Musō Shinden-ryū (夢想神伝流) is a style of sword-drawing art (iaido) founded by Nakayama Hakudō (中山博道) in 1932.
Among the most visible are the manner in which the furikaburi (raising the sword overhead, sometimes called furikamuri) and the nōtō (sheathing) are done.
Both arts also differ from many other iaijutsu schools in that the kiai is performed silently, without hassei (shouting).
Unlike in Musō Jikiden Eishin-ryū, the sword does not fall off behind the back but always stays over shoulder height.
The sword should now be right in the middle line of the body, with the tip raised forty-five degrees upward (Chuden) or level with the ground (Shoden) and your left hand hovering just above your forehead.
This series of kata became the first to be learned when the 17th headmaster of the Tanimura branch, Ōe Masamichi, reorganized and rationalized the curriculum of Hasegawa Eishin-ryū at the start of the 20th century.
In contrast to the first series of kata, the enemy is considered to be sitting very close and thus the primary goal of the chūden techniques is to create proper cutting distance (kirima) by stepping back instead of forward.
Tachi-waza (立業) * This is believed to be a kata that Oe Masamichi Sensei discarded when he re-organized the old tradition.