First Issue
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Follow along here:<br>
(
http://www.aikiweb.com/weapons/31jo1.html.)
4) twirly thing (right hand top / right foot forward)
5) shomen (right hand/ right foot)
6) shomen (right hand/ left foot)
7) pivot - strike (shomen?) (right, right)
8) strike (LEFT?, right)
How in the world do you wind up with left hand on top? I've sort of inserted a hand-switch between 7 and 8, but i'm betting there's something way more natural i could be doing.
particular request
What i propose is that somebody submit a revised version of the jo kata page with a short amendment at the end of EACH and EVERY step, with hamni and hand-on-top. Maybe this seems stupid because it should be totally obvious following the recipe(s), but i personally don't get my body enough to make it work right. A little extra notation like this would do wonders, by making sure we are really ARE on the same page.
Second Issue
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Is there some subtlety to pivoting that i'm missing here? It seems that i can do a simple blocking exercise fine, say happo-waza, but then you stick a jo in my hand and all of a sudden i've got my legs crossed in a pleasantly unstable position.
Third Issue
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How uniform are jo kata across the aikido styles? Sure, diversity's good and all. but sometimes people say blatantly contradictory things. So i was hoping somebody might forewarn me to places where things simply differ, and it's not just me thinking too hard.
[snipity-snip... i had originally yammered on about nothing here... that made me embarassed, so i took it out]