So there were two radically different practices.

Tuesday, Aussie Sensei led us through a Tokyo special, whcih meant in lieu of the normal dojo length ashi sabaki, we grouped into fours led by a sensei a piece and did diagonal all-the-way to the wall follow-through to all sorts of basic strikes like men, kote-men, kote-men-do, but all only for an hour before some vigorous jigeiko.

Thursday, Sensei led us through some really basic but much-needed strikes, mostly from issoku: men, kote (lift up without shoulders, then step in a little diagonally, but not much), suriage-men, kaeshi-do, kirikaeshi+karageiko, and all with an emphasis on 'tsuki-mon' but no actual tsuki.

Keiko was interesting: I fought against a jodan-shodan. He was tough, but I landed at least one clean men.

Keiko today was breaking everything down all the way down to basics. This meant that we started without even a shinai in ashi-sabaki and then we worked our way up to fumikomi and then striking small but still in a full arc without fumikomi, just suriashi all for nearly if not over an hour before men-tsuke and even then really relaxed waza, "Hi, how are you" rather than the downcrushing tendency we all have with overstriking men.

Waza included kote-ojigaeshi-men (take your time), kote-men (pause), men-suriage-men (point up, not lift up). Keiko itself was pretty great, with me up against sensei and scoring some nice kote and even a men or two. Felt relaxed but was told I still use too much forearm power.

Some brief comments on the 10th Rensei.

The seminar led by Teramoto-Sensei seemed pretty standard, at least for someone at our dojo--how to pick up a shinai, kihon-uchi, renzoku-waza, and other forgotten minutiae.

Today's shiai was a late start for me due to weather and then I went up for nidan division for the first time in four years. Against my first opponent, she kept on raising her hands and so I could not score effectively: she scored a dodgy men on me after some tsuba-zeriai nonsense. Then, noticing that chushin almost scored a hiki-doh for me, I started trying to hit doh, finally landing a nice solid forward-one. We go to encho and after more of the same grappling in tsubazeriai, before I do one of my dodgy kote-men combos and score.

The second match is one of these perfect kote-nuki-men setups, except he keeps dodging his men. We grapple scoreless for a while, and eventually he lands a kote, and I don't have time to take it back. This is why I don't like shiai.

We brought three teams, and all lost in the first round. We were up againt the host A team, so I don't feel all that bad, actually. My match was one I lost 0-1, due to a kote again, though I think it was relatively legitimate. Always next time. Overall, the competition felt much stronger than before.

So it's shiai season, which means that practice is abbreviated by shiaigeiko nightly, only to run long as the matches wear on. I reflect on the last two practice matches I had.

It's always tricky, these dojo-based matches, because everyone is watching and so you not only really want to do your best, but will see these people very soon again. It's also tricky because sometimes it's better as the underdog, since you've got less rep to lose that way.

Tuesday, the match was against a Korean kohai who is quite good at the shiai-style of practice and has a lightning fast kote. Tired as I was, I revved myself up with plenty of kiai, and from that point of view dominated the match, at one point pushing him back in tsubazeriai on the strength of my kiai alone. The first point was a hiki-men which I scored, and it did actually feel like a point to me, with plenty of backwards momentum to boot. I was satisfied with that but then we ended up exchanging blows which were ineffective, until, on the turn-around, he hit my kote with me barely noticing. That was typical for me--overthinking when I have the lead.

Thursday, the match was against another nidan who may or my not be more senior than me--he comes from our LI sister dojo, so who knows. I did my usual overthinking--he tends to be like our branch sensei in his low kamae and the way in which he tends to hit the upper corner of the men while sailing away real fast. Not too long into the match this is what he does. Sensei remarks that this point probably would count in shiai but was a little on the soft side. I am waiting, heart-pounding, in kamae before nihonme as this is said. It is a tough moment. But then with hajime, I stop thinking--much less than before at least--and before long I have scored, one, two kote. The second felt especially good, I think some species of degote, and I definitely felt the impact. Somehow, then, I managed to win the match.

I need to keep going on this--the advice Sensei gives--maximum power in the abdomen, kata-5 style high-lifting, and maximum tightness in the last two fingers--are things I will try to continue to do...