Sensei returned today, with a story and a moral from his most recent test. He said that he had done quite well throughout, but that's just enough. Unfortunately, his second partner was weak, so when Sensei used his kiseme, his opponent flinched, stepped-back, but Sensei followed. In so doing, he became uchidachi, rather than shidachi, and therefore lost.

Sunday Sensei special was always welcome, but I felt very winded after kakarigeiko. My kote-men is shit. I don't know--it used to be more frequently successful, but then maybe my standards are higher. I'm told in particular that on ura-harai-do, I should not lift my arms at all--just use my wrists to really spin that shinai before striking. Even in kakarigeiko, my objective should be to strike from a dead standstill--more explosiveness, rather than sloppy momentum.