Welcome to the New Zealand Mugai Ryu Iaido Dojo's home page.

The New Zealand Mugai Ryu Dojo is an Iaido dojo in Christchurch, New Zealand. We were established in 2006 as the only Zen Nippon Kendo Renmei oriented Iaido dojo in the South Island at the time. Our focus is primarily on Iaido; Seitei and Mugai-Ryu [our koryu], but we also do Kendo as part of our training as well.

We are a 100% Non-Profit dojo, there is no fee for instruction. Dojo member's dues go totally towards paying for our hall hire charges, tameshigiri consumables, repair of equipment, etc. We are also a proud member and supporter of the New Zealand Iaido Renmei and a founding member of the Shinnan Butokukai Budo group.

The aim and focus of training at the NZ Mugai Ryu Iaido Dojo is about approaching Budo as much as possible as adult dojos in Japan do. It is important to note the meaning of "Budo" is different to "Martial art", even though the two words are often inter-changed. Budo is about training to make yourself a better person, and we use the sword techniques and training ways of the samurai to help us achieve this goal. Martial arts are about purely winning a fight. If you are looking for a self defense art, then there are lots of more suitable "Martial arts" for you, rather than Iaido.

Our Sensei, Dan Fujikawa-Greig spent 6 years living in training in Japan and while living in Japan, he has experienced training in various adults dojos and has taught Kendo at a local junior high school. he has consistently won the Iaido regional championships [ken taikai] in Wakayama-ken, in his division and currently holds 2-dan in Iaido. His affiliation if the the Zen Nippon Kendo Renmei, the highest authority of Iaido in the world. he was also given permission to teach Mugai-Ryu by his Sensei in Japan and was taught the highest level kata and given the Mugai Ryu Kaisetsu Sho and Mugai Ryu Shinden Kenpoketsu documents as a mark of this permission.

In Japan, adults train a little differently to kids, there is much more emphasis on self discipline, and you are expected to be always trying to improve yourself. You will receive as much guidance and advice as you want if you show that you appreciate it by listening to advice and showing respect to your Sensei and Senpai.

We are happy to accept all kinds of people into the dojo and in Iaido there is no advantage to be had in either age nor sex.The most important thing is mental maturity. People have various reasons for starting Iaido, which is fine, but be prepared to evaluate your philosophy in order to improve yourself.

One of the more important things to realise about Iaido is that it is probably quite different to what you imagine it to be.