Saturday sensei claims that I've made a great leap now that I'm observing my opponent more and making better contact, two closely linked changes in my kendo. I have never been able to respond to praise very well, and so I demurred, but this meant that he said so again downstairs to my even greater embarassment. But I will admit that I was happy with that last men which I scored tonight, a minor fakeout but nothing too fancy, then a nice big solid thwack right down the center. After a good cut, you feel like you actually meant it, but weren't trying too too hard--breaking through nonetheless

Some other points to keep in mind today would be (given my relative lack of practice with sensei), would be from a much taller sempai (not to whack him in the hand with my overheavy bokken) to keep my elbows tucked in more closely to the sides of my do rather than sticking my arms out--my range will increase in that case, because when arms are extended, I can't hit any further than my legs carry me, while a tighter-in kamae means that I can both use arms and legs in hitting. Another sempai now refuses to have me fight from issoku, but rather from to-ma. Can't wait for more keiko tomorrow, bright and early.