what is battojutsu? is it the art of drawing a sword and cutting down an opponent? if it is, i thought that was iaido (or iaijutsu) ??? any comments?

A quick search would probably give you the ten threads that already discuss this. You say tomayto, I say tomahto. You say ee-eye-do, I say batto-jutsu. Let's call the whole thing off.

There may be some who will discuss real or imagined differences and semantics and historical language references. These will revolve around standing up or sitting down, or whether or not famous blind masseurs such as Zatoichi were experts in batto when, clearly, in frame 354, he swings down and to the left. Down, and to the left. Down. And to the left.

Or something like that.

Technically speaking the terms Iaido, Iaijutsu, Battodo, and Battojutsu are interchangable. That said, most styles will prefer one term or another.

I dunno about the interchangeability of iaido and iaijutsu/batto. But the ideas behind them are roughly similar.

In my experience iaido has more philosophy along with the actual draw/cut, and the batto / iaijutsu are more focused on just drawing and cutting, nothing else attached. There are very many batto and iaijutsu schools, but you won't find many outside of Japan. A great deal of them are also not members of any koryu organization so it can take some personal connections to start learning them.

Let's not start the whole do vs jutsu debate here. It's been done to death. For anyone who wants to read all the arguements, please head over to http://www.e-budo.com or http://www.swordforum.com and search for do vs jutsu.

Halley:
<< A quick search would probably give you the ten threads that already discuss this. >>
I have tried to find how to research old threads. No joy. Where do I look? Please advise.

Japan has the Nihon Batto Renmei, Todo renmei and others. There is a strong military connection with Toyama ryu. Tameshigiri and kata are practiced. It is generally done with the sword already drawn. This is fundamental as one did not enter into battle with it sheathed. Dan grades are set on the technical abilty. To be able to do kata and above all cut with accuracy using fundamentals such as hara and ki-ken-tai-ichi.

In some cases the practice of iai and batto intermix as batto as another way of saying draw a sword. Another example is: If you all stand in a line with swords sheathed the command for all to draw is "Batto". Some but few do practice cutting from the draw to targets. This usually falls into the "free" category at a taikai

It is a relevant facet of learning about the Nihonto.