanks!