Defenses against forms of iaido.

[Scully]

Evening all,

I'v always had a theory of practise when learning an art,
That you should know how to defend it as well, giving you a better understanding of it.

When I was 14 I start Tai-Jitsu, which taught me to defend against karate and kendo, and gave me a much better understanding of them.
I wont go into much detail on that,
But i'm just wondering if anyone knows any art (or parts of it) that have defenses against Iaido,
Tai-Jitsu dictates just to push the sword back into the saya before it is drawn, but i'm wondering if there is any art that ellaborates on this more,

Cheers

[Aden]

For the life of me I cant see why anyone would defend against kendo - shinai kendo is not and never has been a great threat walking down the street..... and by its nature it is not the same thing defending against it as it is defending a katana.

Iaido after all is just a subset of kenjutsu - kenjutsu starting from the draw, and lots of schools have techniques against the sword still in the belt - Shinto Muso Ryu jodo has many kata that begin by engaging the swordsman with the stick as his hands reach for the sword. And many iai kata are based on appropriate reaction to someone elses draw or intention to draw like seitei iaido no 1, 2, 4, 8, 10 rather than responding to an actual cut like seitei iaido 3.

As for pushing the sword back into the saya, in a general sense (no absolutes in the JSA) that works on beginners because it depends on the quality or lack of it in the draw- many koryu have answers for what do if the teki reaches for your tsuka. Teaching beginners one of the tools we use to show why you must draw and cut correctly is to prevent the draw by puching back the sword or the arm, another is to evade and come back inside the back of the blade. After a few repititions the beginner can usually perform the draw despite the interference or place the blade so the person interfering would injure their hand once they are shown how.

[tagonagy]

kendo is not and never has been a great threat walking down the street.....

Waitaminute. I thought the streets of Tokyo were teeming with shinai wielding thugs

[Fudo-Shin]

Downtown! Don't laugh!! :-)

[Durandal]

In tou have more chance crossing streets filled with naginata and kyudo foes. Beware of the distance :P

[Peter West]

The question only makes sense when you are sitting in your room thinking stuff up. When you are in the dojo training it makes no sense at all. If (hypothetically) I needed to draw against you (armed or otherwise) it would be a situation where my death would be the consequence of not drawing, I would make sure (hypothetically) that the result of my action would lead to your death. Slow, fast, painful, painless, it matters not one iota. I would hope to live long enough to see it happen.

This is a stupid question.

[b8amack]

This is a stupid question.

Whoever said there are no stupid questions was never a teacher.

[babayaga]

But i'm just wondering if anyone knows any art (or parts of it) that have defenses against Iaido,
Tai-Jitsu dictates just to push the sword back into the saya before it is drawn, but i'm wondering if there is any art that ellaborates on this more

Many of the kata in the middle level of study for Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryu and Muso Shinden-ryu are kata where "the enemy" is attempting to prevent a draw or otherwise mess with the swordsman. Elements of these kata suppress the enemy's draw. Of course in these cases the enemy dies and the swordsman is successful. There is also at least one kata in Shinto Muso-ryu jo that initially prevents the swordsman's draw.

Really, though, the emphasis seems to me to be on learning to recognize a situation that's starting to head south and never allowing it to get to that point. If you've suddenly got to be dealing with a sword, you've not been paying attention.

The vast majority of weapon arts are partner arts, so "defending" is built into the program.

-Beth

[Spooky]

Evening all,

I'v always had a theory of practise when learning an art,
That you should know how to defend it as well, giving you a better understanding of it.

When I was 14 I start Tai-Jitsu, which taught me to defend against karate and kendo, and gave me a much better understanding of them.
I wont go into much detail on that,
But i'm just wondering if anyone knows any art (or parts of it) that have defenses against Iaido,
Tai-Jitsu dictates just to push the sword back into the saya before it is drawn, but i'm wondering if there is any art that ellaborates on this more,

Cheers

Which specific style of Taijutsu are you on about?

Taijutsu is a pretty general term, IMO.

Are you referring to one of the X-Kans?

I think you might find certain ryu-ha will have areas of their curriculum which are for the purpose of preventing someone drawing their weapon.

[rfoxmich]

'Defense against kendo iaido' That's simple...cut them first.

Now being attacked by a banana...that's one I've wrestled with for many years without success.
Pointy sticks are so much easier.

[Peter West]

'Defense against kendo iaido' That's simple...cut them first.

Now being attacked by a banana...that's one I've wrestled with for many years without success.
Pointy sticks are so much easier.

Like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piWCBOsJr-w

[David G]

Like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piWCBOsJr-w

Love that sketch.

A homicidal maniac armed with a bunch of longanberrys - that's something I need to defend against!
But are the loganberry's still in the paper bag or has my opponent started to draw them out?!
Would placing my hand on the drawing arm be enough, or could my opponent simply step back like LS9 and still attack? (LS = Loganberry Seitei)
So many "what ifs"!!

[sirius1906]

Waitaminute. I thought the streets of Tokyo were teeming with shinai wielding thugs

Downtown! Don't laugh!! :-)

There are wallhanger wielding gangsters in Taiwan...at least in movies.

[chidokan]

I always thought a sniper rifle would be quite useful.... however a simple search for defence against katana would bring up WW2 and the fact that you just shot them. Apparently the first charge was quite scary, but if you made it through that you just listened for the shouting and fired in that direction.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Defence against iaido - ask them which way the pinky should point during mae. You'll have hours to make your escape during the ensuing argument. For extra time, ask them if your Hello Kitty montsuki is acceptable.