Iaijutsu

[theScytheofGod]

A real pity the sound dropped out.

It would be even better if we could hear him, or just the silence in the room.

Now there's a man who could cut you in half!

[dutchfreaker]

maybe its just a little dude not that big a sword

[extragunbon]

Meh, i wouldn't leave the katana handle so unprotected and so far from my body like that... someone might pull it and stab me with my own sword... Uh, kinky?

[Tadaningen]

Long sword, wow.

It must be hard o handle

[kazekention]

wtf is that a katana its big so tell me what you guys know about it the name the steel its made from and so on oh and who made it

[tuaregh]

dai katana ... meaning long sword ... it's all about personal preferences

[LotusDragon09]

Unless we can see the swordsmith's signature on the tang, we wont know who made it. I also have no idea what metal this perticular sword is made from. What I do know, is that this is a daikatana. Basically a katana but with a longer blade (4-8 inches longer) and slighty longer hilt. This is different from a nodachi or odachi though, as those swords are much bigger.

[BigBananaMan]

Katana, high carbon steel with low carbon core, made by Japanese sword smiths. Wik "katana" for more info.

[cheaptrades]

I've heard from several sources that Toshiro Mifune and Tetsuya Nakadai studied sword. does anyone know which styles they trained in?

[basilolo]

I'm not sure but I've heared that Toshiro studied Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu.

[buskowiak]

about Toshiro Mifune I know that he trained Katori Shinto Ryu. About Tetsuya Nakadai I don't know.

[Bigboss5]

i don't know that he Mifune trained in kenjutsu but i know that the martial arts adviser for most of Kurosawa's films was Yoshio Sugino of Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu. I guess you could call that training, considering how many movies Kurosawa did with Mifune.

[AZURA888]

for that reason I prefer the wakizashi

[buskowiak]

damn, this sword is simply too long! Such swords were used on frontlines and battlefields, iaijutsu was crated for normal live defense, while eating, drinking or something.

And we can see efects. His techniques are slow as hell and till he drop his sword of saya, normal iaijutsu user would done first kata cutting him in half. He's not Otake Shihan, for sure he's not.

[TranceHS]

yeah, i don't think the sword is big, rather the guy is little..:)

[cheaptrades]

actually sekiguchi komei prefers a longer sword. eishin ryu practitioners and chung suk kuhapdo (korean sword based off of eishin ryu) all use longer swords. so rather than say 28" blade, maybe a 30" would suffice 4 this style, depending on the persons size of course

[kojiro3134]

Actually he's only doing it slow to show everyone the technique. He goes to Texas alot and I've seen him do kata extremely quick.

[cheaptrades]

wait, wait, sekiguchi sensei goes to texas alot?

[idma]

yes, he goes to lubbock, tx at walt bussey's dojo.

[thatpersonagain]

i think he also once said that you should train with the heaviest blade you can, that way you can use anything lighter.. if you train with a light blade (700-800 grams) then you won't be able to use anything heavier as well as you would the light one

[emdog2564]

after a few movements with an iaito or bokken even. pick up a tonto or light stick. you feel a huge speed boost and agility with it. yet you notice that it goes away after a bit. silly muscles.

[sagmann20]

wuts that a friggin nodachi?!

[Snakeguevara]

whatever it is man, it looks way too big for him lol

[TonyNhollywood]

THAT SWORD IS HUGE! WOW!

[redsoxxmaxx]

whew. incredible

[CentredOne]

I wonder what it is like to draw a sword like that.

[Nosferatum1066]

Brutal but beautiful Iaijustu !!! Looks similar to the one from Yagyu (i think Shingan) Ryu I've seen some years ago .

[Bratcipheo]

why does it looks so bad?

Im training iaido, and as far as i know hes making hell of many mistakes.

[idma]

He's actually extremely good. This is iaijutsu, not iaido. Sekiguchi's Iaijutsu is much more dynamic than iaido. In iaido you stay straight up & usually move slow. In Iaijutsu you have more realistic movement, using bigger 'battlefield' style swords, you move your body more, & draw woth a powerful 'stomp' somewhat similar to kendo. I see no mistakes, simply a true master in motion.

[Bratcipheo]

But for me it doesnt seem dynamic, but like hes stumbling over his own feet.The thing is, i cant imagine the stumbling being good in a real fight.Hes bending his back, forth and back like a tree in the wind.That means DEATH in real fights.Nevertheless i'll read more into it.

