Last night was a good practice. Yet again I overstepped the mark with the amount of suburi but I didn't want folk to continue until they got it right and I don't think that's unreasonable taking into account the instruction inbetween sets as well as instructions twice during the suburi to only lift as high as jodan. If people are still lifting further back after being told not to then I don't see how 'letting them off' and finishing the suburi will benefit them. I think I need to use the 20 good cuts rule - that we will continue suburi until we've done 20 good cuts but every time a duff one crops up it resets the counter. Then folk know what's expected of them, know what's going on and put the effort in to guarantee it's not stuck on 'one' all night.
We did some 'oji-waza' and although my collecting and returning of suriage-waza on the right hand side wasn't too great I know that later on my attempts to do suriage-men on the left hand side were greatly improved. I'm sure the reason for this was down to timing. Because it's harder to fit it all in on the right, what with your aite stepping and their right arm extended to cut. It seemed like I had plenty of time to cut on the left hand side because there was more room and I'd already managed to just about fit it in on the harder side.
Additionally we did some kaeshi-do practice. I allowed Joe to demonstrate the waza, I lacked the confidence to do it justice. With typical modesty he apologized to everyone in advance of demonstrating the waza but did admirably. Before we returned to attempt it I felt it important to illustrate that if you do not open for your aite to attempt the men cut you are not forewarned [a little at least] of when he will attack, thus giving you time to collect and respond with the kaeshi-do. What surprised me most was that I think I did a damn fine effort with the waza. Do cuts are something I just don't do but I have noticed in an offhand way that they are improving and during kihon practice they are solid and on target if just a little static on the stepping through after the cut. Of course during jigeiko I've observed the accuracy rate drops massively but I think it might be worth having kaeshi-do in my repertoire just a little more than I currently do.
Sensei also had us doing kote-do and was quick to pick up on some lack-lustre efforts. Instead of asking us to have more spirit he asked us to 'have fun with it' which I thought was a wonderful way to look at it as do is a fun cut, it's fluid and expressive. You cross the centreline and move the whole area of conflict to a different position. There's a level of control of the situation that you are perhaps making a decisive change to two folk opposite each other. 'Fun' I think is a very apt term. Later on during jigeiko with Joe I certainly felt like I was having fun. It was a glorious exchange were I honestly enjoyed the sparring with a mate. Once again evidence of his progress was solid and his ability amazes me and made clear what multiple practices a week can do for your kendo. The challenge was one thing and I'm pretty sure he got the better of me, his debana-kote was spot on and numerous but it was a joy to fight and something I never want to miss out on but fear it will be so.
The icing on the cake was a fence with Josh where unbeknownst to me my improvements in oji-waza timing from the earlier practice came to fruition. A half decent suriage-men which ordinarily I'd have been satisfied with during a practice was eclipsed shortly after by what I can only describe as a 'perfect' suriage-men [as I say things are different inside the men]. For me it was such a perfect moment I had the 'bullet time' sensation as time slowed, the suriage was flawless, the men 'popped' with that sound only a kendoka finds arousing and my kiai screamed aloud in confirmation and at the realisation of just how good I thought it was I even got chills run down my shoulders and spine [lets hope that wasn't a neck issue;) ]. I may be being immodest about this but the whole point of this blog is to build my confidence. Remind me that I can pull decent kendo out of the bag and I'll be damned if I'm not going to revel in something special when it happens.
So a good night, and squad at the weekend, lets bring on the nose-dive from these heady heights of success, reality-check anyone?
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