Iaijutsu Practitioner: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

[[Katanas Are Just Better]]. This is, as we all know, a simple truth of nature, as incontestable as the boiling point of water or that the Earth orbits the Sun. Only slightly less known is that a [[Quick Draw]] is pretty damned awesome in it's own way. If you find a person who is good at combining them, then you have an ''Iaijutsu Practitioner''.

Iaijutsu is a catch-all name for several martial art schools that center on drawing and attacking with one move. The movesets often include multiple slashes, [[Swipe Your Blade Off|swiping the blade off]], and the subsequent re-sheathing of the blade. ''Battoujutsu'' and ''Iaido'' are often used interchangeably with it, although the words have nuances in the Japanese language.

 

 

See also: [[Quick Draw]], [[Single-Stroke Battle]], [[One-Hit Kill]].

 

{{examples}}

* The Hitokiri Battousai, [[Rurouni Kenshin|Kenshin Himura]]. Although an all-around [[Master Swordsman]], he earned the nickname "Battousai" by being ''just that good'' at battoujutsu. Not only does he go out of his way to resheath his weapon against (nearly) all of his substantial adversaries, the ultimate technique of his swordsfighting style is a battoujutsu which is so powerful that, if blocked, it creates a small vacuum in the air.

** Specifically, the first attack is meant to be blocked (though if it's not blocked, it's still lethal), but is so fast that it creates a vacuum that forcibly spins the defender around, allowing the attacker an easy kill on his back. Kenshin however, is a [[Technical Pacifist]] and uses a "reverse-blade sword" so that he won't cut anybody.

** Kenshin was an assassin rather than a soldier on the battlefield so it makes sense that he employs this style of combat.

* In the opening credits of ''[[Samurai Champloo]]'', we see Jin practicing Iaijutsu.

* Some of Zoro from ''[[One Piece]]'''s most powerful attacks are iaido, such as Shishi Sonson and Rashomon, the latter of which uses [[Up to Eleven|two swords]].

** And later, this is clearly seen in the signature move of Brook, whose sword is so fast, it looks like Brook was just ''[[Rule of Cool|walking past the enemy]]'', before they [[You Are Already Dead|get all cut up when he stops walking]]. While ''humming''. Although it is possible that it was the sword doing the humming just because it was being swung around so fast.

* Honoka from ''<nowiki>[[The Third: The Girl With the Blue Eye]]</nowiki>'' fights primarily with Iaijutsu, enhanced with Chi for more cutting power.

** Played straight earlier in the Soul Society arc. Head-Captain Yamamoto prepares to battle Captains Kyoraku Shunsui and Ukitake Juushiro. In this case, it's a battle of who can do this ''first''. Yamamoto wins and unleashes a [[Sword Beam]] which blows them back.

* Takamichi from ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' uses what is called "iai''ken''"; in other words, pulling his ''fist'' out of his pocket, attacking and putting it back so fast it looks like he's just standing there. And he can use it to create ''[[Sword Beam|Fist Beams]]''.

* ''[[Kamui Den]]'': Matsubayashi Kenpu. Kamui himself also counts: his signature "kasumi-giri" technique involves some unorthodox sword drawing

* In ''[[Claymore]]'' the Flash Sword and Wind Cutter techniques are similar examples of invisibly fast [[Spam Attack]] iaijutsu.

* Goemon of ''[[Lupin III]]'' does this regularly.

* [[Samurai in Ninja Town|Mifune]] from ''[[Naruto]]'' is shown to be a [[Master Swordsman|master]] of Iai and fast enough with it to interrupt ninjas from forming hand-seals.

* Uneri Ginkaku from ''[[Katanagatari]]'' specializes in iaijutsu, which is enhanced by his demonic blade Namakura, allowing him to strike five times a second.

* In ''[[Dragon Ball]]'', Yajirobe [[Single-Stroke Battle|ends his fight]] with Cymbal by using iaijutsu.