[idma]

I'm not the only one that really like his style, he is invited around the world for seminars. He does three a year in the US alone. He's also the 21st Grandmaster of Muso Jikden Eishin Ryu Iaijutsu, Yamauchi Ha branch.

[OOFUJISAN]

@idma hahahahahahah That is Sekiguchi? Wow! Sadly the video has a bad quality, but anyway still a awesome video. Would you please tell me who's that man?

Well it's a shame people think to know right and wrong. my conception is that anything we do in combat must have a purpose in real combat. I saw once a kata of sekiguchi and it is soooo different..... And now i found this video of yours..... Thanks man! <3 s2

[rottunpunk]

@Bratcipheo you try drawing a sword that long without moving.

I am assuming you do seitei iai?. This person understands the riai of the technique. Seitei doesnt cut to kill, just to look nice.

plus he is using his hara to move here not just body movement

[bassistoftheyear]

@Bratcipheo i know this is an old post but perhaps i can still give some insight, i recently started iaido aswell and i thought the same at first but his movements are a lot more reactionary than iaido also the whole keep your back straight thing was due to the need to wear armor. heavy armor might actually make you fall over so if he's not wearing any and doesn't plan to i see no need for it, but this is only my views i am far from being a master.

[RUSEMANE]

Haha yeah I've studied iaido and i saw that beast of a sword he's carrying and was like I don't think I could draw that very quickly hahha

[maceioninjutsu]

I think in a ryu people should learn iaido first, second iai-jutsu, then kenjutsu to be well rounded. I always asked who would win in a death match: the iaidoist whos sword is in, or the kenjutsu artist whos sword is already out? i know it depends on the better fighter, but they say a true master in iaido would kill on the first draw (no kenjutsu) but a kenjutsu artist speacializes in fighting blade to blade. IDK anyone; tell me what you all think.

[tenou123]

Methinks Iaijutsu users know kenjutsu as well, but the point here is in scenario. Both fighters would ideally always start with swords sheathed; thus handing the advantage to the Iaijutsu user as the Kenjutsu user still needs to draw his sword. I'm inclined to think iaijutsu users would be skilled in using a sheathed sword as a bo as well; granting then an even larger advantage in the unarmed start of combat. With both swords out, the advantage perhaps goes to the kenjutsu user.

[wheyez]

Well thats quite an assumption!

Each of those has more to it than the sword skill itself, such as mental training for example!

How about Kendo for that it teaches you to master combat timing!?!

All have a specific purpose, and are all related as parts to a much larger picture!

You should not focus on just a single piece & judge it out of context!

Im am learning all the pieces of the samurai art that i can, in order to further my understanding of these arts!

[wavyriver]

You are right about iaido b4 iaijutsu because it would be very difficult for one to calm their mind and execute the moves in one shot unless they live in the country side with nothing better to do. I prefer studying iaido/iaijutsu over kenjutsu because I'm not looking to go into any sort of competition or fight just for spiritual development. There's really no should or shouldn't study which art what so ever it really depends on what the individual is looking for is using the sword.

[spookysaurus]

maceioninjutsu, since in iaido the katana can be drawn from the saya and make the stroke in one and the same action, it would seem irrelevant that the kenjutsu exponent might have an unsheathed blade. But the mental attitude would seem more crucial anyway. Isn't the ultimate form of iaido a total inner poise and invincibility that makes any blade-crossing redundant, as expressed by the phrase; 'victory comes while the sword is still in the scabbard'?

[FumetsuShinryu]

There is a big difference in stance/style between Iaido and Iaijutsu. Sekiguchi is one of the best teachers of Iaijutsu; he wouldn't make mistakes.

[rifler27]

i know this is an iaijutsu vid. but apparently some of you know about kenjutsu as well.. Do Kenjutsu practitioners ever get their own actual sword? or do they all just stick to the bokken?

[Kendomaster215]

when you first strat out in kenjutsu training you use a bokken if you dont have bogu to being with at first that is the weapon you would be using the purpose of using a bokken is for kendo kata and forms not for sparring against your training partner. IF you could afford kendo bogu than you can buy yourself a shinai and with the shinai you can use for sparring against your opponent with you bogu on.

