Sasha, February 2012 Iaido Shinsa, NJIT

This is my friend, Sasha, taking her test for nidan (second dan). Sasha practices a slightly different style -- muso shinden ryu. Although the kata performed at san dan and below are all "seitei kata", meaning "common forms", you will see slight some differences -- most noticeably in noto (re-sheathing the sword).

MY STANDARD NOTICE TO ALL NON-IAIDO PRACTITIONERS: If you are bored by the beginning/ending ritual, please skip ahead to the one minute mark. That's where the "action" begins. But these things are important to us (some instructors say they are as important as the techniques), so we record them, so we can see how we do, and try to improve on them.

The kata Sasha had to perform were:
1. Mae
4. Tsukate
6. Morote tsuki
8. Ganmen-ate
10. Shiho giri

I think she did very well. She looked very good technically, and her posture is excellent. But I'm still a kyu rank, so what do I know? I'm sure plenty of "online sensei" will give her lots of correction. ;)