Practice Drills for Japanese Swordsmanship: Iaido

Rating:
Summary: Not very useful
Review: I found the illustrations difficult to follow. Many seemed to show only the starting position and ending position of a particular action, making it hard to see exactly what was intended. There are a number of much better books, such as "Flashing Steel".

Rating:
Summary: Inspirational, Helpful
Review: I found this book valuable for the Author's insistence and emphasis on the basic techniques of swordplay.My only experience with swordsmanship is in the European tradition, but I found the authors drills to be helpful, in terms of illustrating the importance of timing and distance. The drills are not flashy, but were never represented as such.My experience in fencing suggests that the best and most succesful swordsmen do simple moves, very fast, very accurately, and at just the right time. I believe the drills in this book will help any swordsman develop such skills.This is not a book for someone with no experience or no teacher, but If you want to learn some valuable insights into real swordsmanship, this book will be helpful, especially at this price.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: I have attended some seminars taught by Suino-Sensei and I learned more in one day than in years at other seminars. This book is a great companion book for people who want to learn how to really use a bokken. It is a great companion book to go with Suino's Art of Japanese Swordsmanship!

Rating:
Summary: BOOK REVIEW
Review: This book contains loads of good basic info and drills for one and two persons. I enjoyed it even though most of the drills were known to me. I would recommend it for anyone interested in the sword arts.

Rating:
Summary: Stays only on the basics. I didn't like it...
Review: This book is divided in 3 different sections (stepping drills, solo drills, two-person drills) All of them are EXTREMELY basic, accompanied by 2 dimensional drawings of the movements (that really don't say anything about the movement, and remind you of old nintendo samurai videogames -that's how the drawings look like, imagine what you can learn from them-) I really didn't like it. It's relly not usefull at all, other books on the subject have better "drills", with lots of other good stuff -not like this one-.

Rating:
Summary: review by Samurai Practisioner Tadamori Yoshi
Review: This book is great for new students to the art of Iaido,it tells you step by step instructions on almost all of the drills to be practiced and is one of the best books to start with

Rating:
Summary: An excellent supplement
Review: This book performs its function perfectly, as a supplement to iaido or kendo training, not as a comprehensive guide to these other arts. The drills are excellent, the illustrations clear and concise, especially to a proponent of the art. The book is NOT a stand-alone manual to any specific art, and shouldn't be read as such. For something like that, try "Kendo:The Definitive Guide" or Suino's "The Art of Japanese Swordsmanship;" both of these are as close as I've found to "definitive" works.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent supplement
Review: This book performs its function perfectly, as a supplement to iaido or kendo training, not as a comprehensive guide to these other arts. The drills are excellent, the illustrations clear and concise, especially to a proponent of the art. The book is NOT a stand-alone manual to any specific art, and shouldn't be read as such. For something like that, try "Kendo:The Definitive Guide" or Suino's "The Art of Japanese Swordsmanship;" both of these are as close as I've found to "definitive" works.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent companion book for the Iaido student
Review: This book, when used as it was intended, is an excellent source for practice drills. When use as a companion book with Suino Sensei's other book (the art of the japanese sword - Eishin Ryu Iaido) it is invaluable. This book is not meant, however, to be a stand alone book for teaching swordplay.