[TOREIKAN]

J'ai eu l'occasion de faire deux stages avec ce maître et Yan de HAAN son élève. Impressionnant. Je n'ai jamais compris, vu sa petite taille comment il pouvait manier un sabre aussi long.

[YoYo0oYoY]

quite honestly... i believe that a person who only no iai better get it right the first time, and a person who only know ken better have time to get his sword out. to really do well one should learn both.

[SuperNinja8000]

Holy shit, Biggest Katana I seen yet.

[LefttooRight]

I love training with Sekiguchi Sensei. He is awesome, in technique, in spirit and in character.

[darkshogun1980]

Why does he use a sword wich looks much bigger than swords used by most MJER practitioners?

[idma]

This is iaijutsu, not iaido. Although there are few differances, we do use longer 'battlefield' style swords.

[darkshogun1980]

I use a 'normal' size iaito. Where to you guy get you longer swords? Are they custom made?

He seems to swing very slowly. Is this because the sword is rather heavy?

[idma]

They are considerably heavier, but after a little bit of practice you can swing them fairly quick. You can call most sword companies & tell them what you want & they will make it for you.

[Arcolithe]

are they able to perform battojutsu?

[tenkendojo]

his sword is actually made my swordsmith. Then length is 2.8shaku, which is almost 85cm or 35in long blade.

[genei09]

Sekiguchi Sensei prefers us to train with larger heavier swords with the idea that being proficient in a sword considered unwieldy will make a smaller sword very easy. This sentiment was shared by Musashi.

[sleeplessintokyo]

i was wondering about that point, i thought its either the sensei is small in posture or was using the tachi long sword, i dont mean disrespect. this clip is insightful to my humble knowledge.. thanks.

[tenkendojo]

that's a long katana, being 2.8shaku long.

[MockTheFools]

I find this a very interesting subject as, in Katori Shinto Ryu, you are encouraged to use a much shorter sword than most of the other schools as the emphasis is on speed and manouvreability (my own katana is only 2.2 shaku).

May I ask which swordsmith you are referring to tenkendojo? (I am familiar with many of the smiths currently working in Japan)

[MockTheFools]

Er, I'll re-phrase the question then "tekendojo" (as, after 2 weeks, you're obviously having problems understanding it).

WHO exactly is "your" swordmith who made this long katana?

[darkshogun1980]

How well balance are the larger swords? Do they feel 'top heavy' or just heavier overall?

[thatpersonagain]

i'd expect it'd vary depending on who made the sword.. but yeah, they're a lot heavier than one that's the right length for your height..

[swordsman5]

However with Niten Ichi Ryu (Musashi's style)the bokuto used to practice the techniques with are far lighter. The reason for this is that if you can perform the techniques against a faster weapon, when facing a combat situation using heavier metal weapons the attacks seem a lot slower and therefore easier to deal with. Incidentally the late Haruna Sensei always said that 2.4 shaku was the longest a blade needed to be for MJER.

[truebutton]

very nice vid and also not the common offencive youtube-discussion infact very informative thx for posting.

[Noldrak0]

The current grandmaster of Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu is Miura Takeyuki Hidefusa. Is this the other branch of Eishin Ryu?

[idma]

There are actually three main lines in Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu. Two are iaijutsu, & one is iaido. Hidefusa does iaido, Sekiguchi & Ikeda are the head of the two iaijutsu lines.

[Noldrak0]

o, thank you

[simmyuk]

he looks like the bad dude in james bond

[the50s60s70s]

Katana looks like huge 3+ shaku

[trolltrumman]

AWE!

Just watch that footwork. The hips carry the man like clouds!

[nokori3byo]

I see that he opted for the no stab version of gyakuto.

[swampghost]

he stabed once

[czumelzu]

The garment that he wears is not a keikogi is a montsuki, a traditional kimono with kamon (clan crest) who indicates the high level of this sensei. Only a very high dan rank uses this kind of garment.

[teinoushasan]

very nice vid...iaijutsu is one of my fav. things to watch and learn about. question though: what kind of keikogi is he wearing? most of the onz i've seen don't have the extra cloth hanging from the arms...hehe, just curious.

[vitinhoboladao]

i am a sekiguchi but i live im brazil

[HaMoOhAhA]

I have an iaito with an extra long tsuka. I've never been a fan of the smaller ones.

