The Iaido technique involves unsheathe, cut, clean the blood of the blade and sheath, from different positions; this is what we may call as fundamental movements of iai. Iai means unity of being or unity of minds in the sense of joining the spirit of the adversary without moving. Practically, all the actions take place in one balanced, accurate and clean motion.
These techniques were born in the days when kendo was practiced with real, authentic fighting swords. It was created to address situations where, the person that was attacked, was sitting, liyng down or in any other position having sheated sword.
The training of iaido takes place at the individual level and uses a iaito (Japanese sword) a weapon specially designed for this practice; size and weight ratios are as similar as possible to the katana, but made from cheap metals alloys and usually blunt. The iaido is practiced in the form of kata, taking into account a clean performance, control of movement, balance and smoothness.
In 1952, the Japan Federation of Kendo was founded and within it was created a committee with teachers from different schools of iai; the knowledge of the teachers was used in order to create a program with katas and teach the basic concepts of iaido. The intention was to promote and facilitate the dissemination of iaido, especially among practitioners of kendo.