* Vralgo Kentauri from ''[[The Five Star Stories]]'' is a respected iaido master, demonstrated most dramatically when he nearly kills a young King Colus III in a flashback scene.

* The villain Ikaruga from ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' combines this with [[Razor Wind]] to slash her opponents to pieces without taking a single step. She can draw and resheathe her sword so fast that even Erza can't follow it.

* Amidamaru and Yoh of ''[[Shaman King]]'' does something like this with the Shinkuu Buddha Giri technique in which they draw the Harusame so fast they create a projectile of razor sharp wind.

* ''[[Samurai Deeper Kyo]]'' has a variant called "hien ken" which crosses this trope with [[Blade Spam]] (draw sword and strike three times in an eyeblink). One of Kyo's early opponents is a practitioner, but Kyo beats him at his own game.

 

* In ''[[Winter War]]'', [[Ascended Extra|Shirogane]] is an expert in iaido. She gives [[Failure Knight|Isane]] a quick lesson in the basics- it doesn't make Isane an [[Instant Expert]], but it does shake her out of her depression to the point where she can play a useful role in the battle.

 

* This is pretty much how [[Zatoichi]] uses his sword cane.

* Terry Tsurugi fights a guy who looks like a cross between Zatoichi and [[Frankenstein's Monster]] in ''[[The Street Fighter]]''. He's blind and resheathes between strikes.

* Being heavily inspired by [[Akira Kurosawa]] movies, it is no suprise that Obi-Wan shows this skill in the cantina scene in the first ''[[Star Wars]]'' movie, in what is in fact the first scene ever of a lightsabre used in combat. It is after all "an elegant weapon for a more civilized age".

 

* ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'' has Trakata, which is this style applied to lightsabers. Its point is to activate a lightsaber quickly when it's needed to deal an unblockable blow and then turn it off.

 

* Genta Umemori, ShinkenGold of ''[[Samurai Sentai Shinkenger]]'', mastered this way of fighting - self-taught with a [[Reverse Grip]] no less. The same goes for his counterpart Antonio of ''[[Power Rangers Samurai]]''.

** It's taken [[Up to Eleven]] here: his quickdraw ability is such that by resheathing his sword after each strike, he is able to ''spam it,'' making a dozen strikes before he even appears to have done anything.

* In ''[[Heroes]],'' Future Hiro is a Battoujutsu master.

 

* In ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'', the Kakita family of the Crane is incredibly skilled at iaijutsu dueling; the family's namesake is widely considered the first Emerald Champion, and the position fills its vacancy through an iaijutsu dueling tournament.

* ''[[Exalted]]'' has a fairly potent [[Supernatural Martial Arts|Terrestrial Martial Art]] that is basically focused around this sort of thing: Even Blade Style.

** 1st Edition ''Oriental Adventures'' had the Iaijutsu proficiency, which allowed automatic and instant drawing or sheathing of your weapon.

** 3.0 has the "Iaijutsu Focus" skill that gives you bonus damage when you strike after drawing your weapon but is only a class skill for some rather poor classes. As it has not been updated to 3.5, it is still officially legal there, thus leading to builds for the [[Jack of All Trades|Factotum]] (a class that gets every skill as a class skill) that abuse it (such as by using an obscure weapon that can be sheathed freely)

*** In Complete Warrior, "Iaijutsu" is a feature of the Samurai class, where it grants [[Quick Draw]] and a bonus to Initiative.

 

* All [[Laser Blade]] wielding characters from ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' sheathe their weapons after every attack.

* [[Soul Series|Setsuka]] keeps a sword inside of her umbrella, and some iaijutsu-type moves. Also, Mitsurugi sheathes his sword when he enters his "Relic" stance, and from this stance can perform some of his most powerful moves.

** After IV, Setsuka moves to Istanbul and renames herself Neve. There she gives fighting lessons to orphans, includeing Sophita's Son Patrokloas, explaining why Alpha Patrokolos uses her fighting style (Though without the parasol and Japanese style swords)

** [[Yamato Nadeshiko|Matsu]] in the first game, due to [[Ryu and Ken|sharing the same moveset with Kenshin]] before [[Divergent Character Evolution]] kicked in.

