Western swords that can be used for Iaijutsu?

Sorry if I'm using the incorrect term. Basically, I'm developing a fantasy pirate story that runs on Rule of Cool, and one thing I've found myself to be dead set on is the idea that the lead character fights through a stylized, "single sword-draw" style.

I know it's ridicules (and the fighting style will never be refereed to as such in the story), but I wanted to at least go with a sword-type where this might be remotely possible.

Depends. If you get creative enough, a lot of swords could be used for iai.

For instance: the cutlass, falchion, scimitar, and similar curved swords are similar enough in shape that drawing them like a katana wouldn't be unfathomable.

However, it's also possible to draw a straight sword— for instance, a shortsword or a gladius— that way. In fact, the Chinese have a style resembling iaijutsu performed with the straight-bladed jian.

You could also conceivably do it with a BFS strapped to the back, like a claymore, by pulling it away from the sheath and over one's shoulder, but that's where things get a little impractical.

I picture a straight sword of some sort. In-story, it's supposed to be a rather archaic knight's sword, that grants the wielder superhuman reflexes (though these are fairly common among the series' Elite Mooks, so it's not exactly a Game-Breaker). Any suggestions for that type?

If it's shorter than 3 feet or so, at a rough estimate, it could be drawn from the hip; any longer, and it'd have to be from the back. That aside, it's about like I said above. Using iai with a straight sword is just like using it with a katana, just that you have to change your arm position a little to compensate.

Claymores.

Bastard swords and arming swords could probably be used. Then again, I'm no expert at Eastern fighting styles and medieval weaponry.

So, could I just fudge it with a longsword? I'll admit, I was kind of wanting to have it be a claymore for spectacle reasons, but even as fantastical as I imagine the story to be (it mostly revolves around ships that transform into giant robots that stay afloat through Applied Phlebotinum that was, in this story's universe, discovered before proper shipbuilding), but this is one of those things I could imagine the reader calling foul on regardless of the setting.

The light and medium infantry saber's could also work well for this.

Probably won't be a saber. Curved swords have that sort of "pirate-era" feel to them, for lack of a better term, and I want my main character to have a straight sword with a cross-guard to contrast with the era.

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^ Too contemporary with the setting. It's actually a plot point that the sword is archaic by the setting's standards.

I just thought of something...what if it is worn on his back when not in use, but in combat he takes it off, scabbard and all, and holds it at his side, ready to draw? There's a workable Hand Wave for the strength that would be required to one-hand it, since the sword is supernatural to begin with.

Gunheart: Why can't he just draw it from the back? Speaking as someone who has done lots of research and tried out some of the very basic kata, that's a perfectly acceptable position to draw a sword from in iai-do.

Partly Rule of Cool, partly because I picture his primary way of incapacitating foes involves partially drawing it to "punch" the opponent with the pommel of his sword...which is also pretty much Rule of Cool. I realize that by holding the scabbard, this means he could also theoretically perform this from any angle (like, say, uppercutting someone in the jaw), and use the scabbard as a weapon as well while the sword is drawn. Of course, I'd have someone lampshade, probably in horror, the fact that he'd be holding a claymore with just one hand.

edited 3rd Oct '10 9:51:35 PM by TheGunheart