San Diego Iaido - America Tosa Jikiden Shigetsukai

Iwata-sensei

San Diego Iaido is the home of authentic, traditional Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu iaido in Southern California. Iaido is the practice of responding to threats with the sword from the sheathed position. It is a very old art, some 450+ years of age, that has been practiced in various forms into the modern times. Most modern iaido is focused on the mental and spiritual aspects of the art.  We practice a combat-oriented form of iaido that has its roots in the techniques promulgated by Oe Masamichi, a master from the late 1800s.

Our focus includes the contemplative aspects of the art but it is more concerned with the practicalities of armed conflict. In the era of the handgun, swordsmanship is an anachronism but that is no reason to abandon its study or to relegate it to pure meditation in motion.

Our headmaster is Miki Minobu-sensei, a direct student of Iwata Norikazu-sensei, one of the best-known and most highly skilled modern masters of the Japanese sword. Iwata-sensei was a powerful and respected swordsman, a student himself in the direct line of Oe Masamichi. He was known as a scholar and perfectionist, always focused on the art as a connection to the old ways of combat.

Miki-sensei continues Iwata-sensei’s methods of training and maintains iaido as a method of true sword-based combat. He teaches the iaido waza, preset forms with the sword, as well as the kumitachi, paired practice, associated with the art. Miki-sensei brings his years in karate and Okinawan weapons (kobudo) into the training to demonstrate how the sword works in the grand scheme of combat. Miki-sensei holds the rank of hachi-dan hanshi in karate-do, so he is referred to as "Hanshi" in-house.

We are a small school composed of serious students. We invite anyone to join us and we look forward to sharing this very old and rare martial art with anyone who is serious about learning its ways. 

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