Swordsmen were engaging in single combat in Japan up until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. After the restoration, swordsmanship went into a general decline, but a number of schools perpetuated the art of swordsmanship: Iaijutsu, Kenjutsu, or Batto jutsu among them.

The full name of the style of Iaido that we study is Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu (MJER), meaning “peerless, directly transmitted, style of Eishin.”

Modern Iaido claims a lineage about 450 years long, making it one of the oldest extant martial art forms in Japan. The person most widely credited with the founding of Iaido is Hayashizaki Jinsuke Minamoto Shigenoubu, who lived between 1546 and 1621 in present day Kanagawa prefecture. Many of the historical details of Hayashizaki’s life are suspect, since, like most famous martial artists in Japan, his story has been widely fictionalised, but it seams clear that he grew up during a time of constant warfare in Japan and was exposed to various sword fighting methods from an early age. It is said that he went to Yamagata Prefecture to pray for guidance and receive divine inspiration for a new way of drawing the sword. Whatever the circumstances, at some point he established his own style of swordsmanship and called it Shinmei Muso Ryu, “divinely inspired, unparalleled style”.

Hayashizaki’s Iaido has had many names since then. It is considered the foundation for the two major styles of Iaido practised today: Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu and Muso Shinden Ryu. There are a number of other, less widely practised forms of Iaido that grew out of Hayashzaki Jinsuke’s art.
In each generation a headmaster, or soke, has been appointed to guide the practice of the art, and each soke has had his own influence on the development of Iaido.

Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu claims an unbroken line of transmission from Hayashzaki Jinsuke through to the present day.

The names of the headmasters from the founder’s time are as follows:

1. Hayashizaki Jinsuke Minamoto Shgenobu Founder (1546 -1621)
2 - Tamiya Heibei Narimasa
3 - Nagano Muraku Nyudo Kinrosai
4 - Momo Gumbei Mitsushige
5 - Arikawa Shozaemon Munetsugu
6 - Banno Dan-Uemon-no-Jô Nobusada
7 - Hasegawa Chikaranosuke Eïshin
8 - Arai Seitetsu Seishin
9 - Hayashi Rokudayu Morimasa
10 - Hayashi Yasudayu Seisho
11 - Oguro Motoemon Kiyokatsu
12 - Hayashi Masu-no-Jô Masanari
13 - Yoda Manzo Takakatsu
14 - Hayashi Yadayu Masataka
15 - Tanimura Kame-no-Jô Takakatsu
16 - Goto Masasuke Magobei
17 - Oe Masamichi Roshu (1882 – 1927)

Oe Masamichi brought together the Hasegawa Eishin Ryu and the Omori Ryu and combined it with the Tanimura-ha into the forms that we now know as Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu. Oe Masamichi had many notable students who went on to establish MJER schools. Some of these schools have survived to this day and most students of MJER around the world study under one of the many teachers who have direct lineage to one of Oe Masamichi’s students.