Jumbled thoughts
This section is the log of training, and the thoughts, pointers and errors made.
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06/04/2008 - Sunday Class
DISARMED!
Well I was disarmed on Sunday. This isnt the first time this has happened, but I think its the first time I have thought about why it has happened.
I was cutting Kote, it was evaded, and the longsword was struck, and pop! out it came.
Now I have managed to get a lot more control over my tenouchi (stopping the cut) especially on Kote cuts, however I was extending the cut to get a good reach.
In extending, I punched my fist forward but I believe I overextended my tendons in my right hand, making the grip weak.
Not sure what I can do about this just yet. If I grip the shinai more solidly, I lose distance. If I extend I am weak(er).
I think it is another of those wonderful Nito things where it depends entirely upon circumstance, and opponent.
Maybe I should work on not getting lured into Nuki next time :-)
Cheers
Paulo
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16/03/2008 - Sunday Class
Sunday Class went well, lots of spirit from everyone.
I started my nito suburi in this class, using two full size shinai.
Went through
JoGe suburi
Nanamae suburi
Single men
Renzoku men suburi.
When I got tired with both arms, I switched to one arm, and when that one arm became tired, switched to the other.
Kept up with the pace of the class
When going through Itto training with everyone else, Mark pointed out that I am now too right handed. It appears I am axe cutting once more... hows that for a few years regression. I am now wondering if Nito is having an adverse effect, or was it just the suburi knacekred me out a bit?? I'll keep an eye on it.
Jigeiko went well.. a couple of missed hits, and missed opportunities on my part (I was worrying about the right hand thing, tried to straighten my posture, and I think I was thinking too much).
Got whacked in odd places a couple of times.. but this is part of the course now :-)
I've got to keep the training steady and not get carried away. I'll stick with the suburi for a bit, then work up to full participation (if Mark is ok with that) in nito.
cheers
Paulo
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09/03/2008 - Sunday Class
Class went well, and we were visited by Gary O'donnel sensei from Brighouse. The aim of the class was to identify some waza that highlighted points of pressure and the use of seme. we looked at how to get an opening by creating pressure, and how to read an opponent to use thier pressure against them.
A lot of the excersises we used were done with the sword against sword, like an insect antennae, feeling for opporunities, and reading the opponents pressure.
Translating this into Nito was interesting. A lot of the time when fencing nito, if you come into contact, i.e your shoto to thier daito then you are in correct maai to cut/be cut.
So it seemed dangerous to hold in this distance too long.
Still I tried the pressure, and it worked (to the point I could feel the pressure, even if my reaction was somewhat sluggish, and often I was struck).
I also tried the same pressure but without physical contact. I looked at stance, posture, kensen, and feet of my opponent. Any movement, or "tell" I tried to interpret. sometimes I got whacked sometimes I whacked. :-) I think this version of pressure worked a little better for me as my opponent could not read me as easily as they could a regular fencer.
I think there is a key part of nito hidden in this concept and I'm going to explore it a bit more.
Ta Paulo
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