IAI: The Art Of Drawing The Sword

While as other people have said, you won't learn Iaido from a video or manual, you really do need a teacher. Well mine moved away, but I learned some of the basic katas and an understanding of Iai which I'm very thankful for. This book is fantastic, great pictures and descriptions, wonderful introduction and more for Iaido.

I like how the author goes into a lot of detail about traditional methods to wear the hakama and sword, inspect the sword, clean it, and descriptions of how swords were tested originally. He gives a lot of insight into traditions that are sadly lost in a lot of schools today. The descriptions of techniques and kata are first rate, and the included drawings reinforce the explanations and fill in some gaps if your school is a little lacking.Also, including the story of the 47 Ronin (aka the 47 Loyal Retainers) at the end was a nice touch.

I had owned this once in the past, and had lost it during a number of moves. I enjoyed it so much, that I had ordered it again. The price had played a role in that decision. While it is not cleanly edited, it does a great job of outlining some unique points on some basic history, use, and care of the samurai sword.

EXCELLENT book for the beginner in Iaido. It teaches some wazas and katas. It also teaches etiquette for in the dojo. For example; how to bow, how to wear the gi, hakama and obi and it goes in depth on how to draw the bokuto (this IS a book on Iaido after all), and much more. Well worth the money. I consider this book a must have before you even step into a dojo.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It had a lot of information and techniques.

Good book to read if in to moral anecdotes about samurai history and sword fight techniques and proper way to take care of your katana and self respect for the craft and what mean to call yourself samurai

This book is thicker than I expected. It's still a quick read. There's a lot of information, phonetic English spellings of Japanese terms, pictures, and illustrations. It's a lot to absorb, so I expect to reread it about 20 times.

Good idea of what it means to carry. God read for me, someone with no background in the art.

I came across this tome while training in the dojo, and a student mentioned it. I got it and not looked back since. The depth is just enough to satisfy BJJA and WJJF requirements in swordsmanship. The background behind the kata, techniques and simply the etiquette in the dojo is thoughtful, relevant and definitely adds to the book. The diagrams are easy to understand.

Getting into this now. I prefer photographs in an instruction book but I also prefer money in my wallet.

Such a complete waste of money, I refuse to waste more of my time reviewing that waste of good paper.

Lots of interesting informative

Good informative piece of history and culture, would certainly recommend to others.