Starting from about the beginning of the 20th Century, most of the highest-level masters of traditional Japanese martial arts understood that for the very survival of their historical knowledge something had to change. Gone were the days of the Samurai and a new era was already there: it was time to change the purpose of their arts from "technical arts" (jutsu) to "ways" (do).
To do that, the message of their arts had to modernize itself, while keeping the core values and truths of their techniques alive; for this reason many of the top Masters of the time started to create federation and commissions, coming from many different schools (ryuha) to try and summarize the best principles into something at the same time new and faithful to the originals. It was like this that Kenjutsu, with its many old schools, was condensed into modern Kendo, or Jujutsu into Judo, Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu into Aikido, and so on. This is true also for Iaido, which originally was named Iaijutsu under many different schools: Muso-Shinden, Eishin, Hoki, Mugai, Toyama, Yagyu-Shinkage and so on. In the 1960s a commission was formed to create a system of Kata, or preordained forms, that could be a common base for all of the schools, a good basic learning method and also a form of meditation in movement with self-improvement aspects. Originally composed of 7 forms, it was later increased to 10 and eventually to 12; it was not meant to include ALL of the schools, but more to include most of their principles and fundamental techniques. Today most iaidoka still learn and practice mostly these 12 forms, integrating with each own's personal progress also the traditional school followed by his teacher. It is very interesting to have a look and analyze the various Seitei forms and see which school was its main origin: 1. Mae: The first and fundamental form was taken from Omori-ryu (which is the common set of seiza forms both present in Muso-Shinden and in Eishin-ryu), and originally called "Shohatto"; 2. Ushiro: The same, from Omori-ryu, called "Atarito"; 3. Ukenagashi: Again from Omori-ryu, called "Ryuto" or "Ukenagashi"; 4. Tsuka-ate: from Eishin-ryu; 5. Kesagiri: from Hoki-ryu; 6. Morote-tsuki: composed from basic movements of several schools; 7. Sampogiri: composed from basic movements of several schools; 8. Ganmen-ate: from Muso-Shinden-ryu, called "Moniri"; 9. Soetetsuki: from Hoki-ryu; 10.Shihogiri: from Hoki-ryu; 11. Sougiri: from Muso-Shinden-ryu, called "Somakuri"; 12. Nukiuchi: from Mugai-ryu, callled "Gyokkou"; It is interesting to notice that somehow the distribution of these "origin" schools within the 12 kata also reflects the overall amount of practictioners actively studying these ryuha: for example by large numbers the most popular is Muso-Shinden-ryu, which is present with 5 forms (3 from Omori-ryu and 2 only of Muso-Shinden-ryu), second Eishin-ryu, with 4 forms, third Hoki-ryu with 3 forms, and the other schools following with 1 form or less. It is also interesting to notice how the "origin" forms and the Seitei version tend to be very different in execution and purpose, even if the sequence is immediately recognizable by looking. So even when practicing Seitei, or "modern" Iaido, we are still in fact honoring a tradition going back for centuries and at the same time learning the most important physical and phylosophical aspects of Iai. In fact, I discovered in years of practicing Japanese Budo that the ancient schools present in also a modern set were kept more "alive" than others who chose to remain independent and tied to the past and that today are executed often as an empty repetition of movements. And this is the most important message: no matter which School or which art you practice, make it "yours", make it "alive" - it's the only way to truly preserve it and pass it to the next generation. You can get more information or join our Iaido courses in Singapore on this page or by writing to our email.
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