"Iaido" by William DeLange/Akita Moriji.

[fifthchamber]

Hello all.
I found this book a while back in Foyles and passed over it..I noticed that it seemed to be an outline of some of the kata used in the Shinkage (Seigo) Ryu Iaijutsu/Battojutsu schools...I recently picked it up again and looked through the B.R.D. for the name of Akita Moriji-s teacher, a 'Kashima Kiyotaka', a student of Yagyu Toshinaga (called 'Gencho' in the book)...As I found the names in the Daijiten I was wondering what the 'general' feeling was in regards to the book, more especially from the students of the school themselves and was hoping that Mr. Skoss or anyone else in a position to comment on their feelings toward the book or the author might post here...(I am aware that Mr. Skoss studies the Seigo Ryu).
If the book has been discussed previously I apologise, but I found nothing with a search so posted here.
The only complaint that I had with the book was the use of 'Seiden' rather than 'Shoden' and a few other basic errors but I would be interested to hear others views on the subject here.
Regards.

Amazon.co.uk address for the book is here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0834805006/ref=sr_aps_books_1_1/026-9114195-7086034

[Meik Skoss]

It's an interesting book. The techniques shown are variations of the waza found in Yagyu Seigo-ryu battojutsu, although some of the names and rationales are rather different from what they are called in Seigo-ryu.

I think the book is a valuable addition to peoples' bookshelves, if it is not used as a substitute for qualified instruction in iaijutsu/do and kenjutsu/do. Likewise, it would be silly for somebody doing a different ryu, Muso Shinden-ryu, for example, to buy the book and copy the techniques in the belief that they will therefore be doing some version of Shinkage-ryu swordsmanship. Ryu have different ways of doing things, of organizing their exponents' minds and bodies through training, and copying exterior form doesn't begin to approach the reality of a particular system.

That being said, I think the book is worth getting. Enjoy!

[fifthchamber]

Hello Mr. Skoss,
Yes, I had initially passed the book by as I thought that it was just another list of the ZNKR/ZNIR kata, I had not looked too hard but had seen a few of the patterns from seiza and not thought much more about them...Closer examination shows that some of the patterns are actually quite interesting to see, albeit, as you note, pretty useless except as trivia to someone like me I guess..Thanks for the answer though. It was pretty much what I expected, and I appreciate the reply.
Yours sincerely.