This post is part of the First Year of Budo series

We didn’t have Jodo this week and sensei had to leave half way through to have a look at a house but during the time he was there he sure did have a word to us. We spent probably 15 minutes going up and down the hall practicing proper footwork and insuring that we have parallel feet (pointing forwards). Making sure we didn’t bob up and down as we moved. Then he was all over our cutting technique, mine in particular had some issues. For the time being I have to focus on always holding my hands very high overhead when doing vertical cuts and keeping my elbows in. Looking in the mirror I noticed that the sword tip is also going a little over to the left when I raise it up.

So as you can see, it was a brutal session of hard facts. Yet sensei still managed to inject at an appropriate time why he was correcting all these little things and be humorous about it. Which is why he is so great. He even went as far as saying that he thinks in general we have relatively good technique (which I couldn’t really allow to generalise too much to me seems I’m the newest student). But one thing he pointed out is that we all need to pay attention to the small details that he repeatedly points out to us every week. Because without working tirelessly on those details (cutting out, keeping parallel feet etc.) we cannot move on to the more advanced areas.

After sensei left we were to do free practice with the senior students guiding us. So I went through the kata that I know trying to fix things I know have issues. In number 3 I know that after I reach over my head with the block I tend to swing to low and step to early. With all my kata I don’t seem to step far enough back. This results in my legs not being at right angles when I go to kneel while sheathing the blade.

When I was practicing number 6 (involves a vertical draw straight up and over) I did a terrible draw. When you draw to early you can hear the sword scrape against the scabbard as you bring it out. Even though it was probably only a matter of drawing it about an inch to early the sound is easily noticeable. One of the senior students was quick to remind me of this and give me some pointers on the rest of the kata. I good draw is very quiet, achieving it’s purpose without notice.

It’s funny how much harmony(of all aspects) and perfection is desired in the katas. It’s a very nice goal.