The
Iaido Journal May 2006
Discovering Iaido
Or How a Thirteen Year Old Boy became a Samurai
Copyright
© 2006 Joe Armstrong, all rights
reserved
As most of you know, Iaido isn’t one of the most well known martial
arts in Canada. So, I’d say I was pretty lucky to have even discovered
it, considering I didn’t know anything about martial arts and Japanese
culture at the time. In fact, if I hadn’t left a library book on a
table by the front door of my house, I may never have learned about
Iaido, joined the Calgary Iaido Club, and be writing this article right
now. This is how it went down…
In the summer of 2004, my family and I had just come back from a great
vacation in the Maritimes. Our house had been under renovation and not
much was going on otherwise. One day I asked my Dad if he could take me
to the library so I could pick up some books. So we went and I ended up
borrowing a book about the samurai, which when I got home, I laid down
on the bench beside the door.
Later on in the day, one of the construction workers, specifically a
tile setter named Heinz asked me if I was the one who was reading the
book on the samurai. When I said yes, he began to tell me about how he
had traveled to the Far East and spent much of his life there studying
various martial arts. He wanted to start an academy but financial
difficulties prevented him from doing so. At first, I was a little
sceptical about it all but he said that next time he came by to
work on the house, he would bring in some of his stuff. I must admit I
was a little excited about it all.
The following week, Heinz did as he promised and brought two
certificates, and the first bokken I had ever seen. The certificate I
remember specifically because it was the one given him for first place
in a martial arts competition in San Francisco. I probably remember it
because it was the first piece of evidence I found that showed he was
what he said he was. Anyway, while he worked, we talked the whole day
about samurai, martial arts, and Japanese culture while I looked at his
stuff. The Iaido topic that seemed to come up most was the “art of
drawing”. He told me about how it was a method utilizing the drawing
action of a blade in order to cut your opponent and dispose of him/her
in the most efficient way possible. He seemed to notice I was most
interested in this iai thing, so when he had finished his work, he took
me out back with the bokken and showed me some basic iai techniques. He
spent about an hour and a half with me in the backyard showing me
things like sword grip, performing a proper cut, and basic stance. I
was actually surprised my parents were so at peace with all this,
considering I was spending lots of time swinging around Japanese
weaponry with one of the construction guys in our backyard. But hey, my
parents are awesome.
Heinz came back to the house multiple times bringing all kinds of cool
things for me to see, talking to me about the martial arts and showing
me Iaido. But after a couple of weeks, the renovations on my house had
finished, and so, Heinz had to stop coming to the house. So he left me
his number, and said that if I ever want someone to talk to about my
new growing interest, just call. Because I was really into all of this,
it didn’t take me long to call the guy. We talked for a while, and
Heinz then invited me to come to his home to chat and practice a bit
more iai. Now my parents were a little uneasy about this, but that was
to be expected. They thought Heinz was a little odd (which I can
totally understand) but I was able to convince them to let me go. So
the next day I went over to his home in North-east Calgary. From the
outside, it looked like no one was even living there, with all the
chipped paint and overgrown bushes, but I still got out of the car and
rang the doorbell. Heinz greeted me and let me into his house. I was
immediately struck with awe. Though it wasn’t the cleanest house I’d
ever been in it had everything you could possibly imagine from the Far
East. It had Chinese straight swords and broadswords, spears and
glaives, Japanese and Chinese furniture, and a beautiful antique katana
on a stand on the dining room table. In the backyard, there were
homemade practice dummies for hand-to-hand martial arts, a little
smiling Buddha in the flower bed, and a little pen for rabbits. I had a
great time at his place! We had long conversations, he showed me
techniques, and he even let me hold his beautiful antique katana.
After a while of coming to and from his home, Heinz told me that I had
a future in the martial arts. However, he also told me that he could
not teach me more iai because his schedule wouldn’t let him and he
wasn’t a qualified instructor. So he did some research and found out
about the Calgary Iaido Club. He gave me the number and I said goodbye.
I will not ever forget what he said to me last. “Maybe when you’re a
hotshot Iaido master, find me someday and we can talk some more”. I
have never seen or heard from him since.
I called the club, talked to Chris sensei, watched a class, and joined
the club that November. I have never been happier doing any other
activity, and I hope that I will never stop doing Iaido. Maybe I will
become a hotshot Iaido master, and find Heinz the rather strange, but
truly wonderful tilesetter.
