Samurai art

Martial arts that become the family tradition to be sophisticated by Samurais, warriors from the land of the Rising Sun.

Iaijutsu

Iaijutsu is known today in different names, in particular as Iai (coexistence), Nukiiai (coetaneous snatching), Baken (sword removal), Tatiiai (face-to-face position) and, finally, Battojutsu (the art of sword drawing). Iaijutsu is the art aimed to win (to be specific, not to fail) in the battle through the single movement of sword drawing from the scabbard. In other words, this is the skill to foresee the opponent’s intentions and swiftly dissect him with the precise flourish of the sword without any doubt. This art was known long before the Tokugawa period though it is still not precise when the term first became effective for sword drawing art.

Kenjutsu

Kenjutsu is the technique of using the sword. This originated with the samurai class in feudal Japan. It is the term used for traditional schools of Japanese swordsmanship. The history of Kenjutsu is closely related to the history of martial arts development in Japan. In XII-XIII centuries of the early Middle Ages the swordsmanship was deemed essential for any warrior as the part of training as the samurai.

Kyujutsu

Kyujutsu, the Japanese art of archery (long arch “yumi”), is traditionally considered as one of the most efficient methods to enhance the martial spirit. Herewith, the term «art” is applicable to archery to the highest extent than to any other traditional martial arts.

Kusari-jutsu

Kusari-jutsu is the art of mastering the manrikigusari (short chain). The manrikigusari was used in feudal Japan; it consisted of a chain (kusari) of 30 to 40’’ In length with a weight in the ends of about 100 g. This was the weapon similar to kusarikogama, that is the chain with the weight in one end (kusarikama).

Hojo-jutsu

Hojo-jutsu, also called as Nawajutsu is the traditional martial art practiced in Japan for many years, the technique used in jujutsu (jiu-jitsu) when no weapon is used when combating with the opponent. Instead, the simple rope or cord is used. This is the technique of retraining the enemy to defeat. The Japanese warriors used to secure prisoners to convoy to the destination. Also they used their ropes to tie up the criminals when arrested.

Jujutsu

Jujutsu is a traditional Japanese martial art and a technique to combat with enemies to defeat; the point is that the jujutsu follower did not use any weapon to confront the armed enemy. Jujutsu was also known as ju-jitsu or Japanese jiu-jitsu.

Female samurai

There were also female samurai in feudal Japan. They were called Onna-bugeisha meaning a woman practicing martial arts or Buke-no-onna to stand for a woman from the class of warriors skillfully mastering martial arts. They were members of the Bushi samurai class.

Samurai

Japanese Samurai is the term to stand for the special warriors formed from 1603 to 1868, during the reign of shogunate Tokugawa. In the Japanese and Chinese cultures the terms for samurai mean “those who serve closely to the nobility”. Any fate of any samurai is the death as the final life episode, this way or that. Thus, honorable and plain class of Samurai warriors were recognized among the whole class of samurai. The samurai who died from the sword-blade of the other samurai was deemed honorable and the highest award since the death from the ordinary person was believed to be disgraceful for these noble people. It’s interesting that Japanese samurai never yielded themselves prisoner. If so for any reasons, the Head of the Army ordered the samurai to commit a suicide.