Class was led by Sensai.

Worked on applications of the opening moves of Fukyugata Ⅰ, as well as bunkai for the first two parts of Fukyugata Ⅰ/Ⅱ and Pinan Shodan. Broke into groups and performed our highest kata. I felt like I had a reasonable presentation of Ananku. Power and pace were good, but I thought my kiai were a bit late. Afterwards, Alex commented that he’d never seen it before, and Dave told me he thought it was good. I think I saw a nod from Sensai.

Practiced Fukyugata Ⅰ with kama. Sensai had us enhance the kata by changing several parts. One was to augment the gedan-uke in the kata by blocking down with the back of the kama first, and then rolling over and slicing down. Another change (during the first sequence of three front punches) is to block down simultaneously with the backs of both kama and then them swing up and over in a looping pattern to hook an attack from the opposite side. Still another is to reverse the grip for the jodan-uke so the hook part of the kama is facing up and out (in order to catch an attack). Finally, think about free-form additions to the kazami-zuki, jodan-zuki and opening section front punches. All of this is in preparation for eventually working on Kishaba No Kama.

Worked briefly on Kihon Bo Ⅰ again this week.