[Schwertfechter]

Can anyone tell me the names of the kata Sekiguchi sensei is performing?

[Acrimonius1408]

what?

[scottrekishika]

and the "do"/"jutus" destinction is for the most part a western one intorduced by mr. donn f. draeger to try to help foreingers tell the difference between schools that are mainly combat oriented and those "spiritualy" oriented. for most experienced practitioners and in japan the words are pretty much interchangable.

[scottrekishika]

his sword seems more combat oriented in size, rather then the small standard size ones used in most schools of iaido. longer tsuka (too a certain degree) means more leverage, thus more cutting power when one knows how to use that extra length. mekyo kaiden is tricky cause it means different things, some schools are very strict and others expect the menkyo kaiden to becmo independant and will have pretty much free rain to teach and adapt as they see fit.

[CharlesMahan]

Oe-soke was not the founder of MJER. He is in fact the 17th soke in a lineage which goes all the way back to Hayashizaki Jinsuke Minamoto Shigenobu. He is apparently the source of the name MJER, which is a name he assigned to Tosa Iai. It's not really a new art. It would be more appropriate to say that it is a rebranding of a pretty old one(450+ years).

[leogan]

He selected specific waza from the different schools of tosa iai and he named that school "Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu Iaido" he is the founder of the school, not the creator, its different

[ericspinelli]

On an inquisitive note, can anybody explain the (to me) non-standard kanji for "sou" in "musou" as seen on the website mentioned by idma?

[leogan]

in Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu, MUSO means "without equal"

"aido, iaijutsu. Budo, bujutsu. They mean the same thing to many people and are as interchangeable now as they have been throughout Japanese history."

I agree with you, however, Oe Masamichi Sensei named the style IAIDO, I think we should respect that.

[brettdenison]

The Kanji used by Sekiguchi sensei is the original kanji that was used. The Japanese language went through a significant change--simplification--a while back where they replaced many more complicated characters with simpler characters. The Kanji for "sou" was one of them; Sekiguchi sensei continues to use the original kanji.

[ericspinelli]

Iaido, iaijutsu. Budo, bujutsu. They mean the same thing to many people and are as interchangeable now as they have been throughout Japanese history. This includes some of the aforementioned sensei. Please do a search for both "MJER kongen no maki" and "MJER kogen no maki" both without quotes. 'Kongen' is correct, I believe, but the typo alternative will turn up equally interesting results. Enjoy.

[Nukiushi77]

Circular logic is not the way of state facts my friend. You can´t say that somebody is something because its own webpage claims so. Sekiguchi sensei represents one of many branches of modern adaptations of MJER. The correct term is iaiDO, you have to remember that MJER was estructured between 1898 and 1927.

[aWhym]

Hi. The size of the sword depends of the ha you study. The original Eishin Ryu is from the Tosa prefecture where traditionaly long swords were wield. Yamauchi line follows this original iaijutsu, koryu style. I don't know the other streams of the style, but the difference between 'do' and 'jutsu' I do. Actually I wouldn't respond to this at all, if you don't write the last par. Sekiguchi Komei sensei is the 22th soke of MJER Yamauchi, and not anyone in Japan doubt this. Please don't either.

[Nukiushi77]

By the way, the historically correct name is MJER Iaido, no Iaijutsu. And if you see the pictures of the founder Oe Masamichi Sanetaka you will see that the lenght of the katana is about 2.25-2.30 shaku, length characteristic of the style. For example seiza no bu ropponme as many wazas from Okuden have inherent movements associated with this geometry. It is quite strange that the supossed head of the style wields a katana of about 2.8-2.9 shaku.

[idma]

2.25-2.30 are for very short people & kids. Two of the three MJER systems call themselves iaijutsu. It makes since to use a battlefield style sword if you are teaching a traditional art. I agree that this is Sekiguchi's own doing, but each master adds his own touch to the art. You've put alot of very good info here, but I to say that there is no iaijutsu is to say there is no kenjutsu, there was no 'do' before the 1800's, so everything would have been jutsu or ryu.

[Nukiushi77]

Federations of budo are sons of this problem and the head of AJKF or AJIF are not historically correct heads of budo schools. So The founderof the school didnt named a succesor thats it.Political issues force some person to name a new head, may be. But the menkyo kaiden as far as I know is sustained by Iwata Norikazu.

