Long swords would always be placed on a stand (kake) when entering a room so the mononofu would, at best, have a short sword and/or tanto. Thus Iai kata, which are all performed with a long sword, must be about ‘toho’ rather than ‘jokyo’.As for iai's techniques being initiated from uncomfortable sitting positions, I guess back in the day sharing tea with another Samurai was a dangerous activity.
Also, sitting in seiza (sitting on one’s folded legs) only became ubiquitous in the Edo period (before it was only adopted to apologise for a misdemeanour) and people would sit cross legged, but I’ve never seen an iai kata, even from the oldest schools, performed from a cross legged position.
This strongly points to my hypothesis that Iai kata are about sword handling rather than rehearsing ‘fighting scenarios’.
Yes, we were taught these in Wado Ryu Karate as ‘idori’ and they were from seiza. They were fun!Interesting to note that karate in the early 1900's also taught self-defense techniques from a sitting position.
In Japan, at least, people still carried bladed weapons well into the 20th century although they were ones that could be easily hidden about one’s person but the carrier may not have have been terribly skilled with their use. Personally, I wouldn’t fancy my chances against even an unskilled person with a shape knife!Another difference between the two arts' form being meaningful is that by the latter 1800's the need for sword fighting skills was largely diminished and such related skills were used for spiritual development and historical value. Unarmed combat was still needed and employed, even to this day, so karate's "preoccupation" with form is not unwarranted.
![Flushed face :flushed: 😳](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f633.png)
I’m convinced Karate kata are about toho and that intricate bunkai is essentially navel gazing for the accomplished!