The art of Iai-Do or Iai-jutsu is directly related to the existence of a ruling social class that dominated the military power of medieval Japan for over 700 years (1185 to 1867). This distinctive powerful social class was known as the samurai or warrior class. The name samurai came from the word 'sameru' that means to serve, and as the word entices, the main purpose of the samurai in life was to serve his daimyo or head of the clan that he belonged to with honor and dignity. To die in the service of one's lord was the greatest honor a samurai warrior could achieve in his lifetime. In order to accomplish this commitment in life, the samurai developed a code of honor and discipline that guided his acts through life. This code of life was known as the Bushido or the Code of the Samurai. The samurai, as a member of the highest class in Japanese society, was the only one entitled to carry two swords (daisho), one long and one short. These weapons were the lethal symbols of his authority. The Japanese history has been characterized by the internal struggle for power through centuries. This struggle for power started at the top of the structure of the government where the Emperor whom even though having a divine status among the Japanese society had the position of head of the country, in reality the military power resided in the hands of the Shogun. On a general basis, the Shogun was a daymio that enjoyed the support of the Emperor mostly because of his economic and military wealth in his region. The Shogun took such an important role in the country that parallel to history upon which it is named for the Emperor's reign, it is also named considering the Shogun's period or shogunate.

Kamakura Shogunate or also known as Kamakura Bakufu (1185~1333) was a feudal military dictatorship ruled by the shoguns of the Minamoto clan or family. The name of Kamakura is based on the city from where the shogun ruled the country. Minamoto Yoritomo is considered the most important figure of this period. He defeated the Taira clan in 1185 and became the ruler of the country, officially receiving the title of shogun in 1192 formalizing his position of head of the bakufu. It was during this period; with the constant rivalry between the Taira and the Minamoto families that the samurai rose as a privileged class among the Japanese society. There are two important writings that refer to this era of struggle between the two families and the rising of the samurai class in Japan, the Heike Monogatari (Tale of Heike) and the Genji Monogatari (Tale of Genji).

Ashikaga Shogunate or also known as Ashikaga Bakufu (1336~1573) was a feudal military dictatorship ruled by the shoguns of the Ashikaga clan or family. This period is also known as the Muromachi period because the third shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, established his residence in the Muromachi area of Kyoto. This period is very important in the direct formation of Iai-Do as an art because it was in 1549 when Hayashizaki Jinsuke (Hayashizaki Jinsuke Minamoto no Shigenobu) was born. He was born to a samurai family under the ruling of the Minamoto family. Filled with anger for the death of his father in a duel, Hayashizaki Jinsuke entered into a Shinto shrine to pray and practice his sword skills to revenge his father's death. It was there where he developed single drawing and cutting techniques that nowadays we call Iai-Do.

Another important piece of history in the development of Iai-Do came with the introduction of firearms in Japan by the Portuguese. Until then, the long sword known as tachi suffered radical changes obtaining a newer design, where the blade became shorter and straighter. Also, this newly designed sword was worn with the cutting edge upwards. This new blade design required the development of improved swordsmanship techniques to obtain the best benefits possible. This new sword became known as the Japanese samurai katana or daito.

Tokugawa Shogunate or also known as Tokugawa Bakufu (1603~1867) was a feudal military dictatorship established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa clan or family. This period is also known as the Edo (nowadays Tokyo) Period because the residence of the shogunate was transferred to that city.

The Tokugawa era brought a peaceful period to the life in Japan. Unfortunately for the samurai class, this rested social condition in the country translated in a problem for them; since they didn't have any more battles to fight it became difficult for them to obtain an income to be able to live from. Many of them lowered themselves giving up their privileged status of samurai to become farmers or merchants. Some samurai choose to become teachers of the martial arts; others roamed the country selling the service of their sword skills to anyone willing to pay becoming a ronin. Due to this peaceful period in Japan, the Tokugawa leadership didn't consider it necessary to keep up with natural modernization of the weapons being developed in other countries outside Japan. This considerable mistake paid severe consequences when in 1853 Commodore Matthew Perry from the U.S. Navy with four warships steamed into the Edo (Tokyo) bay and threatened the Tokugawa Shogun with an obvious superiority in weapons never before seen in Japan. In 1854, Perry forced the shogun to sign a treaty establishing a diplomatic relationship with Japan. Continuous internal discontent with the Tokugawa regime in 1868brought the brief Boshin War and the shogunate were overthrown and the Emperor was reinstated as the only power in Japan. This episode marked the beginning of many changes in the Japanese history and it is known as the Meiji Restoration.

As one of the most important steps to re-structure the country, Emperor Meiji ordered the end of the samurai as a social class and banned the carrying of the katana to prevent their return to power. However, dispute of his ruling against the samurai, the Emperor recognized his cultural and historical importance to Japan and ordered the creation of the Dai Nippon Butoku-Den to preserve the spirit of Bushido through the practice of traditional Japanese martial arts. Nowadays, the same organization continues with the commitment to preserve and promote the Japanese martial arts under the name of Dai Nippon Butoku-Kai, and Iai-Do maintains the same status among the other arts.