Class led by Zack.
Lots of excercise – pushups, situps laps around the dojo. Kicks to the bag and punching the makiwara.
Aggressive stretching.
Worked on yakusoku kumite Ⅰ-Ⅴ with Tom.
Worked on Fukyugata Ⅰ/Ⅱ bunkai
Finished up with kihon bo kata.
After class, practiced Hanagushiku-no-sai with Zack and Alvin.
Notes:
In the first two moves, the palm of the front hand is down. Think of the move as searching (could also be hooking).
Worked on sai tonight starting with moving drills:
One drill was moving forward in zenkutsu-dachi, blocking down, striking down, blocking down again and following with gyaku-zuki. Repeat the routine on the other side.
Another was stepping forward into jodan-uchi, followed by an around-the-head strike, then around-the-world strike and z-block. Finally, another gyaku-zuki before stepping forward and repeating on the opposite side.
Last was to step forward left into zenkutsu-dachi and punch up with both hands. Then step forward with the right (facing left) into jigotai-dachi and sweep around and down to the right. Then step forward with the left (facing right) into jigotai-dachi and strike across the body up to the left and then the same to the right. Finally turn back left into zenkutsu-dachi and repeat the routine starting with the double strike.
Practiced Fukyugata Ⅰ with sai as a group before breaking out to work on Hanagushiku-no-sai. Sensai pointed out that the last strike should be up and forward like a motion in Rohai. When stepping out of the kosa-dachi to the left, the right foot should slide over so you are upright rather than in jigotai-dachi.
Practiced ido kihon and kihon undo. Dan ranks are expected to know the order of these exercises. Following that, partnered with Dave to work on yakusoku kumite Ⅰ-Ⅳ from both right and left sides. Next we broke into a groups (me, Dave and Zack) with each member selecting and performing one basic, one intermediate and one advanced kata for the others. I chose Pinan Shodan, Naihanchi Nidan and Ananku. Dave commented that he’d like to have my chudan shuto-uke. In Ananku, I need to work on keeping the wari-uke out in front of me. I seem to be crossing my arms drawing my fists in toward my body before throwing them back out forward.
In the last part of class, performed Shiromatsu-no-kon. I need to continue to work on it, but I have the basic routine mostly down.
Also worked on Pinan Sandan bunkai (write down the order)
Performed all kata
Worked on bunkai for Fukyugata Ⅰ through Pinan Nidan with Dave and Jessan.
Sensai is starting to comment more about the upcoming trip to Canada. Wants us to practice kata
Worked on sai kata and kihon bo. The opening three moves of Hanagushiku No Sai should include a pulling motion with the leading (blocking) hand. Could be seen as hooking a bo for example.
Was supposed to be a longer training session getting ready for the seminar in Canada, but Sensai was unable to attend and class was led by Zack instead.
Performed all kata through Pinan Yondan. Paired off with Simon to work on Pinan Sandan before breaking into groups to work on short weapon of choice. Picked kama and worked on that along with Olivia.
Worked on Fukyugata Ⅰ/Ⅱ and Pinan Shodan bunkai in groups of 4-5 rotating through the attacking parts.
Worked through Hanagushiku No Sai a couple of times at the end of class along with Dave, Noah and Jessan.
Class was led by Zack.
The first part of class focused exclusively on open-hand kata, performing Fukyugata and Pinan katas each a couple of times including renzoku. I worked up quite a sweat on Ananku and Naihanchi Sandan.
In the black-belt class we worked on Sai dai Ichi, Sai dai Ni and Hanagushiku no Sai.
Class was led by Zack, worked through each of the Fukyugata and Pinan katas before practicing Ananku. Some of his comments:
Some notes regarding Ananku:
Practiced Sai dai Ichi, Sai dai Ni and Hanagushiku no Sai.
Notes on Hanagushiku no Sai:
Performed Pinan shodan and Naihanchi shodan katas, and also worked on some interpretations.
Pinan shodan
Two variations on the opening sequence, one based on the bunkai where the initial attack is chudan-zuki with the right hand and the other where the attacker uses the left.
Another interpretation of the opening block where the attacker uses jodan-zuki and the double block traps the punch.
Naihanchi Shodan
There is a lot in this kata, but we only worked on a couple of parts tonight.
A basic application of the opening sequence – shuto, hiji-ate and grabbing and pulling the opponents arm in.
Also worked on the later sequence starting with the double block. In this application we changed direction, stepping forward rather than to the side and applied the downblock as a strike to the opponent’s side. Sensai stressed thinking of this move in terms of cutting. Reminded me of another class earlier this year where we were applying techniques from the katas.
Kobudo
Performed Fukyugata Ichi and Kihon kama katas in class for one of the first times this year. I recall missing most previous kama weeks, due either to other commitments or weather-related cancellations.
Worked on Sai dai-ni and Hanagushiku-no-sai. Sensai wants to teach the latter kata the way Soke used to teach it, which includes nekoashi-dachi rather than zenkutsu-dachi. He also said the version performed in the videos on the the NZ site is alright. I’ll use it for reference for practice outside class.