Hayashi Sensei Keiko

Hayashi Sensei visited, which meant that there were a lot of visitors and a late start. Godan and up only could sit on the Sensei side. In lieu of the usual warm-ups, we did a sequence of leg-based stretches: lunge-walking, deep-lunges, ayumi-ashi with a koshi-focus, lifting the right foot high before stepping forward, big-lifting-ayumi-ashi, big-lift-hold-put-down-ayumi-ashi, backwards and forwards fence-straddling, deep squats, fumi-komi both Godzilla-style and straight-puddle style, one-steps with a focus on pushing on the opponent’s tsuki. The foot-raising style has two effects—it improves balance and forces all of the weight to be shift to hidari-ashi. Oddly, all of these were done with shinai in hand.

After a longish break, we ended up putting on men. Kirikaeshi is meant to be done with a focus on kaeshi—catching the opponent’s strike with the aim of deflecting it into kaeshi-doh or kaeshi-men. The sequence, so rapid-fire, of kaeshi moves Sensei showed was impressive, including do-kaeshi-men, which I’d never seen before.

Men, men-debana-men, men-nuki-doh, kote. Small men is only for attacking forwards. Debana-men can be performed immediately when the opponent steps in. We hit men from three ma-ai in one go, starting from already-hit position. Analogies drawn to golf, tennis, baseball in terms of the use of tame and the hips.

Big strikes as in kihon develop tenouchi and the use of the entire body at once, but with practice this becomes smaller and second nature, just as deadly.