Iaido may only be studied with the permission of the chief instructor. Iai Battoh-Ho retains the names and basic outline of all the Musô Shinden-ryû forms, while modifying the emphasis and various technical details. Musô Shinden-ryû is itself a derivative of some older ryu its founder contributed to the contemporary All-Japan curriculum. Then try your new-found skills out for yourself in our tameshigiri cutting exercise, a 400-year old practice using straw tatami mats to demonstrate your sword. With his permission, Chiba Sensei established Iai Battoh-Ho as a new ryu, in order to pursue more explicitly the connection between Iaido and Chiba Sensei's Aikido, and in order to distinguish our way from the modern, competitive approach. Each sword also has the option to be either unsharpened (Iaito) for iaido practice or sharpened (Shinken) for functional use, so when you're ready to move on to a shinken you can come back and get the same sword with a sharpened edge for tameshigiri.
![iaido practice sword iaido practice sword](https://d3d71ba2asa5oz.cloudfront.net/13000332/images/i-728-dg-2.jpg)
Originally our dojo followed Chiba Sensei in practicing Musô Shinden-ryû under Mitzuzuka Sensei. Alongside the purely physical and technical aspects, the art develops focused yet relaxed concentration, as we move from stillness to action and back to stillness, in the presence of a live blade. We also practice partner forms (kumi-dachi) with bokken. Iai Battoh-Ho is practiced primarily via solo forms (or kata) using a live or practice Japanese sword.
![iaido practice sword iaido practice sword](https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/H59239bd4563f4a658d24356be91fb233U/Kinds-of-Bamboo-Sword-Samurai-Iaido-Training-Katana-Bokken-Swords-Wooden-Swords-with-Saya.jpg)
In Birankai North America, Battoh-Ho is studied in large part for the same reasons as weapons work with bokken and jo: for what it reveals about the roots of Aikido as a martial art. One of the more widely practiced sets of. "Iai Battoh-Ho, meaning "sword-drawing method," is based on Iaido, "the Way of sword drawing," and other traditional forms of Japanese sword work. Within the last century, Japanese sword organizations have formulated representative sets adapted from some kory.