** And in the series' latest iteration, the new iaijutsu character in town is Ishida Mitsunari, who is so fast at drawing and re-sheathing his sword that the blade turns invisible for a moment. If he re-sheathes his sword at the end of his combo, it even adds in an extra hit. His demeanor also makes Kenshin look like a teddy bear.

* Gegaro, of ''[[Bushido Blade]]'', has several iaijutsu-type moves.

* Ukyo Tachibana, of ''[[Samurai Shodown]]''.

* ''[[Muramasa: The Demon Blade]]'' has Quick Draw attacks: if you wait long enough before switching swords (the amount of time required can be reduced by collecting souls and possibly by getting hit a lot), their icons will flash and switching to another one will hit every enemy on the screen for large amounts of damage.

* ''[[Samurai Warriors]]'' series offer us [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Mistuhide Akechi]], a [[Knight in Shining Armor|Samurai In Shining Armor]] who uses Iaijutsu with his katana for flash-slices, counterattacks and [[Razor Wind]].

* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]: [[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|Twilight Princess]]'', Link can learn the "Mortal Draw" technique.

* Ghi Yeghi, and to that extent all Parivirs, in ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics A2]]''.

** Takes the trope rather seriously in a sense, since the actual skill Parivirs can learn - which is aptly named the Iai Blow - is explained quite well in-game (specifically saying that the skill sheathes and draws the sword suddenly and quickly against the enemy), and has a chance to [[One-Hit Kill|instantly kill your target]], much in the same way a real-life practitioner of Iaijutsu would if done correctly.

** Especially impressive because he uses a Chinese Jian instead of a katana.

* Reiji's fighting style includes this in ''[[Namco X Capcom]]'', and Saya's focuses very heavily on it. Slightly justified in that they both carry a weapon rack in one hand that holds swords of different lengths and elements (and in Reiji's case, a shotgun), and they tend to switch weapons between each strike.

** Georg is actually quite famous for this in-universe. It's said that he only draws his blade when he's sure that he can take the enemy down with one strike, earning him the nickname "Deathblow" Georg.

* Dias from ''[[Star Ocean the Second Story]]'' is one. Certainly of the [[Red Oni, Blue Oni|Blue Oni]] type, he contrasts the other characters by his skills rarely doing more than one hit. His most comboish attack deals four hits, as opposed to the 10 of his counterparts. Unfortunately, this greatly decreases his usefulness in the endgame since his attacks have slow startup and his normal attack isn't affected by items that would normally make everyone's normal attacks his several times.

** Even though his very first Killer Move follows this to a tee, it takes the title of most [[Spam Attack|spammable]] in the game. More interestingly, his [[Infinity+1 Sword|best weapon]], the Crimson Diabolos may exist to circumvent his one hit style as it has the [[Guide Dang It|hidden ability]] to double his Attack Power.

* The ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'' games reference this with the equippable ability "Iai Strike", which has a small chance (about 1 or 2 percent, before any multipliers) of instantly putting your opponent into "Break Mode" (basically rendering them unable to inflict HP damage on you until they either land another HP strike or wait it out; in either case, their Bravery points return to their default number. [[It Makes Sense in Context|It's a slightly tricky system.]]). [[Final Fantasy V|Gilgamesh]] DOES have this ability as standard, but it involves him drawing Zantetsuken (out of 8 possible weapons) with an attack, [[Confusion Fu|which the player has no control over]].

** Before Gilgamesh showed up in ''012'', [[Final Fantasy II|Firion]] had this move in both games with his Swordslash Bravery Attack.

* In ''Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow'', Soma Cruz will do this with any katana-type weapon.

 

* ''[[Dead Winter]]:'' In a dream sequence, Liz draws her sword and slices a leaping wolf-monster [http://deadwinter.cc/page/398.htm in one continuous motion.]

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Bushido Index]]

[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]