Pre-grading Inspection
2017 10 25 | journal
I hauled myself out to Etobicoke today for a pre-grading inspection by my sensei's sensei. I have been pronounced fit for grading. Well, at least he never said I shouldn't, or couldn't; so I'm good.
Although Cruise sensei's version of "Sensei, I need to leave when kendo gets going because I absolutely cannot deal with that noise, and if I can't hear you OR see you, we have a problem", seems to be "But you need to do [enter name of waza here] one more time." Fourth try, though, I got out. I think the only thing that might beat out sharing an echoey room with kendo for noise, is standing next to a jet engine when it starts, without earplugs.
That floor in Etobicoke is going to be the death of me. I was doing ganmen-ate or sanpo-giri, and when I went to slide forward, I stuck and actually pitched forward. I did manage not to fall on my face; but it was like when I first started Iai, when everything I did was me pitching one way or another and trying not to fall on my face.
He did seem surprised when I said that I was doing morote-zuki for grading, that I found it easier than kesa-giri. I gotta tell ya, I hate kesa-giri - and ushiro. With ushiro I just can never feel anything but awkward with that turn and draw - it's never aligned properly, and I can't get enough saya-biki. Kesa-giri is just plain awkward and flappy and - quite frankly - the downward cut is impeded by certain parts of my anatomy. I know the workaround to it, to loosen the grip on the right hand when you cut down, but it's not enough to make me a kesa-giri cheerleader.
Flaws (read: things I need to work on) (at least the ones I remember):
- hands too close together on the tsuka - which is leading to my breaking my wrists, which leads to my sword not being parallel
- jodan is too high
- yoko chiburi is not parallel enough, not enough at the same level at the end as the beginning
- chiburi during soete-zuki is too far out
- tending to pivot with weight on the heels rather than the balls of my feet
- not quite careful enough with making sure my feet are both pointing in the same direction during sanpo-giri
- not keeping the sword 'inside the body' enough when I turn during morote-zuki and ganmen-ate - I'm moving it too wide