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
through sensei Bateman (please enquire). A link to the sword
catalogue can be found on the Links page.
Classes, free to all
Kodokan students of age 15 and above, shall be held
on a kobudo training session either on a Monday night at St
Anne's Church Hall on the following times:
September
24th at 8.00 to 9.30 pm
October 22nd at 8.00 to 9.30 pm
November 19th at 8.00 to 9.30 pm
More to be added at a later date
As
with all the weapons studied in kobudo the students learn about
the history of the weapon and the weapon itself. So below is
some PDF documents that cover this topic. To access them you
will require a PDF reader, such as Adobe found on our Home Page.
