伝書にみる居合と剣術の関係について

抄録

The practical characteristics of Iai and Kenjutsu are quite distinct when they are phenomenally judged. In Iai, on the whole, unsheathing the sword is the most important technique and great weight is given to the process of unsheathing it. In Kenjutsu, on the other hand, the technique begins after unsheathing the sword and taking a certain posture (kamae). So we can regard the relation between the two as “mihatsu” (before unsheathing) and “ihatsu” (after unsheathing).
Closer investigation, however, reveal that Iai has “kata” not only of “mihatsu”but also of“ihatsu”in the case of “tachiai” (initial moving from standing posture), and that Kenjutsu also has its own techniques to unsheathe the sword. Thus these two martial arts, in which to use the Japanese swords, have the technique in common with each other. But, the main purpose of Iai is to cope with emergencies in daily life, so the point of view was directed to various, broad aspects of daily life, and in Kenjutsu, the point of view was directed only to the aspects of fighting after taking a certain posture. On that point these two were remarkably different from each other.
Iai and Kenjutsu, after Ede era, had tendency to develop in their own way and to specialize as well. But on account of this, there appeared reversed thought that these two should be regarded as compensating each other.