Opinion of self training iaido?

Bradlee · White Belt

Hi was just asking opinions do you think someone could Train iaido
I have had a bit of formal training
I also have 18 years of karate
We are in a remote area that is why I can't go to a school

crash · Orange Belt

self training and self teaching are two very different processes. learning any martial art by oneself is never going to be as good as recieving training from a qualified instructor/teacher. with 18 years of karate training, (as long as it was quality training) you may know the foot placements and body movements as iado and kenjustsu in general are similar to striking and moves as karate. but you would have to be able to staudy the fine nuances of the art to really "get it" properly. and then there is the spiritual side to iado that you would almost have to have a teacher for. could you learn the forms, probably. but could you learn the art as a whole....possibly, but it would probably take much time and intense study to become even somewhat proficient. if there is no other way then studying alone may be the only way, just make sure you are thorough and no shortcuts are taken. which is very hard to do if not impossible.

Bradlee · White Belt

Thanks for the advice

Bradlee · White Belt

Thanks for the advice
Did not think of the spiritual side of it
I think that would be tha hard part

crash · Orange Belt

true iaido is a philosophy of morals, without a zenful approach of "mushin no shin" it isnt really iaido. that would be a problem of being self taught. now if you just want to learn sword kata that may be do-able with time and patience

RW · Green Belt

aurik · KF Sempai

As others have said, there are a lot of subtleties in Iaido and other sword arts, and a teacher will help you learn much quicker. With the advent of Zoom meetings, it's become much more common to do remote MA training, so that is certainly an option. However, I'd look for someone who is reasonably close to you, who you could visit in person every month or so. Video training is good -- in person training is much better.
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ashworth · Brown Belt

I am in a very similar situation myself, been a karate-ka my whole life, a few years ago found an Iaido club, trained on an off for around 2 years, until I moved and could no longer keep it up.

I have been trying to keep on top of what I did learn, which was basically just the 12 seitei kata, just because I enjoy doing them mainly, you have to have a clear reason what you want to achieve from your self training, if you want to do it to keep up with the current training standards in Iaido schools it would be very difficult, as already mentioned, there are so many little details in Iaido that are easily missed if not training under a watchful eye... and bad habits can easily start to form... I also noticed from my time in Iaido that there tends to be a big gathering every so often, and then the instructor comes back to show you small subtle differences in the tiny details of the kata! so after a while your training will likely become out-dated...

For me, with what I want to get out of it I'm fine with being slightly out-dated and possibly develop slightly incorrect habits, because I enjoy practising it now just for me, with the view that if the opportunity comes up to join another club, I'll still have the basic knowledge of those forms and can then work on correcting the details then...
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