Nakamura-ryu Battodo
中村流抜刀道A modern Japanese school of drawing and cutting with the sword, derived from the army Toyama-ryu. Its core is eight cuts and test cutting.
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About Nakamura-ryu Battodo
Nakamura-ryu battodo is a modern Japanese school of drawing and cutting with the sword, created by Nakamura Taizaburo (1912–2003), born in Yamagata prefecture and later resident in Yokohama. The founding year is not documented and this page therefore leaves it blank; what is certain is that the method took shape while Nakamura was teaching kenjutsu in northern China, and that it grew out of Toyama-ryu, the sword training of Japanese army officers, from which Nakamura discarded what he did not consider martially functional. What is distinctive about the school is the source of its structure. The eight cuts called happogiri — a thrust, a vertical downward cut and six diagonal and horizontal variants — Nakamura derived from eiji happo, the eight basic strokes of Chinese and Japanese writing. This transfer of a calligraphic principle into blade work sets the school apart from most modern sword lines, which build on a sequence of forms. Technically the emphasis falls on what happens after the cut: halting the blade at a precise point, parrying with it, and using its momentum to move into the next posture. That is why tameshigiri, test cutting into a soaked straw roll, carries so much weight in the syllabus — it shows the angle and the delivery better than any form can. The term battodo rather than battojutsu expresses Nakamura's intent: this was not a revival of an old school but a systematic modern discipline. The method is carried today by the International Iai-Battodo Federation and by IBF-Kakuseikai, with registered dojos worldwide.
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