Iaido and Bokken Training


Iaido encompasses the study  of the Japanese swordsmanship, using a two handed sword known as a Katana.  Sensei Fred Bateman studied the system called Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu and had  the pleasure of being instructed by the 19th Generation Hanshi and holder of  the Menkyo Kaiden in both Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu and Tanimura-Ha of that Ryu.  His name was Kaicho Iwata Norikazu.
As part of the Kobudo school  Sensei Bateman is able to pass on his knowledge in iaido. However, he stresses  that to study the system to its full potential that is beyond the physical  mechanics of manipulating the sword and expanding self-knowledge in the study  of iaido, the student needs to train in the system on a full time basis thus  perfecting the art in its own right. Nevertheless the kobudo student needs to  have an understanding of the concepts of the sword and its use in order to  defend against it. Therefore, Sensei Bateman has incorporated lessons of iaido  and bokken into the students’ studies.

In order to train in iaido a student must eventually obtain an iaito (training sword), but can start some techniques using the bokken (wooden sword). Both these weapons can be obtained, please enquire, to be given advice. A link to the sword catalogue can be found on the Links page, or ask in the dojo.

Iaido Lessons

Lessons are free to all Kodokan students of age 15 and above, shall be held on a kobudo training session on a Monday night at St Anne’s Church Hall on the last Monday of each month. This can be found on the calendar – see Menu above.

As with all the weapons studied in kobudo the students learn about the history of the weapon and the weapon itself. So below are some PDF documents that cover this topic. To access them you may require a PDF reader, such as free Adobe Reader found on our Home Page.

Some Interesting documents on Iaido

  1. History of iaido
  2. Sword Genealogy
  3. Name of Sword Parts
  4. Sword Cleaning
  5. Safety for Iaido