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Today's class went pretty well. I did a lot better with my new bokken today. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that the saya isn't carved out enough so the bokken barely fits inside of it. So, after that, I just pulled the bokken up and down in the saya. It wore off quite a bit of the stain, but at least it isn't sticking as much anymore. Who knows, maybe the tight fit will be a blessing in disguise. I have to make sure to keep the bokken as low in the saya as possible to even have a chance of drawing and returning without getting stuck. Once I have an iaido I will have to keep the same mentality so I don't ruin the saya…. So maybe it is for the best. Today we did some exercises and worked on shohatto, sato, uto, atarito, inyoshintai, ryuto, jyunto, gyakuto, batto. For the most part I did pretty well. Inyoshintai went a lot better then it did Wednesday thanks to it being worn in a bit. I did have a couple problems with the hakama, but nothing major. Sensei did tell me to work on a few things though.
Things to work on:
1.) For chiburi for these kata, arm goes straight out at side, not down at all
2.) For gyakuto, when you first stand up, sword is flat, not tilted like it is for ryuto
3.) For gyakuto when you slice the neck, have arm out 90 degrees away from body
4.) Sit tall (elongate the entire spine).
Aikido went well. We only worked on a few techniques today. Shomenuchi ikkyo (omote and ura), yokomenuchi iriminage, yokomenuchi shihonage (omote and ura) and yokomenuchi kotegaishi. The only one I had problems with was kotegaishi for some strange reason. Not sure why I had problems with it today, but I eventually figured it out. I guess just doing it from yokomenuchi instead of shomenuchi or tsuki threw me off… who knows. At one point, sensei was using me to help demonstrate a technique because my partner wasn't extending enough. So, I do my attack and WHAM; my forearm clashes with sensei's forearm. This happened a few times on the same side. It hurt at the time, but nothing to write home about. Well, after class as my muscles cooled down and I drove home, I discovered that my arm is actually quite sore. Doing anything that tightens the muscle is painful. Typing even hurts! I figure that I need to do something to keep working it so it doesn't get all knotted up so to speak.
Things to work on:
1.) Be positive and extend into uke
2.) When attacking with yokomenuchi, bring hand up over head, not to the side
3.) Maintain contact with uke (move with them, go down with them, go up with them)
Pains/Injuries:
1.) Sore left forearm
2.) Bruises on: my right forearm (top), right hand (between pointer finger and thumb), bruise on left pointer finger on bottom knuckle (this bruise is a complete mystery to me!)
08-22-2009 06:59 PM 
Sensei did tell me to work on a few things though.