Stefan Stenudd

Drew, I thank you for your kind words.
And I'll try to remember not to caress people with the blade.

The bokken works fine for exercising the principles and the awareness I describe, but only if you "pretend" that it's a real sword. That might take some experience with a shinken, at least once or twice.

I believe that you get a completely different way of relating to the bokken, and using it, if you have some experience with a steel sword. An unsharpened iaito might do the trick, too - but that's not as exciting...