Toyama-ryu Battojutsu
戸山流抜刀術Japanese swordwork from 1925, assembled at a military school. The draw is made standing and in uniform; classical iaido proceeded from a seated position.
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About Toyama-ryu Battojutsu
Toyama-ryu battojutsu is a Japanese method of swordwork that arose not in a family line but in a military school. It was assembled in 1925 by the Toyama Army School in Tokyo, an establishment for training officers, and for a very practical reason: officers wore a sabre with the uniform, but the classical iaido schools proceeded from drawing while seated and from clothing none of them had on. Toyama-ryu therefore simplified the whole procedure and reworked it for standing. The draw is made from walking as well as from stillness, always standing and in uniform with boots, and the programme contains only as many forms as can be learned in a military course — originally seven, later added to. Alongside the draw the second part is tameshigiri, the test cut into a rolled mat, which verifies whether the blade is truly being carried correctly; it is in this field that Toyama-ryu is best known today, and competitions are held in it. After the Second World War the school was abolished along with the army, but its graduates passed it on, so that today it exists in several independent organisations with slightly differing readings. What is unusual is that this is one of the few Japanese sword schools whose exact date, place and reason of origin are known.
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