[Nukiushi77]

So Oe sensei is the founder of MJER and he did not named any succesor. The three main branches are self proclaimed as head of MJER trough XX and XXI century. You have to remeber the political issues ocurred during WWII and how the main streams of martial arts had to struggle for surviving during occupation deforming the essense into more sportif systems as you can see for example in the modern Kendo system.

[Nukiushi77]

I would like to state some facts that may be usefull to understand some questions here. It is true that Oe Masamichi Sanetaka was the head of Tanimura Ha, but that school remains active trough Iwata Norikazu Sensei, head of Roshukai. So Tanimura Ha is still living. Also the name MJER for the Ryu was giving by Oe Sensei as a synthesis of previous schools as you can see in the order and lenght of the series of wazas which historically had been designed in a different sequence.

[idma]

He is the head of MJER. Yamauchi Ha, Masaoka Ha, & Hokiyama Ha are all MJER. Komei Ryu is his personal system using his name, Sekiguchi Komei.

[leogan]

what about Miura HIdefusa Sensei and Ikeda Takeshi Sensei?

you cant say any of them are the head of MJER, the last Soke was Oe Masamichi Sensei and he didnt have a successor.

[idma]

Actually they both are. Miura Hidefuse is over Masaoka Ha. Ikeda Takeshi is over Hokiyama Ha. You are correct when you say Oe Masamichi did not name a successor, but he was the head of Tanimura Ha, which is no longer in existence.

[leogan]

no longer in existence? it does exist!

I just think its disrespectful to say that Sekiguchi sensei is the head of MJER.

[idma]

Look him up on the net & you will see that he is the head of MJER. Since I train in his organization I'm not being disrespectful by stating his title.

[leogan]

yes, and people from ZNIR says Ikeda Takeshi is the Head, and people from Jikishinkai claims MIura Hidefusa is the head....

Sekiguchi sensei is not the head of MJER, he is the head of Komei Jyuku. Since I dont train in his organization, I find it disrespectful.

People could think their ways are wrong cos they are very different than this video

not everybody knows taht there is 3 modern MJER branchs.

[idma]

Each branch has there own head. I'm not being disrespectful, but by you saying Sekiguchi is not MJER, you are being disrespectful to everyone in his organization. Read his home page.

[idma]

komeijuku dot com - this is the only way I could put a web site on here, it won't let you post websites.

[leogan]

I didnt say taht sekiguchi is not MJER, I said he is not the head of MJER, he is the head of MJER- Yamauchi Ha

One of my students found this video and he asked me "Is he the head of our style?" the answer is NO

Oe Masamichi Sensei named the style "Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu Iaido" not Iaijutsu.

I know very well sekiguchi sensei organization, since a few years.

[genei09]

Can you really call it modern if the split between the branches was three or four soke ago?

[brettdenison]

Komei Juku is the name od Sekiguchi sesnei organization, it is not the name of the ryuha he teaches. He teaches Yamauchi-ha Muso jikiden Eishin-ryu Iaijutsu.

[HidenMakimono]

This is a great Teacher, and a great Artist... he lives his art. This is an important video for some western samurais to learn a lesson from...

[khaaaaaan]

Very interesting video. His style of MJER is markedly different from the branch I study, but I can still recognize the different waza. Does anyone know the dimensions of his sword? It looks to be almost 3 shaku to me.

[brettdenison]

It is 2.8 shaku, with a tsuka of 11.5 inches.

[Mupuro]

I dont Know for sure but it looks like its a lil more than that ,either he is short or He is brandishing a really big sword ,vice versa or both

[rottunpunk]

atlast, some decent swords stuff in amongst all the backyard samyuray-ing that goes on here. nice vid.

:p

[JulianDupuy]

I've had the pleasure of training with him last year, and I'm looking forward to his visit next November. That sword IS huge, as well as the bokuto he uses.

His blade control is impressive, double (make that triple) impressible considering the blade's extra size.

[ThisOneisHaku]

Very cool video. I almost like the way he did sodesurigaeshi (about 2 minutes in i think) better than how we do it now... It's really interesting... I actually got to train with him once; it was a great experience.

[GeneralHanSolo]

Thats one big ass katana for himself.

[idma]

Sekiguchi is known for the size of his sword. Large katana are used throught his organization.