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The Iaido technique consists of drawing, cutting, shaking the blood from the blade and sheathing from different positions, and this is what we could call the fundamental movements of the iai. Iai means unity of being, or union of spirits, in the sense of joining the spirit of the adversary without moving. Virtually all the action takes place in a single balanced, precise and clean movement.
These techniques were born at the time when kendo was practiced with an authentic sword and in real combat and were created to deal with situations in which, while sitting, lying down or in any other position, one was attacked with the sword sheathed.
The iaido is trained individually using an Iaito (Japanese saber), a weapon specially designed for this practice, of size, proportions and weight as similar as possible to the katana, but made with metal alloys cheaper than steel and usually unsharpened.
Iaido is practiced in the form of katanas, in which clean execution, control of movements, smoothness and balance are very important.
In 1952 the Japanese Kendo Federation was founded and within it a committee was created with teachers from different iaido schools to create a program with iaido katanas inspired by these schools, to teach the basic concepts of iaido in a standard way, with the intention of promoting iaido and facilitating its teaching and dissemination, especially among kendo practitioners.
