Two more practices, though I didn't feel very competent for any of them, and indeed a little half-assed. Especially in keiko, where I just felt tired and sweaty and out of breath and not really working for my keep.

Saturday was lots of kata practice, and then an energetic warmup including the new favorite Monkey-in-the-Middle practice, albeit only against men-uchi. That and do-kirikaeshi, which was a little challenging, I must admit. Even worse: men-do-kirikaeshi. In keiko itself I keep on letting go of the shinai, or not lifting enough.

Today was sweaty sweaty, including one-on-one uchikomi-geiko with Sensei, but too many beginners so I couldn't really refine my techniques: men, kote-men, kote-do, men-taiatari-men, men-taiatari-kote, men-taiatari-do, men. After that though I did not really have much in terms of keiko, and I need to strike smaller with better kikentai, or so says almost-Godan Sensei. When I lift up big, it's because I'm thinking and fearful. I need to move beyond that somehow.

Saturday practice (9/9) was a return to kata and of newly Nanadan Sensei after a long absence. On the kodachi kata I seemed to have more of the details down but am still missing a lot of the flow. Said Sensei also focused his comments on my powers of observation. Almost-Godan Sensei says that I really need to cut smaller as I am currently lacking in kikentai.

Sunday felt incomplete somehow, with most kohai-keiko and lots of solid basics. My kote-men felt better than before, somehow.

Last night, kyudo was a fine return after too long of an absense: I still have bad habits (including completely forgetting ashibumi at one point), and my shoulder turns much too much outward where it should stay orthogonal to my erect body.

Thursday practice seemed very underattended, so Newly Godan Sensei focused mostly on kihonwaza for the whole time, and we reconfigured ourselves to actually all line up against him--the goal was to lift up completely first, and then strike forward with proper kikentai. I still need to relax, but I'm passably okay at all of that. It's hard at this distance to remember any of the keiko.

Saturday was more kata, all ten, actually, followed by four-way oji-waza practice: someone is the monkey in the middle, and the others all launch some pre-designated attack (men or kote), and then the monkey must respond with a counterattack (although it wasn't clear whether this was supposed to be an oji-waza or any old waza). Younger Saturday Sensei helped me with harai/makiotoshi waza, and cautions me against too much right arm again. Saturday Sensei says I am in transition: from one stage where I am aggressive and attacking, to another where I am observing the real opponent (not the multitudes of fake opponents (what the opponent looks like, what I think he looks like, what he wants me to think he looks like, etc, etc)) and attacking only the real opponent.

Today no Sensei showed up so Alma Mater Sempai took over and led us through a pretty routine series of exercises focusing on kihon without men. I got banged in the eye or so, but I don't think there will be any lasting damage. It felt really sweaty somehow, even with limited (two rounds of) kakarigeiko, so by the end I was really overheating and dying to say nothing of relatively ineffective against the various people I was then sparring against. It's odd, though, having this punctuated schedule. We'll see how it goes from here.

Practice was a welcome return, and the first time I'd seen Sensei in a while. The focus seemed to be on beginners and kihon-waza, with the lift-up-all-the-way and then strike-forward-with-body-first-into-the-cut waza which we did over and over again, but which I didn't quite follow through with well enough. My problems remained pretty much the same: although my harai-kote has gotten a whole lot better, I dont' follow through consistently enough on kote, and often when I cut men I don't cut down far enough, trying to go too much over the opponent's sword rather than a straight-on men-uchi.

Today Sensei was out, and visiting-Sunday Sensei was the most senior, and I was feeling my years and the heat after not too long at all, but that is to be expected after a few weeks of once-weekly attendance. General attendance, however, has been pretty amazingly high of late, I'd say: lots of new-bogu'd folks as well as unranked beginners, and that's all before the new school year has even started. It's interesting to look at them for flaws (while not seeing my own), but at the same time admiring their dedication.

The actual practice today focused first only on kihon-uchi: ashisabaki, kirikaeshi, men, kote, kote-men, do, kote-do, men-taiatari-hiki-men, and then uchikomi. The waza-geiko was varied: debana-men, degote, kote-suriage-men, and the still-difficult kote-ojigaeshi-men, followed by kakarigeiko, which I did not like as much as I thought I would.

In practice, I should have sought out more Sensei, but instead fought a few sempai and then it was all kohai. Still hard to deal with kohai, I think...