A place of beauty and tranquility embraced the way of the sword this past weekend at Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden.

Demonstrating the traditional Japanese martial art of Iaido requires focus and control as in Iaido there is no foe.

Dave Rathnow, laido demonstrator, has been to the garden for a few years to demonstrate and talks about his own connection with Iaido.

“It’s more about the struggle within yourself than it is the struggle against other people, all martial arts are like that. But Iaido even more so because we don’t have a physical opponent.”

Laido is the art of drawing and cutting with the samurai sword and the opponents practitioners face are mental ones.

It is mental focus and concentration which kept Rathnow with Iaido.

He describes laido as moving meditation.

Rathnow did karate for many years before gaining interested in Iaido through his own teacher.

“I thought the knives and big swords were pretty cool and I thought I wanted to do that.”

Despite this, it took him 12 years before he could find a teacher.

When one starts in Iaido they are given a wooden sword and can work their way up to a sharp blade.

Practice blades are usually inexpensive but a quality sword made by a master can fetch upwards of $10,000.

Brent May, Rathnow’s student of 14 years, shares a similar karate background.

“I wanted to learn Iaido and it was my son actually who found some advertising Dave had.”

Both May and Rathnow alternated as they demonstrated their skills for the small crowd who gathered at the garden.

Dave Rathnow (left) and Brent May (right) mentally prepare themselves to begin their demonstration in the Japanese way of the sword.