Thread: Iaido?

Though I haven't been going to my dojo for the last 2 years due to my schedule, I received my shodan in Musou Jikiden Eishin Ryuu Iaido in 2003. Most of the people at my dojo end up with Iaito from Nosyuiaido, but we all started with bokken. Their prices are quite reasonable, starting below $400, and the customization options are fantastic.

I cannot recommend them highly enough. If you have any questions, I'll be watching this thread for them, or you can PM. I believe their US store is swordstore.com, but I think they also do UK sales through there.

--Maeglin

I used to do Kendo and we liked to watch you guys. but there was actually something about actually hitting and being hit that was just more fun. plus the speed and viciousness of competition was a thrill. I'd love to get back into it but there are only so many hours in the day now I get my thrills catching dogs.

I did kendo as a kid, lost interest, and then picked it up again, 5 years ago.
I quit after 6 months because I didn't enjoy the thought of getting hit on the head continuously.

Even with the helmets, a clean hit on the head can have an enormous impact.
I have had a severe concussion once in my life, and since then I have always been careful to avoid a second.
The ability to sit behind a screen 12 - 14 hours per day is much too valuable to risk imo.

A little research showed that mild concussions are pretty common in kendo.
so when the time came (after 6 months) to put on the armour, I decided to quit.
I thought of switching to iaido, but the hours and the location of the dojo were so inconvenient that I decided to call it a day and say the martial arts scene goodbye.

A properly sized protector is a real big help in preventing injury. I've seen guys in really badly sized amour just because their father wore it or their grandfather, also cheap internet ordering has something to do with it. But I had a nice well fitted set, only got a headache when teaching beginners to actually hit for the first time. Those days I'd get hit in the head a couple of thousand times.

As white guys we have an an advantage too, with most of the competition being shorter than us the shini strikes are angled more onto the rim of the faceplate and less on the head.

I really miss it but training my dogs in martial arts fills that hole

Here's the response from the guy I train with about where he & others he trains with bought their iaito:

I bought Mary and my iaito from bogubag.com but I think they are temprorarily not taking orders at the moment. They've held together pretty well.

Alt of the places you can get them at should allow you customize them a bit. Such as interchanging tsuba from a different style iaito or ito color or saya.

Most people that I know who do iaido get them from swordstore.com or tozando.com though there has been some complaints about swordstore.

I recently bought a new hakama and kekogi from budo-aoi.com and they were good to work with. They have a decent selection of iaito.