Japanese sword fighting?

The fighting style you are thinking of is called Iaido. That is where you fight with real katanas. Most iaitō (katanas) are made of an aluminium-zinc alloy, which is often cheaper and lighter than steel. This use of alloy and a blunt edge also meets the Japanese legal requirement that restricts the manufacture of swords made of ferrous (steel) metals.

Iaidō should not be confused with kendo or kenjutsu:

---Kendo teaching does not include drawing and re-sheathing of a sword. The main weapon used in kendo, a flexible bamboo sword (shinai), uses no scabbard. Kendo is practiced with a partner in full contact training or in forms (kata) practice.

---Kenjutsu is generally practiced with a partner, in the form of predetermined routines, and often does include drawing or resheathing of the sword.

Iaidō is often used interchangeably with Battōjutsu, literally meaning "technique of drawing the sword".

I think that Iado is the art you were referring to.

I don't know what you're talking about (nor do you, for that matter). Kendo has tons of sparring and it gets VERY intense. Bamboo is a type of wood, and they use that for sparring.

Kenjutsu is the old-school martial art of Japanese swordsmanship. It is Kendo's predecessor. The practice lingers mostly on kata, but ought to have some sparring as well.

Anyways, you can't ask for Japanese sword fighting and refuse both Kendo and Kenjutsu. That's like asking for a sport that involves striking only with your fists -- but not boxing! Kendo and Kenjutsu is pretty much all you have for Japanese sword arts.

If you're interested in something less realistic but very intense and high-action, with weapons that are light enough to allow you to mimic your favorite anime moves, you could check out Chambara.

It's pretty much freestyle swordfighting with a Kendo-based scoring system (except they allow leg-strikes) using foam swords.

EDIT:

oh! How the heck did I forget Iaido?!?!?! Good catch k_snake!

However, there's no sparring in Iaido. I've practiced all of the above briefly, and I found Kendo to be most intense, followed by Chanbara, followed by Kenjutsu, followed by Iaido -- based on how much sparring and live drilling there was.

i think you are talking about boku-tou or shinai. well.. it is part of Kenjustsu. and i think you are talking about the swords school like the ones from Rurouni Kenshin. Like "Hitenmitsurugi Ryu". Well.. there are commercial classes in local areas of US everywhere but. If you really want to learn I suggest you start from traditional Kendo class. In Japanese Ken-do is a way of sword. When u master the basics,everything starts from there.If you are a master of some sort of martial arts,maybe you know what i meant.

it IS kenjutsu.

kenjutsu has typically been come to be known as used by schools that advertise more traditonal historical japanese swordsmanship, and "kendo" has been used more by schools that adopt and teach the sport form.

not many schools teach kenjutsu, if you don't live in a large urban area- you might be SOL.

good luck though.

Hum ye kinda the damper on things here cause the fight scenes in films are not what happens in the real world of martial arts. When you are so out of breath you cannot speak and the sweat if running off you not to mention the sometimes accompanying snot - ye welcome back to reality and some real hard work. Did try to warn you

Have you seen this? http://youtube.com/watch?v=jyaVkf54ias&feature=rel... check out on the end of it, the last few seconds.