Toyama-ryu

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Toyama-ryū (戸山流) is a modern form of iai created for the Japanese military perhaps as early as 1925 at the Rikugun Toyama Gakko, or "Toyama Military Academy". Today, Toyama-ryū is primarily located in the Kanto Region. It does not have a single headmaster.

Although officers in the Japanese army were issued katana, not all had a sufficient background in kenjutsu to deploy these weapons in combat. A simplified form of sword technique was therefore devised, teaching the most essential points of drawing and cutting. For instance, the army iai-battō kata differ from those of many koryū sword schools, in that all techniques are practised from a standing position. (Koryū schools included a number of techniques executed from seiza.) Also, this modern ryū has an unusually-strong emphasis on tameshigiri, or "test-cutting."

By the 1970s, three separate organizations represented Toyama-ryū Iaido: in Hokkaidō, the late Yamaguchi Yuuki Greater Japan Toyama Ryu Iaido Federation; in Kansai (Kyoto-Osaka area), the late Morinaga Kiyoshi Greater Japan Toyama Ryu Iaido Association; and, Nakamura's All Japan Toyama Ryu Iaido Federation. Each organization was autonomous and retained its own set of forms; the Hokkaido branch even included sword versus bayonet exercises.

As a result of a somewhat limited series of movements and the relative speed at which a student may begin cutting targets with a sharp sword, Toyama-ryū has become widespread in the United States.