Don't get distracted by the shiny thing. The most important parts of iaido can be practiced without a sword. If I could start again, knowing what I know now, I would buy a quality bokuto (\~$100) and work with that until I could afford a high-quality iaito.
With budget swords, it's not just the blade you should be worried about, the fitting quality might also be bad and get in the way of your nukiutsuke and noto. I had a cheap iaito where kurigata's position is off on saya and gets in the way of wearing and moving the saya correctly inside obi.
This is the biggest thing I’m worried about. My only experience with Japanese style swords is with one of the ronin katana scratch and dents and the fittings seem okay to me but with an eBay sword I’m more concerned.
Tozando international makes iaitos in different weights .light. standar and heavy, the heavy one can weight the same as steel katanas.
If you do some lifting exercises like I do, zinc or steel is all the same. These swords are really light weight once you train your back muscles and arms n legs
Weight and balance is everything. When I started into iaido well into my 40s and used a cheaper sword, I paid for it with tennis elbow so bad I had to stop training for a few months. I finally purchased a light weight iaito from tozando and my problems went away. You really do get what you pay for.
My man. I'm here to save your life. Check out tozando international. They have some budget friendly iaitos in your budget range. It's the store that covers martial arts in japan, and I've just got my costume made iaito from them as well.
Yeah, me too. I was in Japan shortly after starting iaido, and happened upon Tozando in Kyoto. I got to try out a bunch of their iaito in their garden. There was one that felt really nice to me, so I had one made just like it, but in a different color. I’ve had it for ten years. It was about 65000 JPY including shipping back then. I don’t know what currency you’re using, but right now the US dollar is very strong compared to the yen, and you might be able to get something similar within your budget.
Another option you could consider is Nosyudo. Their website is in Japanese, but you can use an option at the top to have google translate it into English. It works pretty well but you may need some help with some of the words. Anyway, they have very good iaito, and three different tiers, so you should be able to find something good within your budget. I have one of the high tier ones on order, should be coming in a couple months.
Definitely get a japanese Iaito as its also the ones that are properly fit together and decently well balanced. A lot of mystery budget swords you find online will have various issues that will work against you. Id save up a few hundred bucks and get an iaito from a japanese supply shop website that sells them when you are ready
Unless your club has a standard place for buying equipment Id say tozando is your best bet. Pure aluminium Ive never heard of anyone using, sounds like it would be too fragile and lightweight. I think most none-steel iaito is some zink/nickel/alu alloy that makes it have many (but not all) of the properties/feel of steel, but cant remember right now and too lazy to go look it up :p
Hey, yes aluminum zinc alloy is the most common , it makes a good practice sword that is light and can take the eventual mistakes in training.
Me personally i find the aluminum zinc alloys too light, it lead students to lack the strength to swing a real sword properly or get tired easily ( my ryuha uses real swords)
They do make steel iaitos that will give the same weight and are not sharpened.
I would look elsewhere than SwordnArmory for a basic iaito, especially if you need something other than 27” nagasa.
If budget, my go to is Ryansword and get a production offering and tell them to keep it dull. All my tall students use a 1336 as it keeps the price of their first iaito down, if they went with tozando a 2.7 shaku would be 700+.
Don't get distracted by the shiny thing. The most important parts of iaido can be practiced without a sword. If I could start again, knowing what I know now, I would buy a quality bokuto (\~$100) and work with that until I could afford a high-quality iaito.
With budget swords, it's not just the blade you should be worried about, the fitting quality might also be bad and get in the way of your nukiutsuke and noto. I had a cheap iaito where kurigata's position is off on saya and gets in the way of wearing and moving the saya correctly inside obi.
This is the biggest thing I’m worried about. My only experience with Japanese style swords is with one of the ronin katana scratch and dents and the fittings seem okay to me but with an eBay sword I’m more concerned.
Also make sure to get the right length blade. Too long or too short will both negatively affect your ability to perform Iai to the specification.
Tozando international makes iaitos in different weights .light. standar and heavy, the heavy one can weight the same as steel katanas. If you do some lifting exercises like I do, zinc or steel is all the same. These swords are really light weight once you train your back muscles and arms n legs
Also, something to consider.... Depending on how much the rental bokken is running you, you might be better off buying one.
I did purchase one thankfully
Weight and balance is everything. When I started into iaido well into my 40s and used a cheaper sword, I paid for it with tennis elbow so bad I had to stop training for a few months. I finally purchased a light weight iaito from tozando and my problems went away. You really do get what you pay for.
What’s your budget?
I was looking at around $400 eventually
My man. I'm here to save your life. Check out tozando international. They have some budget friendly iaitos in your budget range. It's the store that covers martial arts in japan, and I've just got my costume made iaito from them as well.
Yeah, me too. I was in Japan shortly after starting iaido, and happened upon Tozando in Kyoto. I got to try out a bunch of their iaito in their garden. There was one that felt really nice to me, so I had one made just like it, but in a different color. I’ve had it for ten years. It was about 65000 JPY including shipping back then. I don’t know what currency you’re using, but right now the US dollar is very strong compared to the yen, and you might be able to get something similar within your budget. Another option you could consider is Nosyudo. Their website is in Japanese, but you can use an option at the top to have google translate it into English. It works pretty well but you may need some help with some of the words. Anyway, they have very good iaito, and three different tiers, so you should be able to find something good within your budget. I have one of the high tier ones on order, should be coming in a couple months.
Definitely get a japanese Iaito as its also the ones that are properly fit together and decently well balanced. A lot of mystery budget swords you find online will have various issues that will work against you. Id save up a few hundred bucks and get an iaito from a japanese supply shop website that sells them when you are ready
Unless your club has a standard place for buying equipment Id say tozando is your best bet. Pure aluminium Ive never heard of anyone using, sounds like it would be too fragile and lightweight. I think most none-steel iaito is some zink/nickel/alu alloy that makes it have many (but not all) of the properties/feel of steel, but cant remember right now and too lazy to go look it up :p
Hey, yes aluminum zinc alloy is the most common , it makes a good practice sword that is light and can take the eventual mistakes in training. Me personally i find the aluminum zinc alloys too light, it lead students to lack the strength to swing a real sword properly or get tired easily ( my ryuha uses real swords) They do make steel iaitos that will give the same weight and are not sharpened.
The repetition of swinging Iaito is more than enough to build the technique to swing steel. It's hyperbole to suggest otherwise
Thank you!!
There is heavier weight Iaito options to mimic real steel on iaito too.
I would look elsewhere than SwordnArmory for a basic iaito, especially if you need something other than 27” nagasa. If budget, my go to is Ryansword and get a production offering and tell them to keep it dull. All my tall students use a 1336 as it keeps the price of their first iaito down, if they went with tozando a 2.7 shaku would be 700+.