Japanese Sword Drawing : A Sourcebook

Japanese Sword Drawing : A Sourcebook by Zier, Don. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780865681620.

Japanese Sword Drawing is a complete guide to this esoteric aspect of sword fighting. Written by a sword-drawing scholar, this volume describes the techniques and katas of Muso Shinden Ryu, one of iados best-known schools. Many of the techniques and katas presented here have never before been available outside of the inner circle of the Muso Shinden Ryu school! Muso Shinden Ryu was founded by the great master Hayashi Jinsuke Shigenobu in the 16th century. Since that time, a succession of masters have guided the progress of the school, often adding katas and modifying techniques as their experiences dictated. Illustrated with nearly 800 photographs, this book records many iaido forms that thus far have only been orally transmitted. It documents the three styles of sword-drawing taught in the Muso Shinden Ryu system: shoden (first tradition), chuden (middle tradition) and okuden (interior tradition), each of which is actually a complete art of sword-drawing in itself. In addition, the sei tei kata (official forms) of the All-Japan Fencing Federation and the All-Japan Sword-Drawing Federation and described in detail. This volume is a must-have classic for practitioners of not only the Japanese sword arts, but sword arts the world over.