The katana I have slides out of the saya very easily, is this okay? I thought a little push from the thumb was needed to open the blade. If this is not correct what can be done to fix it?

Bob

It is not ok. Show it to your instructor and he will show you how to fix your technique so that this does not happen again. He will also be able to show you a way to fix it. The way it is now is very dangerous.

More detail, I'm not studying Iaido, yet, and the katana is a real one that I was given by my brother-in-law in Japan. It is not being used, but I would like to fix that problem if I can. Any ideas?

Bob

There are lots of suggested ways to fix this problem. The simplest is to glue a toothpick to the inside of the saya with a little Elmers carpenters glue. I would not recommend training with it this way, but it should be plenty good to make it sound for transport and display. If the sword does not go all the way back in after the repair, don't force it. Just grab a metal nail file(not the sand covered paper ones lest the sand get loose and scratch up the sword) and sand it down a smidge at a time until the sword will seat all the way into the saya.

You should also look up some cleaning and oiling instructions if it is in fact a steel blade. Steel rusts if not properly maintained.

I'll try that and see if it works.

Also I'm in the San Jose, CA area and looking for an Iado dojo, do you know of any or a list of dojos?

Bob

Best I can do is Berkley and San Francisco. I know what traffic can be like out there, but there are several class times, perhaps one of them will be viable for you.

Andrej Diamantstein runs a Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu Iaido dojo out there that is associated with the Zen Nippon iaido Renmei. Diamantstein-sensei is a Rokudan(6dan) and studies directly under Esaka Seigen-sensei Judan(10dan) and vice president of the ZNIR. You could do a lot worse than this dojo.

Go to http;//www.iaido.org to check it out.