In my limited understanding while the IKF thru the ZNKR issues menjo for seitei iai, most people study seitei as part of their own ryu curriculum (examples such as muso jikiden eishi ryu or muso shinden ryu).
I don?t know of many people that just study seitei iai. Tameshi-giri is not an art unto itself (in my humble opinion) despite Obata's beliefs. As its name implies it is test cutting, or testing to prove your technique is correct, and goes and a hand with either iai or koryu kata.
I also believe that to test for 7-dan and 8-dan under the ZNKR you have to demonstrate techniques from your ryu beyond seitei so the expectation is that you are learning it as part of a larger ryu.
Kendo-Guide.Com: You are right, Matt. Even though Seitei iai was made for kendoists, it is now used for iai people as compulsory katas (see my first post).
You are also right about the meaning of tameshi-giri.
Through my quick research, in 6-dan and 7-dan exams, examinees must perform 3 katas from seitei iai and 2 katas from koryu (must use a real sword). For 8-dan, examinees must perform 7 katas from seitei iai for the first practical exam and those who passed the first exam must perform 7 koryukatas.
It looks like they have time limit. They have to perform katas within certain minutes. This is very interesting.
Tameshi-giri (cutting test) must be done in their own schools because it is, as Matt mentioned, a part of training.
