Koriyama Oshio Matsuri Iaido Taikai, Easter 2001

I attended the taikai as a Shodan embushia and as there was an overall competition, there was no pressure at all and very enjoyable. Aki went with me and we had a great day. Nakagoshi sensei who had spent countless hours preparing me for this occasion came as well and was seated on the side just right in front of me. It gave me a great sense of pride to have two of my most respected people watch me do Iaido.

There was an overall comp for any of the shodan, nidan or sandan embushia and the best 10 out of each group was picked out for prizes, I was one of the 10 for shodan division. Very happy! Pictured here is me and my cert that was presented to us.

This is the Koriyama city sports and community hall, a very nice old hall with old buildings and a castle around it. We had to sing the Kimigayo at the start and I was the only foreigner there with Fred ( a Yank who has settled down there) that didn`t know the words. Ha ha.

What a relief to have finished. Under Nakagoshi sensei`s advice I did only ZKR kata, as I was only shodan and it was normal to do ZKR kata for shodan.