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Iaido at Sunrise School

According to the legend, the founder of the art of Iaido is considered to be Hayashizaki Jinsuke Shigenobu, the son of Asano Kazuma Shigeharu.

Asano Kazuma was a high-ranking samurai and taught Ise-ryu Etiquette (Ashikaga Reiho) to the fourteenth shogun Ashikaga Yoshiharu, during the decline of the Muromachi shogunate. After the fall of the shogun, he became a ronin. Some time later, he entered the service of the Mogami clan in the city of Tateoka. At that time, the country was in the midst of brutal feudal wars that dragged on for many decades and ended only in 1600.
His son was born in 1542. Asano Tamijimaru was six years old when his father, Asano Kazuma, was killed by Sakagami Shuzen, who also served the Mogami clan. The conflict was caused by a dispute over which school of Etiquette the clan should follow. Ashikaga Reiho (Ise-ryu school) etiquette originated from the rituals of Ise Shrine, one of the most important temples in Japan dedicated to the goddess Amaterasu. And although other traditions have replaced them in modern times, echoes of this school of etiquette are still discernible in modern Japan today. According to the laws of the time, a samurai who failed to fulfill the Duty of Vengeance could not take a worthy position in society. Since Tamijimaru was still a child at the time of his murder, the moment of taking revenge was postponed until he reached adulthood. From a young age, Asano Tamijimaru was raised at the Hayashizaki Kumano Jinja Temple, absorbing the traditions of his ancestors and learning the difficult art of the Sword.
After the coming of age ceremony at the age of eighteen, receiving the new name Hayashizaki Jinsuke Minamoto no Shigenobu, the young man set out to fulfill the Duty of Vengeance. After spending two years searching, he found the one he was looking for. But even having reached adulthood, he had no chance of defeating the mature sword master: when Hayashizaki saw the enemy of his life, he realized that he would not have enough strength to surpass such an experienced opponent.
Hayashizaki did not want to die without achieving his goal, without fulfilling his filial duty and without restoring his trampled honor. He went into the mountains to temper himself, pray and inquire of the gods. After 100 days of meditation in the temple, Hayashizaki became enlightened: he discovered a way to defeat any opponent. He left the temple, spent some more time training, perfecting the one and only move that was supposed to bring him victory, and then came down from the mountains and went to look for Sakagawa Shuzen. Having found his enemy, Hayashizaki challenged him to a duel and cut him down before he could draw his sword.
This is how Iaido arose – the art of instantly releasing a sword from its sheath and suddenly attacking.

The patron god of Iai is considered to be Hayashizaki-Iai-Taishin (Hayashizaki Myojin). Hayashizaki-Iai Temple is located in Yamagata Prefecture, Tateoka City. According to legend, it was in this temple that Hayashizaki Jinsuke was meditating when he experienced enlightenment (usually this event is dated to 1559). The temple was built in 808, its old name is Hayashizaki-Kumano-Jinja. The temple is associated with famous Shinto shrines near the city of Kumano in Mie Prefecture: Kumano-Nachi-taisha, Kumano-Hongu-taisha, Kumano-Hayatama-taisha.

The name iaido comes from the phrase “tsune-ni itte kyu-ni awasu”, which can be translated as follows – “wherever you are, you must always (be ready) to react instantly”. It was from this expression that the first two hieroglyphs were taken: “itte” – one of the forms of the verb “iru” and “awasu” – a verb formed from “ai”.